September 30, 2015

10 Tips To Be A Better Band Leader


Keeping a band together can be one of the biggest challenges in the music business, especially when there's a lack of leadership and direction for the band.

Check out this interesting and insightful new article from our friends at Music Think Tank, about American jazz composer and bandleader Sun Ra, and a great list of tips any leader can use and keep in mind to get the very best out of your band and music!

http://www.musicthinktank.com/mtt-open/10-things-sun-ra-can-teach-us-about-band-leadership.html

Content Marketing Ideas You Need To Know About

"If you’ve spent any amount of time researching online promotion strategies, you’ve certainly come across the term “content marketing.” This is the act of strategically creating cool stuff to share with your audience online.
The content you create can come in many forms: the written word, the spoken word, music, images, and video. This content can be delivered via your website, email, social media sites, YouTube, SoundCloud, smartphones, tablets, computer screens, the telephone, and more.
This post by our friends at DIY Musician features a list of ways to create ideas for your online content. Read their tips to begin creating amazing content now!

http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/social-media/five-ways-to-uncover-content-marketing-ideas-for-music/

September 24, 2015

I would like more plays per day. How do I speed up plays?

First, please be advised that it is normal for pacing of plays to slow down/speed up. This largely depends on how many listeners are tuning into your selected target artist stations and how many artists like yourself are targeting those same artists. 

If you find that your songs are not playing at a fast enough pace and you want the songs played with more frequency, there’s a few aspects of your targeting that you can adjust:


  • PLAY SPEED: You can increase the play speed at anytime from your CAMPAIGN SETTINGS > STANDARD TARGETING using the “Play Speed” option. The default speed is set but you can increase or slow your speeds and adjust as needed.
  • ARTIST TARGETS: Add more artists to your target list and/or adding more popular or mainstream artists to your list will speed up rate of plays.  

    The minimum number of artists one must select to start a campaign is 5. However, you can add up to 30 artist targets. The more artists you add to your list + the more popular these artists are = faster the speed of plays will be because you are expanding your listener range to a wider scope.


  • APPLY MORE PLAYS: Applying more play credits to a song will also increase speed of plays. If you apply very few credits to a song, then the system will pace those plays out so that they last longer and don’t get used up too quickly. Applying credits in larger increments will help kick up the frequency of plays on your songs.
  • USE SONG LEVEL TARGETING: Did you know that with only standard artist targeting and more than one song receiving promotional plays, your songs are actually competing for airplay spots with each other? This is because they are all working for airplay spots in the same 5-30 artists targets you have chosen in your standard targeting. Hop over to How To Use Artist Bundles To Increase Play Speed for tips and tricks on how to optimize this features use.
  • ARE YOU USING PREMIUM TARGETING?: Keep in mind that having Premium Targeting enabled and focusing plays in certain regions or to a particular demographic will decrease the frequency of plays because your potential listeners are dramatically narrowed down.

Center Stage - Duke City Riots

Meet our latest Center Stage band, Duke City Riots

The Duke City Riots began as a hang out session and then quickly morphed into something far more than it was ever intended to be. C.S. Parker and Shannon Haworth were introduced in a very pedestrian fashion. “My wife introduced us,” says Parker. “We hit it off right away.” There was an immediate rapport between the two, infused with the holy trinity of conversation: football, politics, and music. After a few months it was casually decided that the two would try messing around with some tunes just for fun.

Learn more about the band that has got our listeners asking for more in the Q&A below! 

Describe your sound in one ramble-on sentence..
If the Black Keys met up with Pink Floyd at Johnny Cash's house to jam, you'd probably get something that sounds like us! I refer to our sound as Alt Rock Cow Punk...everybody else has their own description of it!

What inspires you to make music?
A chance to make our own statement about the crazy world we live in. The music business has never been more wide open, which benefits an odd do it yourself band like ourselves.

What aspect of making music excites you the most right now?
The fact that we can do whatever we want without someone telling us how we should sound, and that we can do it all right out of our little corner of the world.

What are the biggest challenges you face as a musician?  
Creating awareness for our band. Since we're not on commercial radio, not many people have heard of us yet. Not having big promotional dollars behind us makes this challenging but uniquely rewarding.

