Hello, it's Tom Robinson here with this week's BBC Music's Introducing Mixtape - the new music podcast and radio show broadcast every Monday from 2-3am on BBC Radio 6 Music. In this episode you can hear some of my my favourite spoken word tracks from the past year by:
BENEFITS, SHYGIRL, KIERON RENNIE, MOAK, SALAD, WRIGHTY, MAKE FRIENDS, MARTIN & BELL, SHAY D, SPORTS TEAM, ELLIE DIXON, JELANI BLACKMAN, ANNOWN, LAVZ, ELMZ XIX, LEWSBERG, SINEAD O BRIEN and MICHAEL WALSH
How to Listen...
This is the episode broadcast at 2am on Monday 23rd December 2019. You can listen again for 30 days after broadcast on BBC Sounds via this link.
Podcast
Alternatively to receive the show automatically every week as a podcast, subscribe to "BBC Music Introducing Mixtape" wherever you get your podcasts from. And if you enjoy the show please do rate and review us - for instance on iTunes - it'll help other people discover all the new music we feature each week.
All tunes have been sourced from BBC Music's Introducing Uploader and start times below are for the podcast version of the show...
BENEFITS - Taking Us Back [starts 00:11 ]
https://www.facebook.com/benefitstheband
SHYGIRL - BB [starts 03:34]
https://www.facebook.com/0800shygirl
KIERON RENNIE x UnFOLD - Snow Leopard [starts 06:16]
http://lyrixorganixunfold.com
MOAK - Barbershop [starts 09:56]
https://www.moakonline.com
SALAD - Under The Wrapping Paper [starts 13:57]
http://www.saladband.com
WRIGHTY (feat STEFAN BROWN) - Letter To The Youth [starts 16:41]
http://www.iamwrighty.com
MAKE FRIENDS - Drop Naked [starts 19:30]
https://www.facebook.com/makefriends.official/
MARTIN & BELL - An Alternative Ulster 2018 [starts 23:14]
http://www.facebook.com/martinandbellxi
SHAY D - Suffragettes [starts 28:26]
http://www.shaydmusic.com
SPORTS TEAM - Fishing [starts 31:30]
https://www.facebook.com/sportsteamband/
ELLIE DIXON - Pressure [starts 34:22]
http://elliedixonmusic.com
JELANI BLACKMAN - Cheers [starts 37:14]
https://www.facebook.com/JelaniBlackman
ANNOWN - Isolde [starts 39:26]
http://chrishytch.wixsite.com/annown
LAVZ - Long Day [starts 42:58]
https://www.facebook.com/ItsLavz
ELMZ XIX - Pinch Punch [starts 45:28]
https://www.facebook.com/ElmzXixOfficial
LEWSBERG - Terrible [starts 47:24]
https://lewsberg.bandcamp.com
SINEAD O BRIEN - A Thing You Call Joy [starts 50:36]
https://www.facebook.com/SINEADOBRIENPOETRY
MICHAEL WALSH - The Visitor (feat Mike Garry) [starts 55:12]
http://www.michaelwalshmusic.com
(1) WARNING FOR ARTISTS
After getting airplay from BBC Introducing, artists often get emails out of the blue from PR companies, offering their paid services. Typically the email cites an impressive-looking client list and says something like:
"Hi - I'm a national radio plugger... I came across 'YOURTRACKNAME' today, I'm a big fan of the single and wanted to find out if you have anyone looking after national radio yet?"
Be warned: this does NOT mean you're unique or special. All it means is that this person wants you to give them money in the hope of getting more radio play.
Buying promotion services from a stranger - just because they sent you an email - honestly isn't the best use of your hard earned cash. Emerging artists can often achieve far better results than a plugger by simply contacting DJs and producers themselves via social media.
For suggestions on how to your own music promotion, see the free advice section at my Fresh On The Net music blog (freshonthenet.co.uk).
If you're determined to hire a PR firm, there are more than a hundred to choose from - and every one of them has an impressive client list. But reputable national radio pluggers tend not to spend their time emailing inexperienced artists to ask them for money. If in doubt search the various musician forums on Facebook to see if other artists have had dealings with the firm you're considering.
A reputable plugger will be happy to give you a list of national radio airplay slots they've achieved in the last 6 months, with rough dates. It's easy to scan through the station tracklists and verify these. And when dealing with the music industry always put everything in writing. After any meeting or business phone call, send the other person an email saying "Just to confirm our conversation yesterday, we agreed that..."
And to be honest, getting radio airplay is overrated. Yes it's a badge of status that proves you've arrived - which is always good. But the key to having a longterm career is to build a loyal audience for your music. A few radio plays may help, but not as much as you'd think. Only people listening to that show on that station at that time on that day will hear it, and even then they may have just the radio on in the background.
Actually 1,000 genuine subscribers on YouTube is way more useful for your longterm music career (and way easier to achieve) than a week of airplay on Radio 1.
The time to seek professional PR services is when your audiences at every gig are in the hundreds, and your genuine 'likes' online are in the thousands. Once you've built that kind of traction, it becomes worth risking a major investment to help with the next step up. The best pluggers charge a lot of money because they get results. But not all pluggers who charge a lot of money are good.
With a bit of detective work it's simple to find out the ones actually deliver. Check the tracklists of your favourite radio shows and note which indie labels regularly get airplay for their artists. Then contact those labels and ask which promo firm they use.
And whatever happens, don't stop uploading your new releases to BBC Introducing, even if you do hire a plugger. That way we can carry on supporting you as your career unfolds.
(2) YOUR NEXT TUNE
We only get enough airtime on The BBC Introducing Mixtape to feature artists (even ones we adore) about four times a year. So after you've been been on the Mixtape, please wait about 12 weeks before sending us 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 any Monday to Thursday - where a dozen volunteers listen to every single track we receive each week. But don't forget to also upload it to BBC Introducing, to make it eligible for BBC Introducing airplay...
Tom Robinson