Chris Smith, long time country DJ offers some advice on getting your music played on local radio...
One of the problems country artists encounter in getting played on UK radio is that it’s country music. Most of our local radio stations air their country show at times when their core audience is unlikely to be listening, and those shows tend to be presented by people who do it in their spare time.
Chris Smith was employed at Ritz 1035am when it was London’s only dedicated country music station, broadcasting country music 24/7. He was one of the backroom team, principally responsible for sponsorships and promotions but necessarily involved in other duties, including listening to the unsolicited music tracks which would arrive weekly. He did his country broadcasting apprenticeship on hospital radio in Eastbourne and got recruited by a local community station, Uckfield FM, which grew and became Ashdown Radio. He continued to broadcast and now has a three hour show every Wednesday on Susy Radio, covering bits of Sussex and Surrey. He has also been reviewing albums and writing the occasional article for Country Music People magazine for over ten years and posts a one-hour Ameripolitan Show on Mixcloud, as and when spare time allows.
Here Chris offers his advice to artists, based on his many years on the radio.
These are my thoughts on how you might increase the chances of getting your own music played, with the tongue-in-cheek cynicism of one who gets sent a shedload of music that he has to reject. Hopefully though, you will pick up a tip or two from this which will help you get your music accepted.
Listen to shows before contacting them
Country music is a broad church, even the sub-genres have sub-genres. A lot of radio shows specialise – new country, traditional country, classic country, sometimes even British country. If your song does not fit with the rest of a show’s playlist, don’t bother sending it. No matter how brilliant your song is, the presenter is unlikely to change a tried-and-tested musical format to accommodate it.
Give them a reason to play it
Your new release may well be excellent and fit the bill for the show you have contacted – but you might be unlucky, your song might arrive at the same time as one or two other excellent songs that also fit the bill. So why should you get playlisted in preference to the others? Are you local? Have you a gig coming up in that radio station’s broadcast area? If so, construct your accompanying media sheet to lead with that fact – it should not only add relevance, but give the presenter something interesting to say about you and your music on air as well. Even just “this is a new song by … who is playing at … next week” makes it easy for the DJ.
Liaise with your venues
This is especially important if you’re playing somewhere you haven’t played before. Contact the promoter and ask if they have a friendly face at their local radio station to whom you can send your song(s) and information about the gig in advance. This also applies to local newspaper gig guides and community info websites. If the promoter suggests them, always follow up on that suggestion.
Can you offer something extra?
The days of Payola (pay to play) are mostly long gone, but there are other quite simple add-ons you could legitimately offer to appeal to the radio station or presenter concerned. Can you be available for interview? If they interview you about a local performance, can you offer a couple of free tickets (and/or some merch) as either a listener prize or to encourage the presenter to come along in the hope that he/she will become a fan for the future? If you are offering to be interviewed (in studio or on the phone) try not to make it just about your song or show – what other interesting facts about you and your music can they talk to you about that their listeners would find interesting? Previous career (maybe with funny anecdotes)? Do you have a famous relative or ancestor? Have you met a big country music star? A travel adventure? Do you have an unusual hobby or interest as well as music? If you have an interesting ‘something else’ tell them about it loud and clear. They are unlikely to research it for themselves.
If someone from local media agrees to come to your show, make sure you find them for a chat before or after if you can – and contact them afterwards to apologise for inadvertently ignoring them if you can’t.
Have an appealing media sheet
They don’t always get read – especially if they look long and wordy. One sheet of basic information can always end with contact details for those who would like to know more. Make the tone of it interesting and informative – if the first couple of paragraphs are dull, you’ll probably lose the attention of the reader.
So, before I lose the attention of the reader, I’ll sum up. When plugging your track to local radio, plan, research, make it interesting and, where you do get success, always follow up with a little thank you message.
Good luck!
Chris Smith – Industry Professional Member UK-CMA