What's one of your all-time favorite recordings?
Sublime's 40 Ounces To Freedom-a totally great and unique record put together exactly how they wanted it...totally do it yourself!

Name three people who have influenced your music, and tell us why- Living or dead.
First off, Hank Williams III...when Chuck heard Hank's first record, he was inspired to branch out from his Alt Rock roots and he wrote most of the songs from our debut EP Ok To Burn, shortly thereafter.  
Second, Stevie Ray Vaughan. His music has so much emotion in it, still blows me away. Finally, as a drummer, Ringo Starr and the Beatles. He has such a knack for simplistic yet unique fills, he makes the tough stuff look easy.

Do you have any recent or upcoming projects you'd like to share with us? Tell us about it.
We are about to release our first full-length record, Land Of Entrapment. It should be out in about three weeks. Same for the first video for the record for a song called US. We can't wait to share it!

What is your ideal or target audience?
Ideally, the college radio crowd, but our music is for anybody that's open minded and tired of the usual mainstream commercial radio crap.

Do you write/compose your own songs? Briefly describe your songwriting process.
We do indeed write and compose all of our songs. Chuck will bring a melody to rehearsal, we'll jam it out as a band and usually have an arrangement very quickly. After that, Chuck adds the lyrics and we have a new song.

What do you like the most about Radio Airplay?
That we can be heard alongside some of the best new bands out there, and that our music is being heard worldwide. Without Radio Airplay we'd have a lot less fans. We actually have more fans from Israel than we do from our entire home state!

Monogability (Women On The Beach) from our EP Ok To Burn




September 23, 2015

5 Critical Things You Need Before You Start A PR Campaign


A PR Campaign can be a crucial component for an indie artist's marketing strategy, but in order for PR to be truly successful and achieve everything you want it to, you MUST be ready on your end. 

Luckily, our friends at MTT posted an awesome article with 5 Critical Things You Need Before You Start A PR Campaign.



http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/5-critical-things-you-need-before-you-start-a-pr-campaign.html

8 Reasons You Aren’t Getting Publicity For Your Music


"Musicians dream of getting massive amounts of publicity and everyone knowing their names, but getting press as an emerging artist can be tough...There’s an art and a science to securing press that many emerging artists may not understand.."
Check out this great new article from our friends at CD BABY, listing 8 common mistakes and missteps you should be avoiding at all costs, to get press and maximize promotion for your music and shows!

http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/music-promotion/8-reasons-you-arent-getting-publicity-for-your-music/

September 18, 2015

How Do I Get My Songs Back In Rotation And Reach Listeners Again?


Getting a song back into Jango Radio stations and heard by listeners there simply involves applying Play Credits to the song in your account.

Similarly to assigning jukebox credits to a song to queue up its play, applying Play Credits to a song in your Radio Airplay account is what actually queues up the song for that many plays on Jango Radio stations.

To apply your Play Credits, go to the PLAY CREDITS tab in your account's top menu and click on USE CREDITS. Similarly you can go to ARTIST CONTENT and SONGS to get to the same page.



If you have available credits for use they'll be marked as Play Credits Unapplied. If you have any credits currently Applied to your song(s) they'll also appear totalled in this section on the top right of this page.



How To Apply Credits: Hover over "Apply" next to a particular song on your list and the increments you can apply will appear. Choose one of those amounts to place that many of your unapplied credits to the song. Once plays are applied, this is what will actually queue up the song for that many plays in the Jango Radio artist stations you've chosen to reach listeners in.



Once credits are applied to a song, plays will begin automatically within a few hours. You don't have to do anything else. As the new play credits are used, your Radio Airplay account will update with information about those new Plays and Listeners. Each used Play Credit will correlate with a new Play and Recent Listener in your account information.

