Tom Robinson presents his favourite new tunes by emerging and independent artists on The BBC Introducing Mixtape. This curated playlist goes out on BBC Radio 6 Music in the small hours of every Monday morning between 2-3am, and is also available via the BBC Music website and as a BBC podcast. These are the listings for the episode broadcast on Monday 9 Jan at 2.00am.
K.O.G & THE ZONGO BRIGADE - Rain [starts 00:17]
https://www.facebook.com/zongobrigade
JAMES EDGE AND THE MINDSTEP – Widdershins [starts 05:50]
http://www.jamesedgeandthemindstep.com
ECKOES – Blue Deep [starts 08:34]
http://www.facebook.com/iameckoes
GRAHAM GRAHAM BECK – Action Man With A Giraffe’s Head [starts 12:41]
http://www.graham-graham-beck.co.uk
THE BIRDMAN RALLIES – A Hammer For Your Fist [starts 16:47]
http://www.thebirdmanrallies.com/home
TYNESIDE RAIN – The Mark Of Cain [starts 20:30]
https://www.facebook.com/TynesideRain
BRASS BULL – Massive Aggressive [starts 23:38]
http://www.brassbull.co.uk
ALLMEADOW – Walk in the Park [starts 26:52]
http://allmeadow.com
INVADERBAND – Not Alan Rickman [starts 31:00]
http://invaderband.com
GIZMO VARILLAS – Shadows Of The Dark [starts 32:43]
http://www.gizmovarillas.com
HEZEN – Oil Fire [starts 36:22]
https://www.facebook.com/sarahezen
WREKIT88 – Yamato Superstar [starts 40:00]
https://soundcloud.com/wrekit88
VIXANS – I Don’t Care [starts 46:18]
https://www.facebook.com/Vixanstheband
JIMBODENI – Shine A Light [starts 49:41]
https://www.facebook.com/Jimbodeni
GLEN BODEN – Surviving [starts 54:02]
http://www.facebook.com/GlenBoden
ARTISTS…
After being featured by BBC Introducing you may receive emails from PR companies with impressive client lists, saying they like your music and want to help you get further radio airplay. Please be aware this doesn't make you unique or special - lots of artists receive these emails from companies who are trying to sell their paid services. And hiring a professional radio promotion team - just because they happen to send you an email - isn't neccessarily the best use of your money.
In our experience emerging artists often achieve the same results as a plugger - sometimes very much better - by simply contacting radio shows and DJs themselves via social media. For information and advice on how to do this see my free seminars on Sending CDs to Radio (freshonthenet.co.uk)
If you do plan to go ahead and engage a PR firm regardless, there are over a hundred to choose from in the UK - all with impressive client lists - but not all of them deliver good value for money. Before paying anybody for promotional services of any kind, it's always best to contact a couple of their clients first to ask if they'd recommend that particular company. You can find the management, record company or booking agent for most artists using Google.
Further down the line as your career gathers momentum you may need to spend serious money on a professional PR campaign. A good way to start is with some serious homework: check out which indie labels regularly get their artists played on national radio - then phone their offices to ask which PR company they recommend.
And whatever route you choose, don't forget to carry on uploading your new releases to BBC Introducing so that we can carry on supporting you as your future career unfolds.
Tom Robinson
