Indie Bible - zankMusic.com

You have to be signed
Untrue, being signed is only a signal to the stations that the basic marketing
practices are going to be done right. If you have the budget, you can
duplicate the marketing practices of larger labels, provided you know how.
The band C re e d set a good example, of putting their $5 million marketing
dollars into the right place.
Request calls will help
They won’t hurt but your time is better spent doing other things, like
inviting people to your gigs. Stations know which calls are real, and which
are bands and their friends. Stations have consultants and seminars which
cover this o n e t o p i c .
I can’t get airplay without distribution
It depends on the size of radio that you are going after. Smaller commercial
r e g u l a r-rotation stations in smaller markets won’t make this too much of a
sticking point, especially if you have a powerful radio campaign going, or
if you are doing great gigs in their city, or if you have great college or
specialty/mixshow results. But the larger stations... which you can’t work
anyway until you do the smaller ones... won’t touch a project that has no
d i s t r i b u t i o n .
Airplay without gigs
Again, it depends on the size of radio that you are going after. Not being
able to gig is a serious handicap at any station, but you can overcome it in
smaller markets with intense radio promo, press, sales, and non-comm
r e s u l t s .
Non-monitored stations are of no use
Non-monitored stations are of no use only on the B i l l b o a rd, R & R, and the
seven Album Network mag charts. But F M Q B, C M J and all specialty/
mixshow charts are compiled manually. Since you need to start off on these
smaller charts first, this works out just fine.
B ryan Farrish is an independent radio airplay pro m o t e r. He can be
reached at 818-905-8038 or airplay@radio-media.com. Contact: and
other articles found @ www. r a d i o - m e d i a . c o m .
INDEPENDENT RADIO PROMOTER CHECKLIST
by Bryan Farrish, Bryan Farrish Radio Promotion
© 2008 All Rights Reserved. Used By Permission
♦
If you are hiring a promoter to push your artist to radio, here are a few
things you can consider which will help you have the greatest chance of
success (and when I say promoter, I mean an airplay promoter, not a club
or booking promoter). The big concern with this process is, if you choose
the wrong person(s) to promote your artist and end up with bad results, you
c a n ’t just go back and do it over again. T h a t ’s it for that CD (at those
stations). That CD is now “an old project” at those stations, and you can’t
go back to them until you have a new release.
Part One: Overview
Using a friend: Non-experienced friends sometimes offer to promote
artists to radio for free, or “a few dollars”. This is fine as long as you use
them for the right tasks, like helping with the mailing. If you are working
college radio, in the 20-30 station range, then they could make some calls
too. If they try to call c o m m e rc i a l radio, they will probably stumble after
just a couple of weeks. And forget about any capacity of doing reports or
trade charts.
M o o n l i g h t e r : S t a ff promoters at major labels sometimes offer to “help you
out on the side” for a fee. On their days off, or on the weekend, they say
they will “make some calls for you”. What happens is that their company
finds out and disallows it, or the person gets tied up on their days off, and
c a n ’t do it. Either way, it is a conflict of interest for them.
P u b l i c i t y : Public relations people sometimes offer to work an artist to
radio for airplay. But don’t, however, confuse PR with airplay. A real radio
campaign has nothing to do with publicity. They are two separate
techniques, with different contacts, lead times, terminology, call frequency,
and so on. A person who is good at one is usually terrible at the other. T h i s
is why they are always separate departments at labels.
Station People: Station employees are sometimes recruited to work an
artist, and will tell you that “they know what stations want.” This sounds
convincing, but in reality, taking the calls (which they do/did at the station),
and making the calls, are very different. Until station people are trained (at
a label or indie), they make poor promoters.
Big clients: The most-often used sales technique of promoters is to tell you
they have worked “some big artist”, and that this would benefit you. A s k
them what they mean by “worked”. Were they solely responsible for
charting that artist? Probably not, more than likely, the promoter was
probably just partnered with a label or another promoter, or worse, was just
an assistant or sidekick. Again, they will NOT tell you they were not the
only promoter. You will h a v e to ask the artist or the artist’s management
d i r e c t l y.
Part Two: What to look for in a Promoter
Making contact: Some Indies are always there when you call, others are
never there. The ones who never answer that is usually a bad sign. If you
thought it was difficult reaching them before you hire them, just wait until
a f t e r they get your money. Also be wary, if they say they give clients (and
potential clients) a different phone number to call than the one they give
the stations. It is more likely you will never get that person on the phone
when you do need them.
R e p o rt s : Reports are a requirement that well-organized promoters provide
to you. Without a report, there is no other way you are going to be able to
understand what is going on with your airplay each week... much less
someone else such as stores, papers, clubs etc.
O ff i c e : If the promoter does not have an office (even a small one), then
you will be competing with things like the promoter’s sleep, T V, neighbors,
d i n n e r, etc.
A s s i s t a n t s : If a promoter handles more than one genre of music at the
same time, or if the promoter does college radio at all, then assistants are
m a n d a t o r y. The phone calls have to be made, and no one person can call
more than 150 stations a week, do reports, faxes, emails a n d talk to you
when you call!
College Radio: College should be considered for every campaign, even if
you are doing high-level commercial radio. College radio is relatively
inexpensive, and will allow you to create some good looking charts and
reports to show retail, press and clubs.
F a x e s : Serious promoters use faxes. Faxing is simply the fastest way to get
a one-page synopsis of info to the stations... with pictures if needed. T h e y
are not cheap, but a good promoter should still include these faxes.
E m a i l s : While you may get excited about email, remember that since
email is free, stations get them from every artist on the planet. And all the
emails look the same. So, in order to build a solid project, you must use
faxes and phone calls, because most artists can’t afford them (and that is
why you will stand out.)
R e f e re n c e s : Any promoter worth consideration will have a list of past
clients. What you are looking for, is a promoter with projects that are on
your (independent) level. A list of “big” clients, doesn’t necessarily better,
since a promoter used to having massive help from major label staff
promoters, national tours, retail promotions, advertising etc., will not have
these with your project. You need a promoter who is set up to work with
indie projects like yours.
Do your H o m e w o r k: The “major label” promoter was actually not the
promoter that worked the major projects in the first place. They were
probably just assistants in the office, or were mail people, or more often
than not, they were just outright lying. It happens all the time. Ask the artist
directly to find out.
B ryan Farrish is an independent radio airplay pro m o t e r. He can be
reached at 818-905-8038, or www.radio-media.com. Email for event info:
meet@radio-media.com