Any questions or if you need help don't hesitate to reach out to us: support@radioairplay.com



September 17, 2015

Center Stage - The Tales

We're so excited to introduce our newest Center Stage band, The Tales. Their tight vocal harmonies, reverb guitar and sweet melodies have got our listeners hooked. Get to know The Tales, and what they're up to in our latest feature. 
The Tales are a New York-based pop/rock quartet. With past and present members from other notable bands such as Lucius, Turkuaz and Hollis Brown, the band explores an eclectic, yet classic sounding style reminiscent of the classic pop and rock of the 60's and 70's. 
The Tales' music is comprised of short but very sweet songs, with catchy melodies, and lush vocal harmonies. With three principal singer/songwriters in the band, there is limitless attention paid to the craft of composition and writing, but not without it's fair share of groove and fun rhythm thrown into the mix.
The band's live show is varied, exploring bigger rock sounds as well as more mellow, sentimental moments.  The Tales have performed at notable venues in New York City and around the Northeast. With how busy each member keeps themselves with various projects, both in the studio and on the road, the highly anticipated and tragically rare live show is surely not to be missed.
Describe your sound in one ramble-on sentence..
60s and 70s inspired Pop Rock 

What inspires you to make music?
We find inspiration in many places. From our favorite bands and records, from learning and playing with other musicians, and from our own personal drive to create- It's great to know that you're doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing. 

What aspect of making music excites you the most right now?
Making great songs and collaborating as friends to make the music we love. 

What are the biggest challenges you face as a musician?
The balance of work and creation and the hustle and bustle of the industry. 

What's one of your all-time favorite recordings?
God Only Knows - The Beach Boys

Name three people who have influenced your music and why
The Beatles - Because they're just the best band EVER 
The Beach Boys - Because of their amazing ability to harmonize and create beautiful melodies. 
Dr. Dog - Because they're a great modern indie rock band that is able to write songs that are timeless and relatable. 

Do you have any recent or upcoming projects you'd like to share with us? Tell us about it.
We recorded an EP some time ago. You can listen to it here http://www.wearethetales.com/blog/2014/9/4/the-tales-ep
We plan on recording a new project in December, so stay tuned for new music coming soon. 

What is your ideal or target audience?
Anyone that truly enjoys the music we do! 

Do you write/compose your own songs? Briefly describe your songwriting process..
Yes,we are all songwriters. Usually one of us will bring a song to the band that we've written on our own and then we arrange and produce them together as a band.

What do you like the most about Radio Airplay?
We love being able to get the music heard worldwide and specifically to a target audience that already like the genre of music we play. Getting heard by people who would never otherwise have known about us is awesome! 


                           THE TALES // Blue, Gold, Crimson, And White // In The Studio








September 16, 2015

5 Things Every Band Should Do


"Playing with a band for a living seems like a dream for a lot of people, but like anything, if it isn’t built on a solid foundation, it will most likely crumble."

Our friends at Cd Baby recently posted this simple, helpful list of guidelines for anyone in a band to follow and keep in mind to keep the band together, create great music, and have the best shot at finding success!

http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/musician-tips/get-more-done-5-things-every-band-should-do/

Are You Ready To Release Your Debut Album?


"The first album you release sets up the rest of your career, and it can help you gain a lot of fans…if it’s any good. Timing the release is important, because if it comes too early, not enough people will know who you are, but if you make people wait too long, the perfect moment might have passed you by." 

Here are five signs that it’s the perfect time to release your debut album- posted by our friends at Music Think Tank.

http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/5-signs-youre-ready-to-release-your-first-full-length-album.html

September 10, 2015

Center Stage - Ships Have Sailed

We're pleased to introduce our newest Center Stage band, Ships Have Sailed- 
An alternative pop-rock trio hailing from Los Angeles, debuted their first EP, Someday in 2014, which gained heavy airplay on College, NPR, and commercial radio in the US and Canada. Its success inspired the band to tour the East Coast, during which time they began piecing together their first full-length album, Moodswings. 

The LP veered away from today’s single-driven musical climate with a well-rounded, full-length story intended to be heard from the beginning to the end; with a theme that echoes the band’s name, a positive spin on the phrase “That ship has sailed,” as it meditates on change’s ability to impact one’s life at any moment.  

Describe your sound in one ramble-on sentence.
We blend influences from all over the genre-map to create catchy, inspiring alternative pop that is thought provoking, but simultaneously light-hearted!

