Radio Promotion

Why Radio Plugging is still a valuable tool for recording artists

Here’s why radio plays remain such an integral part of the ensuing success of the modern-day artist….

Exposure

In an age of heavyweight streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, you’d expect them to dominate when it comes to the way that an average person discovers new music. However, a 2015 study by Nielsen found 61% of respondents answered that radio was the fundamental way they happened upon fresh music. Radio also offers convenience and ease of use for the listener that other formats (like streaming) don’t necessarily provide. The study also found that 243 million consumers in the USA tune in to radio each week – which equates to around 91% of the population. That is an absolutely huge market which might potentially hear your music and in turn possibly bring you new fans.

Gaining multiple plays on the radio can also allow you to break through to a large mainstream audience relatively quickly. This in part is because radio in a modern sense now covers the internet/digital and satellite/terrestrial. The overlapping of so many spheres means that there are now more ways than ever before to get heard via some form of radio play. For example, according to Tunecore the Foo Fighter’s ‘Everlong’ has received “almost 2 billion gross impressions (audience reach) to date”. This makes radio the most effective way of building awareness for an artist and creating a buzz around their music – which could possibly lead to a song becoming a hit.   

Sync Opportunities

Radio plays are not just useful for gaining more fan exposure and increasing sales of your records, but can also be an essential factor that could lead to commercial opportunities in the media – for instance, sync. In an interview of leading music supervisors by Pigeons and Planes discussing how they sourced and selected new music to pitch to clients, Jackie Shuman stated that….

“I’ve found some great things on non-commercial radio”.

Aaron Mercer supported this by saying…

“Good local press and radio helps”.

This proves radio is a key resource for music supervisors and that many use it to look out for emerging talent which may be suitable for placement on the projects they are currently working on as well as future ones. Sync is quickly becoming an integral revenue stream for the music industry, and many artists – from established acts to previously unheard-of bands – are now embracing it. Radio play has the potential to lead down this avenue.  

Exclusivity and Relationships

Put simply, getting your music played on some type of radio helps to separate yourself from the multitude of other artists out there who are fighting for fans and attention. In a way radio stations operate as a filter – sieving out the poor music while playing the good stuff. To even get airplay a number of people must sign off on an artist being played, something which is difficult to achieve given how subjective music taste really is. Getting through this filter proves to both professionals and the public that your music is at least worth listening to.   

Radio DJs and curators also still have an essential role to play as they have relationships and contacts throughout the industry – potentially furthering the exposure of your music and getting it into the hands of professionals throughout the business.

Getting your song played on the radio is a huge milestone for emerging artists; it’s a sign you’ve joined the big leagues, and that you’re a real competitor in the music industry. Now you can receive royalties for radio plays, broaden your exposure and bring in new fans. Who doesn’t want to get their music on the radio?

This is where Radio Airplay comes in, they can help you achieve all of this and more. But first, let’s truly understand the importance and impact of radio for you and your music…

What does Radio Airplay Mean?

Radio airplay is simply a term that is used in the broadcasting industry for stating how frequently a song is being played on over-the-air radio stations. When we consider commercial broadcasting, radio airplay is generally the result of songs being placed into the rotation, which is often called “adding it to the playlist” of the station by the music director, or possibly as the result of a ‘Pay for Play’, sponsored by the record label.

Radio plays not only earn you royalties, but they can reach so many people. Think about your natural reaction to hearing a new song on the radio that you like, you Shazam it, Youtube it, find it on Spotify, download it from iTunes, follow the artist on Twitter and Instagram, buy the album, go to the show, buy the merch and tell your friends. Getting your track on the radio can set off a chain reaction and be one of the most effective forms of music promotion out there.

Radio airplay is a highly effective way to get your music heard, although obtaining it is never an easy feat. Connecting with radio hosts, producers, DJs and music directors is incredibly difficult for unsigned and independent artists. They don’t know who you are and probably receive hundreds of emails a day from people in the exact same boat as you. Why should they listen to your music when they have globally renowned acts to choose from?

