You’ve just spent a fair amount of money on studio time, musicians, CD jacket design, disc duplication, mailing. So obviously you want to get your music out to as many listeners as possible. One way to do that is by reaching out to Internet radio stations. Here are twelve tips that you should keep in mind, based on my experiences running a network of Internet radio stations over the past six years:
- Roadblock #1: Track Names: You do not want to put any road blocks in front of the program director at a radio station. When your CD is put into a computer, what happens? iTunes pops up, and looks out on the Internet for details about your CD. If the CD isn’t found online, that means someone (me) has to type in all the track names and other details. So I can either take ten minutes to type in all the info, or I can eject your disc and go to the next disc in the stack.
How to Fix: Open your CD with iTunes. Make sure the title of each track, the album title, and the artist name are spelled correctly. Then go to the Advanced menu and choose “Submit CD Track Names.”
- Target: Don’t just send your CD to every Internet radio station out there. For example, my stations play Christmas music. Why did I receive a heavy metal/thrash rock CD a few months ago? Someone wasted their money and my time with that submission.
How to Fix: Do some basic research first. Look at the station’s web site. Listen to their station.
- Copyright: Internet radio has to prepare regular reports to Sound Exchange and we must include specific information about each track we play. That info includes artist name, album name, track name, the year of copyright and the label name. If I have to search for that info online or send you an email, it is quite possible that I won’t play your music at all. Every station has a different way of dealing with their collection of CDs. Put the artist’s name, album name, and copyright info (year and label name) on the disc. Colorful discs with no writing are a huge hassle when (not if) the disc is separated from its case. The label name is one of the main ways that Sound Exchange figures out who to send checks to. If you don’t have a “label” putting your own name will work fine.
How to fix: Make sure all the info we need is clearly printed on the CD.
- One Pager: Include a short note about your CD. I want to know things like: Where can the CD be purchased (or can the music be downloaded)? What is your band’s web URL? (Bonus tip: get your own custom domain, don’t only use Facebook or Myspace). How can I contact you? (Email is generally preferred, but include a phone number too.) If I have to do a lot of research to track you down, I may not go to all that trouble. But please don’t insert more than one sheet of information, I don’t have time to read all of that. (Bonus Tip: Put all that multi-page stuff on your web site. That information will help you with the search engines. Plus then if I am interested in learning more about you, I can read it on your site.)
How to Fix: Spend some time creating a one page summary about your CD. Briefly tell your story. Tell us what we need to know. Then tell us what we want to know. Make us curious.
- Roadblock #2: Silence: Remove the silence at the beginning and end of each track. Internet Radio is mostly automated, so there won’t be a DJ talking before or after your song plays. I just received a CD that had a song with 6 seconds of silence at the beginning of a track. Again, if the programmer has to do extra work getting your music ready to be played, that track may simply be skipped. And if there are several songs with extended silence on one CD, it’s likely that none of the songs will be played.
How to Fix: Before you burn your master, trim any significant silences from the beginning and the end of your tracks.
- Type of Disc: Do not send out MP3 CDs, send a real music CD. I have to do a fair amount of processing to prepare a song for air. If you send me a MP3, it may sound awful after my processing. And sometimes I listen to CDs in my car after leaving the post office.
How to Fix: Don’t send data discs, just audio discs.
- The Mailing: Protect the disc for mailing. I get a lot of discs that have been smashed, scratched or are otherwise unplayable. A bubble wrap mailer, or a CD cardboard box mailer work very well.
How to Fix: Invest in some good mailers.
- When to Mail: Give the station some time to process your CD and materials. If you have a special concert on a Friday, and the CD is received on the Monday before, it’s possible the station will say “oh well, missed that deadline.” For my Christmas station, sending a CD mailing before November 1st is helpful. Getting your CD in the mail at Thanksgiving (or later!) means it probably won’t make it onto the station that season. Sending a Christmas CD too early in the year means your disc may get stored in a box until Christmas time rolls around. And the odds are that box will be misplaced between spring and late fall. The best time to send me a CD is between Labor Day and Halloween.
How to Fix: Plan ahead. Allow time for recording, duplication, writing, printing, envelope stuffing, mailing, processing.
- Lyrics: If you have any songs that you’ve written yourself, please include the lyrics, either in your one-pager, in the CD liner notes, or on your web site. If the lyrics are on your web site, tell me that in your one-pager.
How to Fix: Simply make your lyrics available, and let me know where they are.
- Liner Notes: Make sure that the liner notes are legible. Is the text printed on top of the artwork? Do the colors of the text and the artwork clash? For example, red text on a background of a photo of a brightly lit Christmas tree is very hard to read. Usually you’ll want the text to be on a solid colored background, or the image should be faded.
How to Fix: Have your graphic designer show you proofs before you print a zillion inserts. Work closely with the printer to insure everything is legible.
- Store: You are more likely to get airplay if your CD is available for sale through a retail outlet, such as iTunes, Amazon, or CDBaby. If your music is only available at your site, then it is harder for people to buy your music. Having it available in online stores shows a certain amount of commitment from you. Plus most Internet radio stations get a small but steady stream of income by referring people to online stores.
- Roadblock #3: Embargo Date: Sometimes a publicist will ask I not start to play a new CD until a certain date. On Internet radio, that is a hassle, and could lead to your CD being forgotten while waiting for the embargo date.
How to Fix: Don’t set up an embargo date. If you absolutely must, simply send the CD a few days before the embargo date, but do not get upset if that date is ignored. If you’re really wanting to enforce an embargo date, don’t send out the mailing until after the embargo.
Please send me your music, after reading through these tips. And I’d love to hear your ideas and thoughts on how musicians can better represent themselves to Internet radio stations.
