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Traditional
radio or FM is pretty much out of the question
for the independent artist. There is way too
much "Big Money" changing hands for
you to get your music played, especially commercial
radio. Non-commercial radio such as college
radio offers a much better alternative because
a they don't need to keep advertisers happy
thus aren't concerned as much with how many
people are tuned in at any given moment, meaning
they have full reign over what they choose to
play, so they play what they believe in.
Regardless,
there might be too much footwork involved for
it to be an effective way of marketing your
new CD. As I will describe later, you can't
just mail out your CD and expect the station
to play it, you will need to talk to someone
after the fact. As we speak there are approximately
ten thousand commercial stations and maybe close
to three thousand non-commercial stations in
the United States alone (not including internet
only radio and podcasts), that is a lot of people
you would have to bug.
Internet radio and podcasting have become a
major plus for the independent musician. There
are thousands of people all over the world creating
podcasts and they mostly cater to independent
music. You see, most artists have their compositions
registered with a performing rights organization
like ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC (in America). This
means that whenever anyone plays one of their
songs on the radio, internet or not, they are
obliged to pay a royalty (called a performance
royalty) that one of these organizations will
collect and pay to him (while taking a cut for
themselves). Unfortunately for podcasters, but
fortunate for the independent artist this is
a major restriction in regards to broadcasting.
It is a plus for me because I have absolutely
no interest in collecting a few pennies from
airplay so I don't use one of these companies
for representation. I simply want as many podcasters
as possible to play my music. The only thing
I ask in return is that they either include
a link to mine on their site, which they usually
do without you even asking, or mention my site's
URL in the podcast.
All in all it is a good deal for everyone involved
including the listener. I mean, if someone really
wanted to hear platinum selling singles they
could just turn on their FM radios. Podcasts
are attracting an audience that wants to hear
something they have never heard before and that
is exactly why independent music is also a winner.
The podcaster gets free music so he is also
happy. Unlike traditional radio, sometimes they
feature an artist or two for the forty of fifty-minute
podcast playing several songs and describing
the artist. I sometimes have the podcaster do
a contest offering one of my signed CDs as the
prize. When he or she gets a winner, they e-mail
me the name and address of the person and I
sign it and snail mail it out myself. I notice
that I tend to get sales in large numbers from
specific countries from time to time. I am pretty
sure it is because a podcaster or DJ for a non-commercial
station in one of those countries is featuring
me.
Internet radio vs. podcasts vs. FM radio
I took a little time and asked my friend George
Smyth about what he sees happening with radio.
I became acquainted with George because he featured
my newest CD on his superb podcast: "Eclectic
Mix." Listen in if you get a chance: http://eclecticmix.libsyn.com/.
This is what George has to say on the state
of:
FM Radio
FM radio, at this point in time, is certainly
the most popular of these three (internet,
podcasting and FM radio). I make my statement
as such because I have seen the change over
time. When I was just a little scrapper,
AM radio was king, and I was able to put
together a crystal radio that allowed me
to listen to WABC in New York City, as we
lived only about 25 miles away. In the 1950's
and early 1960's the only type of music
to be found on FM radio was easy listening
- the sort of thing one heard in elevators.
As the 60's progressed, however, more and
more radio stations moved to FM because
of the superior sound quality, and by the
time I was in junior high school in the
mid-60's, that's pretty much all we listened
to (although I did sometimes move to the
AM dial so that I could get WAMO in Pittsburgh,
which played only soul music). The key here
is that in a very short period of time,
people saw an advantage to the FM band over
the AM band, and since many radios already
covered both bands, switched their listening
habits.
Internet Radio
Internet radio is a relatively recent phenomenon
that has gained popularity over the past
several years. Although the disadvantage
is that an Internet connection is required
while listening, the big advantage is that
any station in the world can be heard that
offers streaming over the Internet. As bandwidth
considerations have been dramatically expanded
(my first modem was a 300 baud modem in
the early 80's) through cable and DSL, the
quality of the audio has increased to the
point where it is quite listenable. The
coverage an FM station is able to broadcast
their signal is designed (depending upon
power and the terrain) to be for local consumption,
Internet radio has no problems crossing
the barriers that limit FM radio. This offers
listeners more choices in what they wish
to listen to. The more ubiquitous broadband
connections become, the more people will
opt to expand their listening possibilities
by switching to Internet radio.
Podcasts
Podcasts combine the flexibility of offering
the listener a greater choice of listening
possibilities, and the ability to listen
without a constant Internet connection.
When one combines this with the ability
to listen to a podcast at the time of the
listener's choosing, flexibility is extended
as far as possible. Podcasts have only been
in existence since the latter part of 2004,
so the fact that millions of people have
experienced this technology is quite amazing.
The growth of podcasts is almost directly
eclipsing the growth of websites on the
Internet, which I have been watching for
a dozen years (I created my first website
in 1995). Just as websites offer a plethora
of divergent content from which the user
can choose to consume, such is also the
case with podcasts, which offer the ultimate
in diversity and empowerment. The future
of podcasts will almost certainly see mp3
players with the ability to connect to the
Internet on their own when a connection
is available, and download subscriptions.