A more attainable goal would be to get your music on online radio services that suggest music to listeners based on their tastes. Start smaller; build a fierce online fanbase and generate some traction around your music. A company like RadioAirplay.com can help get your music heard by new fans and get that ball rolling.

Radio Airplay 

Radio Airplay is a music submission service for artists wanting to get their music on internet radio. Simply upload your tracks, and digitally deliver your next single directly to key radio station programmers and disc jockeys. Radio Airplay takes this to the next level, however, as they guarantee radio airplay!

Unlike many others who simply just service your music, Radio Airplay guarantee it will get played! Radio Airplay has maintained strategic partnerships with radio station owners, program directors and disc jockeys in order to guarantee your music is not just heard by them, but also played by them. These relationships have developed over the years and have allowed them to market and promote songs within the radio broadcasting community at all levels, including internet, satellite, college, terrestrial and commercial FM Radio.

Company History

Radio Airplay’s conception came from the birth of the online radio service Jango, which was created in 2007 by Daniel Kauffman and his team. They wanted to introduce a service for emerging artists to promote their music and get more people to listen to it. This is where Radio Airplay began.

The venture was founded in 2009, originally named Jango Airplay, as it was designed to be used alongside Jango. In 2012 however, they renamed the company to its current namesake, Radio Airplay, as they expanded the company’s reach to other radio services.

How does RadioAirplay work?

The process of getting those all-important radio plays is easy and simple with Radio AirPlay:

• Login or create a Radio Airplay account, then upload your music and a few pictures. Depending on which package you choose, (we’ll get to that later), you can upload as many songs as you like. When doing this, simply select popular artists whose sound is similar to yours. Think about which other artists your fans like and which genres are most relevant to you. That’s your part done!
• Your tracks will then be played to potential new fans on online radio services. Based on the artists you selected as similar to your music, fans listening to their tracks will also be fed yours. Hopefully converting them into fully-fledged fans.
• Radio AirPlay then provides you with up-to-date data from your listeners. This feature allows you to track which are your most successful hits, who listens to you, and whereabouts in the world they are and listeners can even leave comments for you about your track.
• When someone is listening to your song on a playlist, a “promo unit” appears on the listener’s screen. They can ignore it, close it, vote on the song, or perform other actions depending on the configuration you select. If they give your song a thumbs up, they “become a fan” and can opt to share their email address and/or leave a comment.
• You can see recent listens, plays, and fans on your dashboard. Listeners can limit the ads they hear to one per day by connecting their Facebook accounts. When they do, a link to their Facebook profile appears on the dashboard. You can even click through and send them a friend request. You can also message fans through Radio Airplay’s internal messaging system, individually or all at once.

One of the features of their premium service is a premium targeting technique. This allows you to focus your plays on certain demographics based on your data reports. You can concentrate your plays on a group with which you’ve so far had a positive response, or you can take a risk and allocate plays to a demographic you think it’s worth reaching out to. It’s so important to target the right listeners, and with these features, you have inside information. Target the right people and they will help promote your music through the most organic form of music promotion – word of mouth.

Radio Airplay also has a feature called ‘Popscore’ which is based on the rate of success your music has with listeners. They award more than 10,000 ‘Pop Credits’ to artists every week with good Popscores. This can then result in more opportunities through Radio AirPlay, such as sync licensing and label submissions.

How Much Does Radio Airplay Cost?

Radio AirPlay offers a selection of packages which vary in price. Services that come as standard in all of their package options are:

• Data reports – where your music is being played, which artists your tracks overlap with, and listener demographics.
• Specific listener targetting –  allocate plays by taste, age, gender, and location.
• Select specific genres, artists and songs.
• Access to listener details and comments on your tracks.
• Fan collection and management tools.
• Options to add extra promotional tools while your music is playing.
• Inform fans of upcoming shows and live performances.
• Integrate online presence – music stores, social media and band websites.

Radio Airplay’s services begin with a free option, but this only allows you to upload one song and secures only 10 plays per week. From there it increases to £10 a month for 10 tracks and secures you 250 plays.

