You have a killer track, a great band, a lot of enthusiasm and no music team. You aren’t signed to a label; your manager is your bass player’s cousin Amy who once appeared on MTV’s TRL and you have zero contacts at radio. You’re ready to hustle and you know the song is worth the effort. So, can you still get on the radio??? Repeat after me – YES YOU CAN! Getting on radio isn’t about just randomly sending your music out and crossing your fingers. You need a strategy, a small budget (more on that later) and belief in the music.
STEP ONE
You need to put together a package. The basics – a short bio about your band, a good sounding, high quality recording (mixed, mastered WAV or AIF), a one sheet about the track (who played on it, where it was recorded, who produced it), cover art if it exists and the links to your social media pages. If you don’t have social media set up for yourself or your band, stop reading this right now and come back when it’s done.
STEP TWO
As mentioned in Step ONE: It’s important to have strong socials when you’re trying to get on the radio. It shows the Music Director you’re not only serious about your band, but that you have a following and people want to hear you. It also shows that you know how to promote your music online. Start teasing the song you’re sending out to radio on your social channels and website (you need one of those, too!). If you have friends in other bands, ask them to post about your new single, and promise you will do the same for them when they release something.
STEP THREE
Play MPE – you know I was going to go there, but also, if I was writing this blog for another outlet, I’d still include Play MPE. You want your song serviced to college radio – BOOM, they do that. Non Comm? You got it. Canadian pop stations? Check! Radio airplay is within your reach with Play MPE. Do you know which stations take submissions and which don’t? They do. Do they know which stations will only play signed artists? They do. Play MPE doesn’t waste your time, or money, by sending your music to someone who is never going to listen to it.
In addition, after you service your track to radio using Caster, you can use MTR to see where your music is being played and follow its growth. Pro tip – make sure you send in your music submission in a timely manner to give contacts a chance to discover and consider it for airplay– i.e: not the day it’s dropping ideally.
STEP FOUR
While Play MPE does the heavy lifting by getting your music to hundreds or thousands of contacts in one go, you can also seek out additional internet based stations or live performance interview shows that accept submissions directly. Read: not streaming services, actual stations and shows that live online (specific show websites, YouTube channels etc) and might even have you on as a guest. By learning how to submit your music to these contacts correctly, you will be one step ahead of your peers.
STEP FIVE
Back to social media again – while you are promoting your music to radio, promote your music on your social channels as well. See if there’s any behind-the-scenes photos or audio from your recording sessions you can post. Ask fans to share links to the song on their social pages and start using hashtags like #songsubmission and #radiopromotion to get discovered. You can also follow Tik Tok trends and see if any of them pair nicely with your release.
STEP SIX
Be patient, radio promotion takes time. It’s great to have belief in your music and the desire to achieve success, but none of it happens overnight. You could have the best song in the world, and you still may have to plug away until you find the right stations. You need to get your music out there, play shows in cities where you’re getting a little air play and try to get a station to feature you. If a station spins your song, make sure to follow up and say thank you! Build a relationship with that station and host. It’s not an overnight thing, it will take time. That being said, you don’t need a fancy team to promote your music. You need a plan, some charisma, Play MPE and persistence. You got this!
Eager to start right away? Sign up to start promoting your music with Caster now!