What inspires you to make music?
We draw our inspiration from the world around us, contemplating life in all its mystery, human interaction, and of course our musical influences.

What aspect of making music excites you the most right now?
The opportunities right now for musical artists are endless! With social media at our fingertips, we can gain exposure to huge numbers of music fans almost instantly, and the genre-mold is opening up for a lot of cross-pollination of fans who like many different types of music.  What this means for us is that we can really explore different types of sounds and blend different types of music within a single album or song and that almost works in your favor these days as an artist.  Whereas historically, once you establish "your sound" people really expected more of the same with each release, today's musical climate allows us to be really creative, and we love that!

What are the biggest challenges you face as a musician?
Well obviously in any creative industry you will have folks that appreciate your style, those that don't, and those who just plain like something different! I think with any artistic medium, music included, the most difficult thing is to block out the "noise" so to speak and focus on what your mind and your heart are telling you...if it resonates, there's a reason for that, and one or two opinions otherwise shouldn't stifle progress...

What's one of your all-time favorite recordings?
Myself personally, I would have to say Pink Floyd's "The Wall".  It was really the birth of the concept album as a widely accepted format, and one of the very early full-length videos to accompany an album.  Add in stellar songwriting, excellent production and musical talent that is undeniable, and you have an instant favorite in my book...but man that's a tough question - how do you pick one of millions??

Name three people who have influenced your music, and tell us why- Living or dead.
Hmm...I think I would have to say Kurt Cobain for his knack for finding beauty in simplicity, Chris Martin for obvious musical genius and his ability to both stay in a lane musically while simultaneously switching it up (really amazing actually if you think about it) and John Lennon for his ability to work world views into his music, but in a fairly non-abrasive way.

Do you have any recent or upcoming projects you'd like to share with us? Tell us about it.
Absolutely! Our album 'Moodswings' was released in March of this year...we are extremely proud of what we created, and would love people to check it out!  We are about to get back into the studio and start the next project, but what it is...well, that's a surprise.. ;-)

What is your ideal or target audience?
Simply put: we love people who love music! :-)

Do you write/compose your own songs? Briefly describe your songwriting process..
Yes, I do most of our songwriting with help from Dan and sometimes with various co-writers.  One of my favorite people to co-write with is a very good friend Morgan Taylor Reid, who has co-written several songs both on our first release 'Someday' and our most recent album 'Moodswings'.  He's great to write with because it's almost effortless - like we're finishing each other's sentences (musically speaking).  The exact process varies greatly; sometimes it's true you might deliberately sit down and say: "I want to write a song about [blank]" and write one, but for me more often than not I'll be either asleep or in an inconvenient location and something will just pop into my head! I try to keep a voice recorder close by at all times, and can be seen singing softly into it wherever I may be...hotel rooms, planes, restaurants...haha. Can't lose that great idea, so best to get it down any way you can while it's still swirling around in your brain!

What do you like the most about Radio Airplay?
Well like all online platforms it's a tool that can help to gain exposure, but Radio Airplay in particular gives an artist the ability to showcase your best work in front of people who are most likely to appreciate it.  The controls to target song exposure are pretty stellar, and have recently gotten even better!  I'm really happy to be able to use Radio Airplay as part of the Ships Have Sailed online strategy.

'Drive' off of 'Moodswings'





Our latest album 'Moodswings' is available on iTunes and anywhere online music can be streamed or purchased here

September 9, 2015

First Steps in Email Marketing For Indie Artists

"Email marketing can be a difficult tool to grasp in the beginning, but once you harness it, it can be a big part of how you monetize your music! With such a big undertaking, it can be hard to know where to begin, and there are a lot of routes you can take in the process."

Check out this great article from our friends at Tunecore, with a handy guideline for artists on creating and utilizing your fan e-mail list to maximize promotion!

10 Commandments of Being in a Band


"As fun as being in a band is, it can challenge you in a big way as a musician and a person. Don’t underestimate it." 

