'Ask Eliza' is a regular MusicSA column by the site's Project Officer that attempts to answer your questions about the local music scene. You can view the latest topic, respond to all topics in the Forum, check the rest of the Archives for past topics, and/or email Eliza a new question!

Ask Eliza: Getting Airplay in SA and Beyond

  
05/05/2005

Get On Air in SA (& Beyond)!  - 5 May 2005

Our forum has been churning out interesting issues of late... and one posting that caught my eye involved some accolades going toward 3D Radio.   Spot on, in my opinion, and it raised the question - do SA musicians realise what amazing opportunities we have in airplay for this state?  Not only do we have a treasure in that particular station, but there are plenty of different ways to get your tracks heard over the airwaves and out to the masses.  I'll spare you the 'why' of the equation (duh!), but I have a few tips on the 'who', 'what' 'where' 'when'& 'how' of gaining airplay in SA (& beyond).

WHO:
In most cases, you should be targeting the station's 'Music Director' or equivalent, but here's where you should do your own homework and get peoples' names whenever possible. It's far
more effective.  Think of how you open your own mail...   In my case, the 1st things I usually open are the packages addressed to me personally ("Eliza Reid, Project Officer, MusicSA"), next I open those addressed to me but spelled incorrectly ("Liz Reed, Project Officer, MusicSA"), then the more generic ones ("Project Officer" or just "Music SA"), and lastly, the ones that are just sloppy or outdated ("SA Music Online"). With nearly all stations having a website and/or MISA / AMID listing (see below), there is no excuse for not finding out names of the most current staff. 

Keep in mind that stations tend to have different policies regarding how many CDs to send, and to whom you should direct at least one CD.  Pay attention to their directions. For example, PBS in Melbourne wants a minimum of 5 copies sent to the 'Music Manager' (1 for the library, the rest to distribute amongst presenters), but also recommends that you send CDs directly to the presenters.  By contrast, 3D wants only 1 copy for their library, which is shared by all presenters. They 'strongly discourage' sending CDs to individual presenters, with their reasons outlined clearly on the 3D Radio website. So, not all stations agree. Best to check with a station’s own specific policies.

WHAT & HOW: 
If you're going to put your work 'out there', keep in mind you are still competing with the 'big acts'... do you really want your crappiest effort played next to Nine Inch Nails, The Smiths, The HillTop Hoods, Slipknot, [insert an amazing international act in your genre here]?  Submit the best you have to offer - always. Think of it as making your 'first impression' for most folks. 

How many CDs you send depends on the personnel you are targeting (as noted above), but when packaging your stuff, the basic principle is to make things easy for any recipient. Some essentials: (1) Always include a bio (with contact details), and a succinct cover letter doesn't hurt.  It seems obvious, but the bio lets the recipient know what to expect from your work without having to listen to it. People are time-poor, so help them out.  Got lots of diversity on your recording?  Mention it. The Music Director might then find it easier to decide which programs would best suit your style.  (2)  Indicate which tracks you think are the 'singles' or most radio-friendly hits.  Again, think time-poor.  No one is going to skip through 15 tracks when they first receive your CD to find 'the' track to play. It would be far easier to put your CD aside and check out a different clearly marked CD first... (3)  On that note, CLEARLY mark your CD with your name (and ideally, contact details). Things get separated, and you don't want someone to think you sound hot, but have no idea who you are.  Simple points, really, but you'd be surprised how many artists apparently ignore them....

WHERE:
You are not short on options of where to send your recordings in SA, or Australia for that matter.  You can do your own homework to find the postal addresses, but as for short cuts, consider contacting AMRAP for help. AMRAP offers a targeted monthly mailout service (amongst other things) for artists whereby they send copies new releases to community radio stations around the country. Also, get a MISA (Music Index SA ) and/or AMID (Australian Music Industry Directory).

Important: when using these guides, don't take the shotgun approach and send things to every listed station. Find out which stations play your genre, and what their policies are regarding sending material.  Otherwise you are wasting your time & money, and annoying lots of industry folks. How many stations with a 'dance' format want to get metal CDs, and vice-versa...??