The most popular option is the ‘Gold’ package. This allows for 20 tracks, so roughly two albums or a number of singles and EPs, for 750 plays a month at a price of £30 a month. This grants you access to your all-time play history, listener demographics and the possibility of bonus monthly plays.

Subscribing to any of their monthly packages makes you eligible for up to 1000 additional free plays per week, for each of your songs that get at least 100 plays. The number of free plays you receive is based on your song’s weekly PopScore, which is determined by how listeners interact with it (likes/dislikes, etc). Most weeks people earn 100 free plays, bringing them up to 1400 or 1500 plays per month.

Targeting and Reporting

How your songs perform determines your PopScore, which is largely based on who you target. You can create unique sets of targets for each song. Maybe one does well with fans of Death Cab for Cutie while another resonates with fans of Radiohead. This is referred to as Song-Level Artist Targeting, and it is well worth taking the time to get right.

Fortunately, Radio Airplay provides a wonderful tool for optimizing your artist targeting: the Fan Overlap Report. This shows you what artists your fans like, on a per-song basis. Just click on a suggested target to add them to your targeting. There are two categories of targeting: Standard and Premium.

Standard targeting: includes Artist Targeting and basic Geographic Targeting (plays are focused on the areas you select). It costs one credit per play.

Premium targeting: adds Demographic Targeting (by age and gender), and strict Geographic Targeting (plays are limited to only the areas you select). It costs two credits per play. Geographic and Demographic reports can help to refine your premium targeting.

Testimonials

Like any savvy, emerging musician who’s questioning the best methods of expanding your reach whilst keeping a close eye on your outgoings, you’ll want to guarantee success. Here are some of the reactions from Radio Airplay customers and how it improved their fanbase and the relationships between them.

“Radio Airplay is a fantastic outlet for artists of all levels to get their music heard by passionate music fans. Gathering new fans and then adding them to our mailing list/marketing strategy is key because those fans come full circle and engage with us in other ways- whether it be on social media outlets or coming to shows. It’s pretty amazing.” 

The Upset Victory, members since 2010

“Communication with Radio Airplay fans is an excellent opportunity to create special relationships. I use the feedback on songs to decide what to play in my live performances – it works.” 

Lawrence Lynn, member since 2010

“We have seen growth in traffic in several places where our music is streamed after a Radio Airplay listener becomes a fan. It’s often the beginning of a great fan relationship right here on Radio Airplay!” 

Ian & The Dream, members since 2011

Summary

In a nutshell, RadioAirplay is a fantastic outlet for artists of all levels to get their music heard by passionate music fans. One of the most important parts of any service is its support team and Radio Airplay’s team is always on hand to help. They’re more than happy to answer any questions and concerns you may have about their service, through live chat, phone, and 24/7 email.

Final Thoughts

It is clear to see then that radio play is still an important factor when you boil it down to the raw data. With the current audience reach of around 72 million people per week for songs in the top 40 (and even more niche genres such as alternative rock still garnering around 10 million listeners a week) it is evident that radio as a medium is alive and kicking – making it well worth an artist’s time getting their music played there. 

It’s a dream of musicians everywhere; to get your music heard on the radio. For people across the country to simultaneously hear your track as they’re driving, cooking, working and going about their lives. To receive a flood of messages and tweets from family, friends and fans telling you your track is on the radio and them sharing in your celebration.

FAQs

Will I be guaranteed spins on my Radio Promotion?

Yes! We do have affiliates with radio stations for guaranteed spins. Check with us who they are when you start your campaign.

Will I get help with a Digital Press Kit?

Yes, a press kit will be part of your package.

I’m in a Rock Band, do the Radio Promotion campaigns cater for this genre?

Absolutely. Whatever your genre, we tailor the package to you and your music. We have over 200,000 radio stations to pitch to of all different genre focuses.

What kinds of stations do you pitch to?

With over 200,000 radio stations we pitch to, you can rest assured we’ll make sure your music is being put to the right stations.

Does the track need to be a clean version?
Ideally yes the tracks will be clean. Any swearing has to be removed before being pitched.

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