Thankfully, a recent post by our partners at DIY Musician includes the 10 commandments you need to live by if you're trying to be serious about your band. Check it out here! 

http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/musician-tips/the-10-commandments-of-being-in-a-band/#

September 3, 2015

Center Stage - Black Bears Fire

Meet Radio Airplay's latest Center Stage band, Black Bears Fire. Full of refreshing and tasteful melodies and instrumentation, their sound is warm and familiar - a type of cross between Wilco and 70's country-rock.

Get to know the man behind Black Bears Fire in our latest feature! 


Nic Mcnamara was born in Johannesburg South Africa and was surrounded by music at a very young age. Upon moving to the states Nic started his musical pursuits while learning recording engineering from his father Stevin Mcnamara - an accomplished musician and studio engineer since the 1970s. 

Nic has been playing music in some form or another his entire life. He began recording under the name Black Bears Fire around 2012 and has self released 2 albums, the 2013 debut Start Sleeping In and the 2015 sophomore release The Bottomless Blue. He is currently working on a followup expected to be released in 2016. 

He has played with a variety of musicians in live settings but writes, composes and records the majority of his music. Nic currently lives in Southern Oregon and plans to tour rigorously in the near future while continuing to record and produce albums.

Describe your sound in one ramble-on sentence
Country/folk and surf/garage infused indie rock.

What inspires you to make music?
A sincere desire to affect people the way I've been affected by music. It's always been the one constant in my life with the ability to completley change my mood or state of mind regardless of circumstance. It's a power tool that has helped me through just about every situation and if I can affect people in any way with the music I create, I can die a happy man.

What aspect of making music excites you the most right now?
I've spent most of my life making music in some form or another and the majority of that time has been dedicated to recording. I've been playing a lot more shows recently and am getting more and more excited about touring and reaching larger audiences.

What are the biggest challenges you face as a musician?
Blending a full time music career with a normal life can be tough but it's what I signed up for and I'm looking forward to a life of finding that balance. Finding the right people to play live with can provide a challenge as well when many of my friends and bandmates have moved to different cities but I always make it work some how.

What's one of your all-time favorite recordings?
That's Not Me - The Beach Boys

Name three people who have influenced your music, and tell us why- Living or dead
-My Dad has shown me just about everything I know in the world of music starting at a very young age. I've been so lucky to have such a great teacher who continues to inspire me.
-My Mom has time and time again encouraged me to follow my dreams and creative pursuits. She's shown me the power of perseverance.  
-My best friend and band mate Claire Burgess blows me away every day with her musical genius.

Do you have any recent or upcoming projects you'd like to share with us? Tell us about it.
I've just released my second album "The Bottomless Blue". It is available digitally wherever you can find music online as well as on CD and Vinyl availible at my website.
I'm currently working on the follow up album that I expect to be finished sometime next year.

What is your ideal or target audience?
I love playing small, intimate shows just as much as big ones. There's something wonderful and unique about both experiences. I'm overjoyed by anyone who listens to my music.

Do you write/compose your own songs? Briefly describe your songwriting process.
I write all my own songs. All the lyrics as well as the majority of intrumentation on the albums. I usually come up with songs on an acoustic guitar and then flesh them out later once the recording process begins.

What do you like the most about Radio Airplay?
I love the ability to customise the audience you reach with Radio Airplay. I think it's an invaluable tool.




September 2, 2015

How to Make a Music Video as an Indie Artist


"If you are serious about building a career as an artist, the visuals you create, photos and videos are a hugely important piece of the marketing and brand building process." 

If you've been thinking about making a music video but have no idea where to start, here's a great article from our friends at Tunecore for a little push in the right direction.

http://www.tunecore.com/blog/2015/08/stop-whining-start-doing-making-a-music-video-as-an-indie-artist.html

4 Ways To Battle The Stress Of Managing Your Own Music Career


"Being an independent musician isn’t easy. Part of the difficulty in that effort is managing the stress it brings. When you’re overwhelmed, achieving your goals can seem impossible. Minimizing the pressure is paramount."

Check out this new article from our friends at Music Think Tank with some great basic tips on dealing with stress and managing your music career!

http://www.musicthinktank.com/blog/4-ways-to-battle-the-stress-of-managing-your-own-music-caree.html