Hello, it's Tom Robinson here with this week's BBC Music'sIntroducing Mixtape - broadcast every Monday from 2-3am on BBC Radio 6 Music. It features an hour of handpicked tunes uploaded to the BBC Introducing website, featuring this week:
THE KUBRICKS, NIA WYN, HOT LEFT POLE, SCOTTON DRIVE, OSCAR MIC, CROOKED SHADOWS, SUMMER CAMP, CHRIS AND THE CELERIAC, SHINY TIGER, TINA BOONSTRA, BETHLEHEM CASUALS, REBXRN, SALT HOUSE, AUTISTADELIC, GENEVIEVE DAWSON, LIME, JOHN COX, GULLS and AMONGST THE PIGEONS
How to Listen...
This is the episode broadcast at 2am on Monday 16 March 2020. 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...
THE KUBRICKS - Criminals [starts 00:11]
https://www.thekubricks.com
NIA WYN – Love I Can’t Ruin [starts 03:18]
https://www.niawynmusic.com
HOT LEFT POLE - Full House [starts 06:21]
https://hotleftpole.bandcamp.com
SCOTTON DRIVE - Short Loop [feat ASTRID & JULIAN WALKER] [starts 09:44]
https://scottondrive1.bandcamp.com
OSCAR MIC - Mountain Melody Maker [starts 13:13]
https://www.oscarmicmusic.com
CROOKED SHADOWS - Crooked Shadow [starts 16:23]
https://www.facebook.com/CrookedShadowsUK
SUMMER CAMP - Women In Love [starts 19:18]
http://wearesummercamp.com
CHRIS AND THE CELERIAC - 80RPM [starts 22:58]
https://chrissavartist.wordpress.com/music
SHINY TIGER - Wedding Song [starts 24:09]
http://soundcloud.com/shiny-tiger
TINA BOONSTRA - Out Of My Depth [starts 26:06]
https://tinaboonstra.com
BETHLEHEM CASUALS - Flaccid Passion [starts 29:06]
https://www.facebook.com/bethlehemcasuals
REBXRN - The Greenwood [starts 32:45]
https://soundcloud.com/rebxrn
SALT HOUSE - Fire Light [starts 34:26]
http://www.salthousemusic.com
AUTISTADELIC - x-OORT-x-CLOUD-x [starts 37:37]
https://autistadelic.bandcamp.com
GENEVIEVE DAWSON - Mountain [starts 40:54]
http://www.genevievedawson.com
LIME - Surf N Turf [starts 44:54]
https://www.facebook.com/thebandlime
JOHN COX - 2020 Vision [starts 48:33]
http://www.johncoxplus.com
GULLS - Shame Shame Shame [starts 51:44]
http://www.gullsband.co.uk
AMONGST THE PIGEONS - Inflight Entertainment [starts 55:46]
https://amongstthepigeons.co.uk
PS for artists from Tom Robinson...
(1) WARNING: After getting airplay on BBC Introducing, you may get emails out of the blue from radio pluggers who have an impressive list of former clients. They'll say how much they like your record and offer their services. Typically 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: they don't actually think your music is special. They just hope you're inexperienced enough - and desperate enough - to give them your money in the hope of getting more airplay. Paying a complete stranger to try and get your music on Radio 1 - just because they happened to send you an email - is NOT a good use of your hard earned cash.
There are over a hundred music PR firms in the UK and they all have impressive client lists. Obviously some pluggers are really good and (equally obviously) some of them aren't. But trust me on this: the really good ones are too busy to spend their time emailing BBC Introducing artists to ask them for money.
In any case emerging artists usually get MUCH better results themselves than a plugger - just by targeting radio shows and DJs direct via social media. 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).
And in any case radio probably isn't even the best goal to be chasing. One or two extra plays simply won't make much difference to the size of your fanbase, until that fanbase is up in the thousands. This early in your career, building a direct relationship with your audience is far, far more important than airplay. And unlike getting on Radio 1, building a fanbase for your music through Youtube and Instagram is something you can achieve yourself without spending any money at all.
The time to seek professional PR services is when the live crowds you can draw at every gig are in the hundreds, and when your genuine online 'likes' are in the thousands. With that kind of traction, a major investment becomes worth risking to help take the next step up.
The best pluggers and PRs will charge a lot of money because they're good at their job. But (again) just because somebody charges a lot of money doesn't mean they're any good. Tip: check out which indie labels regularly get their releases played on your favourite radio station. Then contact those record companies to find out which PR firm they use.
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.
(2) 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
