I get questions like “can you get my songs on the radio” and “can you book me on tour with Radiohead” all the time. For those rational thinkers out there, I am just as confused as you are by inquiries like this. Even slightly less lofty requests baffle me when brought by a band that draws 25 people on a Friday night.
“But you don’t understand! Our music RULES!”
That might be true but before you set off to accomplish some of these larger goals, you must set yourself up in a position to be able to deliver both musically and professionally. Everyone can talk a big game but when it comes time for the big game, do you have the chance to emerge victorious playing by the rules?
The entire music industry is driven by fear and has been that way for a few decades now. By this I mean nobody wants to take a chance, even on something they think is pretty darn good, unless someone else has already done so. “I can’t cool until I hear someone else say you’re cool.”
I don’t have a huge problem with this attitude because for some folks this is only a business and a business is intended to make money or return on investment of time, capital, effort etc.
Artists, put yourself in their shoes. Everyone understands that great or even good doesn’t guarantee anything; not fans, not ticket sales, not merch sold, not downloads and not plays. So people with skin in the business end tend to stack the deck by selecting (or creating) a few acts with the “right” ingredients that they can bake into a “sure fire” product. Part of that stacking is by creating false buzz through radio and media. Its gross, but understandable. Were I more of a fan of money than art, I would do the same thing.
Keeping this in mind will help you set expectations and guide your next steps in almost every stage of your career. Focus on what you need to do. Your job is to create something that communicates with an audience and to find that audience wherever they may be hiding.
This is why radio has been the go to exploder of careers throughout time. Radio is an easy way to let people “discover” music and the more you play something the more people “discover” it because the intersection of someone tuning in at a specific time is relatively random. Radio waves are View full article »
In Part 1 we discussed some fundamental pieces you must have in place to begin to consider getting your music played on Pandora, Spotify, Groove Shark and the like. In short, the entire industry is looking for something that someone else has already endorsed. YOUR someone else is going to be your fan base, whether that be local or outside of your area. The key pieces of work here are perfecting your voice (not your actual voice, but your brand, who you are, what you have to say and how you are going to say it), your music (the actual songs and your recording process) and the most important, finding people who want to listen to what you are making.
