Hello, it's Tom Robinson with another episode of the BBC Introducing Mixtape from 6 Music - 60 minutes of music from under the mainstream radar, uploaded by independent UK artists direct to their local BBC Introducing shows. This week we present:
VACANT WEEKEND, WHENYOUNG, MOCK TUDORS, MAJA LENA, PYNCH, THE HAPPY SOMETHINGS, MONSTER FLORENCE, ENGLISH TEACHER, DAYS OF ROME, BLOSSOM CALDARONE, WILLIE J HEALEY, TLYA X AN, THE MICRO BAND, ESME BRIDIE, IMLAC, ART SCHOOL GIRLFRIEND, and CALLUM PITT
This is the episode released on Monday 13 February 2023 and available via BBC Sounds for 30 days until Wednesday 15 March 2023. After the show drops you can also download & keep the audio permanently using any podcast app, or direct from our podcast page.
With warm thanks to the teams at
BBC Introducing in Cambridgeshire with Rebecca May
BBC Introducing in Cumbria with Emma Linton
BBC Introducing in Kent with Abbie McCarthy
BBC Introducing in Merseyside with Dave Monks
BBC Introducing in Oxfordshire with David Gilyeat
BBC Introducing in Sheffield with Christian Carlisle
BBC Introducing in Suffolk with Angelle Joseph
BBC Introducing in The East Midlands with Dean Jackson
BBC Introducing in The North East with Nick Roberts
BBC Introducing in The West with James Threlfall
BBC Introducing in West Yorkshire with Emily Pilbeam
for finding and forwarding tunes for today's show:
VACANT WEEKEND - Marlboro Reds
https://linktr.ee/vacantweekend
WHENYOUNG - Shame Train
https://linktr.ee/Whenyoungband
MOCK TUDORS - New Deadline
https://linktr.ee/mocktudors
MAJA LENA - The Stone
https://www.majalena.co.uk
PYNCH - 2009
https://linktr.ee/Pynchband
THE HAPPY SOMETHINGS - Anglepoise
https://linktr.ee/thehappysomethings
MONSTER FLORENCE - Spaceman
https://monsterflorence.komi.io
ENGLISH TEACHER - Song About Love
https://englishteacher.bandcamp.com
DAYS OF ROME - Tungsten Afterburner
https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/daysofrome/tungsten-afterburner
BLOSSOM CALDARONE - I Still Love Him
https://linktr.ee/blossomcaldarone
WILLIE J HEALEY - Thank You
https://williejhealey.lnk.to/BunnySo
TLYA X AN - Holy J
https://linktr.ee/blackninja.t
THE MICRO BAND - Bread & Butter Husband
https://themicroband.bandcamp.com
ESME BRIDIE - Don't Tell Me What to Do
https://linktr.ee/esmebridie
IMLAC - Sitting On The Moon
https://linktr.ee/Alasdairgraham_imlac
ART SCHOOL GIRLFRIEND - A Place to Lie
https://linktr.ee/artschoolgirlfriend
CALLUM PITT - I Feel A God And Devil In This Room
https://linktr.ee/callumpittmusic
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