It goes without saying that 3D Radio is an essential place to send your stuff in SA.  It sets quite a benchmark for community radio, with its policy of  40% Australian music (comprised of 50%  local releases and 25% local unsigned material). Another 25% of their music content is from the 'historically under-represented' female artists as well. This all translates into massive support for SA artists. In fact, it's not unheard of for some...er... 'rougher' demos to make it on air, so those of you without fancy schmancy recording software - let alone professional products! - could still get a look in. (But don't forget my point above about quality work and your 'competition').

While perhaps the best known, 3D is by no means the only option in SA!  How about Radio Adelaide ?  This U. of Adelaide station has a slew of Student Radio programs that could play local content, and of course there is the long-running 'Local Noise.'  If that presenter likes your work, you may find yourself invited to play a live-to-air segment in the studio.  In fact, some recent Local Noise shows have also been filmed by various folks from Channel 31 (local TV), so there's a double opportunity there!  And let's not forget WOW FM , Coast FM , Fresh FM  etc - and there a heap more regional SA ones, too.  In fact, a recent forum posting in MusicSA's Classifieds calls for content for a station down south on the Encounter Coast.

Without wanting to go into a detailed interstate tangent, I can't talk about radio without mentioning Triple J. Airplay on this seminal national station is often considered the 'Holy Grail' of unsigned artists. The same rules apply as above, but even more so, in a sense...  In terms of quality, mastering is pretty much essential (remember your competition). Texta on CD-Rs is likely to be frowned upon, not just in an aesthetic sense, but because CD-Rs are notorious for not playing properly. Want to piss off a presenter (and perhaps never get played again)?  Give them a CD-R that they cue up and introduce... then nothing happens; or it skips.  Ugh. Big black mark on your name!

As for personnel, think genre-specific again, but a catch-all program to target that does a fantastic job of supporting emerging artists is Robbie Buck's 'Home & Hosed.' Look for an article on Home & Hosed coming soon to MusicSA, but in the meantime, here's a reward for reading this far: an inside scoop is that MusicSA has been approached to submit content and/or make recommendations regarding the 'hot' artists in SA. This will hopefully help sift through the towering mass of stuff Robbie gets on a weekly basis.  So it's, ahem, helpful to be a listed artist on MusicSA (see Get Listed for info on our free artist listings), and to keep us informed of your adventures & recordings...

Finally, a word on the commercial. You may have noticed that MusicSA has recently joined forces with Nova 919, in the effort to cross-promote local acts that are getting airplay on the station.  Read the Feature Article for all the details. A reason for this new arrangement is to help build up the station's roster of 'Home Brew' (ie. local) artists that get regular rotation, and introduce new artists to Nova's weekly Ozone program.  This sort of on air support for unsigned acts is a rare thing amongst the commercial stations, and of course represents a chance to vastly broaden your audience.  Take advantage of it and send stuff to Nova, and in particular, Ozone presenter Ryan Robinson.  

WHEN: 
This opens up a whole new topic on marketing strategies...and this little Ask Eliza article is already setting a record for our longest yet!   But in a local sense, the timing issue warrants a word on airplay charts. In the example of 3D, new releases have the chance to chart in the weekly Top 20+1 countdown for airplay.  A release is considered 'new' for 2 months (after that, you can still get played of course, but you won’t chart). So consider when the most 'useful' 2 month period is for you…ie. leading up to / around the date of your CD launch, perhaps? This chart is published every Thursday in Rip It Up (and even earlier on Music SA! ) among other places, so your name is definitely getting out there.

If you happen to chart really highly during the weekly Top 20+1, you may find yourself in the station's Annual Countdown (Top 100+1) as well. Here's a tip - if you're going to put out a new recording toward the end of the year, it's probably a better idea to release it to the station by early November, as opposed to say, mid-December... This will give you more time to chart in a calendar year, which is then counted toward the Annual chart.  Submitting something in mid-December gives you only two or so weeks left in the year, and while you still might get in the annual countdown, why not give yourself the best shot (and perhaps better ranking) by getting in earlier? 

Whew - that's enough for now, but I hope that points you in a few helpful directions.  I'm happy to take specific questions/comments about this topic, too.  Head to the forum and reply to the 'Latest Ask Eliza' posting, and I'll do my best. ;)