If you don’t already know, Player is a secure music discovery tool that industry pros have been using for years – which, by golly, is still free! If you aren’t already familiar, err Tuned In…. Use Player and you get to hear pre-releases, re-releases, new releases, catalog gems, radio liners and a whole lot more (metadata, bios, promo photos). Best of all, you can customize the content you’re interested in – specific genres? You got it. Specific markets? Check. It’s an incredible resource and it’s FREE.
So while I have your attention, let me roll off a handy list of RADIO folk who almost definitely, 100%, without a doubt, use Player. Bottom of bottom lines – Player is for music curators. If you’re one, you are going to want to get verified. Whether your radio call letters are for a mainstream terrestrial station or non-commercial, community or college. OR if you’re blasting the tunes via internet or satellite radio. Player has what you need – the latest music from major record labels and top indies.
If you want to be CURATED by said radio folk – you want your music to be on it. So when you’re done reading this blog, make sure your music is ON Player via Caster, our music promotion tool that lets you send music to radio, media, blogs, music supervisors and more. Who would use Caster to get music to radio. More on that too! AND while you’re at it, export those songs to MTR for accessible, affordable radio tracking.
Who is making the decisions to play music on the radio:
Program Directors
PDs, or Program Directors, are the people who program what’s heard on the radio. In other words, they set the tone of the station, choose the type of music that’s played, set up the playlists and help choose what new music is added each week. PDs typically manage all the on air talent and work on promoting the station as a whole. Most PDs we know utilize Player and it’s a very important part of their weekly programming duties.
Music Directors
MDs, or Music Directors, are also an integral part of a radio station’s sound. MDs tend to be the person who brings new music to programming meetings and are the primary contact of the record label rep who pitches new artists or new songs from established acts. Music Directors love Player because it delivers music to them, genre specific, each week enabling them to listen seamlessly to exactly what they want.
Radio DJs
Often a Music Director is also on-air talent. I am a Radio DJ, as mentioned in previous blogs, and beside knowing a lot more about music than I ever did before, I also like to find out all I can about the artists we play. Having Player allows me to make suggestions to my co-host by sending him a link to the song, where he can easily hear my ‘pitch.’
Who is promoting music to radio?
Record Label Promotions Team
Major labels, subsidiaries and some larger independents may have their own in-house promotion teams that distribute music to radio stations and ensure the senior programmers have the latest releases with all essential metadata, promotional information, liners and anything else they may want.
Radio Promoters
Radio Promoters specialize in working with labels and artists seeking radio airplay as part of an overall promotional rollout strategy. They’re hired by a record label, artist manager or even the band themselves. Their job is to get the music in the hands of Music Directors and Program Directors or even directly to the on-air hosts (depending on the station). Some Promoters specialize in Top 40, others in Country music and others in NonComm, etc. Their relationships are everything, and they leverage that built in trust to help their roster of artists get airplay. By distributing music promotions with Caster to Player, Promoters can get their client’s music directly to thousands of PDs and MDs efficiently and provide weekly reporting for the artist, manager or record label.
Pro tip: If you are an indie artist with a budget and have mixed & mastered songs and a great promotion package – you can promote your music to radio DIY, using Caster. Learn more here.
Other Types of Radio Beyond Traditional Terrestrial Stations…
Internet or Streaming Radio
As the name suggests, this is music heard via the internet on a computer, a tablet or a phone. Listeners access it via an app or website, and the biggest difference is it’s worldwide. Take Tune In for example: it’s an internet radio service that aggregates 100,000 AM/FM radio stations worldwide – plus podcasts, audiobooks and curated channels specific to Tune In. It’s these curated channels that benefit from using Player to create their playlists, especially if they’re genre-centric, like “the best of World Music” or “Hip Hop in the 2000s”.
Satellite Radio
Ah, my home away from home! Satellite radio is subscription based, and it was once broadcast mainly to vehicles, meaning you could drive from New York to Florida and never lose the station you were listening to. However, that has changed over the past ten years, and SXM is now available “on demand” on the SXM app, which is how more and more people utilize it. Like a terrestrial radio station, the channels on Sirius have a program director, a music director and DJs. Player is an invaluable tool for the Sirius staff , especially since PlayMPE now offers dedicated satellite radio lists, allowing users to distribute and track promotional music directly to SiriusXM (SXM) in the U.S. and Canada.
A lot to digest? Not really!! Just a reminder of how important it is to sign up for Player – our very cool, seriously useful and best-of-all-free curating tool – and to make sure, if you’re the one creating music, that you get your music on there!