it..
After 15 years of promoting music to radio and prior to that, being
a songwriter/touring artist myself, I have some helpful advice to
offer. First, I am amazed at how many
musicians/composers/songwriters I speak to daily that feel there is
only room on radio for vocal tracks, completely not so.
Globally, there are radio stations that play a variety of genres,
along with stations that simply play instrumental music. So if you
have both, get ready to get the music out there. When I was in the
studio, I created my vocal tracks and my instrumental tracks as each
had a home to find. BUT, the songs have to be of good quality. If
you have vocals, you want them loud, in your face for radio..the
production must be solid, whether it is instrumental or not. Write
lyrics that can relate to the listener. If your song is crossover in
genres, you can obtain more airplay on various crossover stations.
Musicians must be in sync and really ‘gel’ in the song performance.
The song lengths should be short. Keep them to a minimum length.
I’ve had radio dj’s asking me for songs that are less than two
minutes to fit in their end of playlist time slots. And of course we
have the standard 3:30, 4 minute lengths. If you write a vocal work,
no long intros at the start…dive right into the vocals. Have a
catchy title, have a catchy music hook, lyric, melody in the song.
If the song feels forced when you are writing it, most likely won’t
be your best at the end. Songs that come quickly to you, sometimes
within 10 minutes are usually a stellar end product. Once again,
based on my experience as a songwriter. And finally, songs, great
songs are meant to be heard. A good song can make you a lot of money
if you promote it correctly. That’s where someone like me comes
in..getting it to the right hands. I promoted my 7 song EP for over
10 years, earning airplay and 8 song placements. And if YOU have
‘older’ music that sounds timeless and you have not done anything
with it promo wise, get it out there and make your music work
for you. Radio royalties, downloads sales, song placements in
film/tv all money making ‘can do’s’ for indie artists and bands. No
more excuses on how can I make money?. There are hundreds of
thousands of stations out there. The more your music is out there,
the more you reap the rewards of your talents.
Danie Cortese