Hello, it's Tom Robinson with this week's BBC Introducing Mixtape - broadcast on Monday 28 November 2022 on BBC Radio 6 Music. You can listen again for 30 days after broadcast via this link. It features 60 minutes tunes uploaded to the BBC Introducing website by independent artists and handpicked by me, this week featuring:
THE DOWLING POOLE, MADDIE ASHMAN, BOB VYLAN, GODDAMMIT JEREMIAH, SLEEPHAWK ft AYMEE WEIR, HANA LILI, DEAN McCREADIE, AFRO COMB, TOKKY HORROR, PECQ, THE COOL GREENHOUSE, PAIGE KENNEDY, OWEN DUFF, EMILY BREEZE, ENJOYABLE LISTENS, AGENT STARLING, GEORGE BARNETT, and MARLODY
Why Subscribe?
This mixtape drops every Monday morning across all platforms. It's available as a radio show at 4am on BBC Radio 6 Music and then via the normal BBC Sounds schedule for the next 30 days. But you can also download the permanently by subscrbing to our podcast: either via BBC Sounds podcasts or by searching "BBC Introducing Mixtape" on your platform of choice. The show will automatically be waiting on your device every Monday morning.
Why buy?
If you fall in love any of these tunes you can suport independent music by lashing out a pound or two to buy them direct from the artist wherever possible. Times are tough for grassroots musicians everywhere - and bills still have to be paid. Literally every quid you can spare will make a difference.
Playlist
THE DOWLING POOLE - Bright Spark
https://thedowlingpoole.com
MADDIE ASHMAN - Coming Home with Roses
https://linktr.ee/maddieashman
BOB VYLAN - The Delicate Nature
https://linktr.ee/bobvylan
GODDAMMIT JEREMIAH - I Fell in Love with the Speaking Clock
https://goddammitjeremiah.bandcamp.com
SLEEPHAWK ft AYMEE WEIR - Tabby All My Friends Were Right
https://linktr.ee/sleephawk
HANA LILI - Solitude
https://www.hanalili.com
DEAN McCREADIE - Jinxed
https://linktr.ee/deanmccreadietfrgc
AFRO COMB - Hocus Pocus
https://withkoji.com/@afrocomb13
TOKKY HORROR - Hammer 2 the Face
https://www.tokkyhorror.com
PECQ - Its a Lie
https://linktr.ee/pecqband
THE COOL GREENHOUSE - Get Unjaded
https://linktr.ee/thecoolgreenhouse
PAIGE KENNEDY - This Is the Girl
https://linktr.ee/paigekennedy
OWEN DUFF - Two Houses
https://linktr.ee/owenduff
EMILY BREEZE - The Bell
https://linktr.ee/emilybreeze
ENJOYABLE LISTENS - Dead Frozen
https://linktr.ee/enjoyablelistens
AGENT STARLING - La Sansonette
https://agentstarlinguk.wordpress.com
GEORGE BARNETT - Statues V2
https://antifragilemusic.ffm.to/blacktanktop
MARLODY - Summer
https://www.skepwax.com/marlody
PS FOR ARTISTS:
What happens next? Radio airplay is a great affirmation of your work. It's great to be able to mention it on your CV and social media. But radio play won't make as much longterm difference as you may think - it comes, and then it goes. The trouble is that radio can accellerate a career that's already got momentum - but it can't kickstart a career from scratch.
Bulding an audience for your music (and continuing to write great songs) takes time and effort. The good news is that, unlike radio play, it's entirely within your own power to achieve and costs next to nothing. And although this only one man's opinion, you'll find a few suggestions about how to do this this in my closing talk for BBC Introducing Live 2019.
Hiring a radio plugger in the hope of getting more airplay is an expensive gamble - and only worth considering when there's already a buzz about your latest song and a growing audience for your music. But early on in their career, most emerging artists get MUCH better results themselves than by hiring a plugger. For suggestions on how to do your own music promotion see the free advice section at my Fresh On The Net blog (freshonthenet.co.uk).
Once an artist's career does start building momentumn - with views, plays and comments growing measurably each week - that's when an expertly run radio campaign can be a great way of putting a foot on the accelerator. Once you do choose to go down that route, the next problem is how to find a trustworthy promo company? One possibility might be to copy and keep the weekly playlists published by your target radio stations every week, and look up which small labels are regularly getting featured. Then google those labels, drop them an email, and ask which radio pluggers they use. [NB bigger labels tend to have their own in-house promo teams.]
And however things pan out, don't forget to carry on uploading your new releases to BBC Introducing so that we can carry on supporting you as your career unfolds.
AND FINALLY...
We only get enough airtime on this show to feature artists - even our absolute favourites - about four times a year, however much we love their work. So after you've been been on the Mixtape, please wait 12 weeks before sending me your next brilliant track. This leaves us time to help a load of other deserving artists meanwhile.
The best way of getting a tune direct to me is via Fresh On The Net using Soundcloud. From 10m on Monday mornings anybody is welcome to send us a track and we keep the inbox open until 200 submissions have arrived - so it's best to get in early. We publish all 200 tunes on our Soundcloud each week, and a dozen of us then listen to every single track. And be sure to also upload your tune to BBC Introducing, to make it eligible for Introducing airplay...
Tom Robinson