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How To Use Radio Promotion to Boost Airplay and Build New Audiences
By Jeri Goldstein
© 2006 The New Music Times, Inc.

I often get calls from artists who want to know more about using a radio promotion company to help boost airplay and build new audiences. Most artists believe they ought to launch into a full-blown campaign as soon as they have their hot-off-the-press CD. Some artists should do just that, others should not, depending on your career goals, of course.

Use radio promotions to identify hot markets for touring. Be prepared to tour in the markets where airplay is greatest. The best use of a radio campaign is to track the cities and radio stations that have added the recording. Plan support tour dates in those cities no later than four to six weeks after the campaign has been completed. Once you have the radio stations become familiar with your music, those stations become key points of contact to help promote a tour date. When you notify the station of the upcoming tour, they are likely to extend airplay, promote the date, do phone or live interviews and possibly even work with the promoter or venue as a co-sponsor. The radio station may even be able to recommend specific venues and promoters in the area at the start of your booking process.

Use the radio promotion's campaign to leverage better dates. As you contact the various venues in the markets of greatest airplay, mention the radio campaign, the station playing the recording and what degree of airplay the recording is receiving. Knowing that radio is supporting the act can often be the persuasive factor necessary to land a date.

There are two methods of radio promotions to consider-- hiring a radio promotion company or doing radio promotion on your own. Here is a set of criteria to help you decide which works best for you.

Hiring a Radio Promotions Company

1. Acts with intentions to expand their touring beyond their own region or to tour nationally would benefit from working with a professional radio promotions company.

2. Costs range from $400-$600 per week for an eight to twelve week campaign. Be prepared to spend at least $2400 to $4000 for an eight-week campaign and if all is going well, you might want to add an additional two to four-weeks. These costs are just for the company. Some companies charge additionally for expenses like shipping and phone. You need to have enough promo copies of the CD available as well. Each promotions company will tell you how many stations they service.

3. Select a company that is well established in promoting to your genre of music and radio format. Some of the main formats are: A3, Americana, NAC/Smooth Jazz, Rock, Adult Contemporary, Country, Adult Alternative, Gospel, R&B, New Age, World Music, Latin, Rap, Urban, College depending on which radio chart is used.

4. Know which format your recording fits. If you intend to use radio promotions as a tool to push the act to the next level, you should research formats and listen to the stations playing those formats prior to making the recording. When interviewing companies to work with, they will review the recording before taking on the project. They are just as anxious to have a successful campaign as you are. They have a reputation to maintain with the various radio stations. Their credibility is at stake with every project they pitch.

5. Ensure that the recording will be available in the markets where the campaign is concentrating. This can include signing with a distributor who will stock the local stores, or it can mean the recording is available through any of the online retailers. If the recording begins to receive airplay, radio stations want to make purchase information available to callers.

The goal of any radio promotion campaign, large or small, is to create audience awareness of your group and the new recording. National promotions companies use charts to mark progress. They spend many hours of each day calling and then recalling. Ultimately, your goal is to use the radio airplay to boost bookings and build your fan base. Radio recognition helps both causes. Include some aspects of radio campaigning in your marketing program.

Artists can receive spins by contacting a radio promotions company.


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About Roots Music Report
Roots Music Report is the number one independent music chart ezine in the world. We compile radio airplay data reported online from radio station DJ's around the globe that play all forms of roots music, so that each week you can see which independent artists are being played the most, by what stations and where the artists call home.

RMR will be adding new charts as radio stations are now coming onboard that play a multitude of music formats such as R&B, Pop Country, Rock & Roll and more as these genres approach numbers that will fill the Top50 chart slots.

We strive at Roots Music Report to help the independent "Indie" and mainstream artists, and have been doing so for over 10 years. Our goals are simple: provide honest radio airplay data for artists so they will be able to determine whether their promotion tactics are working, and give them the tools to help make their radio promotion campaigns more effective. ONLY THE MUSIC MATTERS.

Want more information on the Roots Music Report's charts? Sign-up for the RMR Airplay Tracking Database. Get all the contact information for all of our reporting stations, track what stations are playing your music, and see who else they are playing.