When that becomes a reality, the FM radio
model will have as much to offer as AM radio
currently does - it will survive, but in
a much diminished capacity.
How podcasting will help the independent
artist
Podcasting is about empowerment and choice,
and offers to the artist choices that have
never before been available. In the past,
the dream of the musician was to find a
way to get noticed and sign a contract with
a major label. Although this is still the
case for some, others have realized that
there are major disadvantages to selling
perpetual distribution rights to these organizations.
Choices are good, and whereas there was
no choice in the past, podcasts offer the
artist an additional choice that did not
exist until late 2004. All artists know
that they key to being successful lies in
being heard - no artist was ever successful
without a following. Music podcasts offer
music to the public, and the artists that
allow their music to be played on podcasts
are given an audience that they may not
have had before. After all, there is good
reason for record labels to offer payola
to have their music played, as this helps
their cause. Similarly, an artist having
their music played on a podcast can only
help their cause. (It is true irony that
the music industry will pay radio stations
to play their music, but will sue a podcast
for playing their music.) The key is that
the public is willing to pay for music that
is reasonably priced. On one hand, the sales
of CDs by the major labels have declined
due to the high cost of the CD in the store,
as well as the inclusion of programs destructive
to computers placed on those CDs, whereas
on the other hand, the Apple iTunes Store
has sold more than one billion songs through
their website, where songs cost less than
one dollar. Unfortunately, Apple does not
offer a breakdown of these songs, but many
have been sold by artists who have made
their music available to them, as opposed
to the major labels, and people heard these
artists on podcasts.
Adding to the diversity is the new crop
of Internet "record labels" that
are friendly to podcasters. Companies, such
as magnatune.com, offer music to podcasters
without charge, as they realize that, as
has been established, people are willing
to pay for music that is reasonably priced.
In turn, the podcaster oftentimes becomes
an advocate of the artist and works on their
behalf for their success. Of course, CD
sales is just one avenue of revenue for
the artist. Performing is a more lucrative
means of funding one's art, and allowing
for the recording of one's concerts gives
the listener an opportunity to hear the
artist's music. The Internet Live Music
Archive has nearly 35,000 concerts available,
and many of these have been played on podcasts
(such as Eclectic Mix). In speaking with
several bands about this, they all see this
as an intelligent business decision, allowing
their fans to follow them where they go,
and get psyched to see them when they come
to town. Podcasts disseminating these concerts
offer a greater audience than the group
(or artist) would otherwise have, and opens
the possibility for more fans and a continuing
ability to perform.
Summery
As George kindly described for us, podcasting
is exploding, a true phenomenon and a great
opportunity for you as an independent artist.
But once again be warned, balance is the key
here; If you randomly send off your CD to every
podcaster and radio station in the universe
(commercial or otherwise) you will be throwing
your CDs away. If you plan on pressing a thousand
CDs, figure on using a hundred for promotional
purposes. You must be sure that the podcast
and/or radio station you solicit for promotion
will have a place for your music. If they don't
play it, you will sell nothing. And you must
follow up. If you choose to send a CD to someone,
e-mail him or her and tell them that you are
doing so, and ask them to please consider your
music for airplay. Include a letter and press
pack with the CD and open the shrink rap so
they don't have to be bothered with doing it
themselves. If they play your music, thank them
from the bottom of your heart.
I think internet radio and podcasts offer a
much better alternative simply because commercial
radio won't amount to very much. Even if they
play your CD several times over the course of
a week or a day (which is very unlikely), you
will need distribution for it to turn into sales
(the podcaster will most likely post your link
directly on his site). To get distribution you
will need a nice marketing budget and need to
have at least a few thousand CDs pressed to
get distribution. One without the other equals
zero.
Getting yourself on a podcast
Not really a big undertaking compared to getting
yourself on commercial FM. Just do a search
of your genre + podcast and you should come
up with a bunch of podcasts that should work
well with your music, Ex: blues+podcasts. If
your music is good, podcasters will be more
than happy to include your music in their podcast.
Make sure to do a thorough examination of the
podcaster's website and take a good listen to
one of his podcasts before e-mailing him to
introduce yourself. Although there is sometimes
a link for music submissions on the podcast
homepage, as I've stressed throughout most of
my articles, the point with being successful
as an independent artist means you have to keep
things on a personal level with everyone you
deal with. Therefore send your music with a
nice letter and an e-mail and follow up with
another e-mail after he plays your music. The
podcaster may want a CD or might see fit with
mp3s if you are lucky.
Some podcasts that I like and have had success
with:
Podcast
directories that may be of interest:
And
some internet radio sites:
My experience tells me that there is no lack
of places to send your music for airplay. The
problem is in finding the right podcasts and
internet radio stations, ones that will feature
you and offer you proper exposure. Choose carefully
or youfll end up going broke by sending CDs
all over the world for promotion that you may
or may not get. All said and done, podcasts
and internet radio is great if you want to get
some radio exposure all over the world without
spending tons of money.
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