During October four BBC colleagues from around the country are standing in for me to host the BBC Music Introducing Mixtape - each curating a selection of favourite artists from their local region. This week sees the welcome return of Liverpool's longstanding new music champion Dave Monks (above) from BBC Introducing in Merseyside, picking his favourite tunes from across the region. This is the episode broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music at 2am on Monday 15th October 2018 and in this edition you can hear:
THE MYSTERINES, SHARDS, SHE DREW THE GUN, RED RUM CLUB, NIKI KAND, QUEEN ZEE, NEW JUNIOR, DEE, KYAMI, THE TEA STREET BAND, THE AMBITION, ZUZU, MERSEY WYLIE, THE FERNWEH, NICK ELLIS, MILO SEABIRD, MONDEGREEN and MUNKEY JUNKEY
How to Listen...
You can listen again for 30 days (until Wed 14 November 2018) on our programme page via this link, using the BBC iPlayer Radio App on your mobile device, or as a podcast.
To receive it automatically every week subscribe via iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts from - just search "BBC Introducing Mixtape". And if you enjoy the show please consider giving us a five star review - which will help other new music fans discover the wide selection of upcoming new artists we feature on this show every week.
All music has been sourced from BBC Music's Introducing Uploader and start times below are for the podcast version of the show...
THE MYSTERINES - Hormone [starts 00:34]
SHARDS - Reflections [starts 03:50]
https://www.instagram.com/shardsshards
SHE DREW THE GUN - Resister [starts 08:07]
http://www.shedrewthegun.com
RED RUM CLUB - Honey [starts 11:27]
http://www.soundcloud.com/RedRumClubUk
NIKI KAND - Bleeding Hearts [starts 13:38]
https://www.facebook.com/Niki-Kand-897863103590982
QUEEN ZEE - Hunger Pains [starts 17:08]
http://queenzeeuk.tumblr.com
NEW JUNIOR - Cassette [starts 19:23]
https://www.facebook.com/itsnewjunior
DEE - Live On A Telephone [starts 21:53]
http://www.facebook.com/deelightfulmusic
KYAMI - Games [starts 25:38]
http://www.soundcloud.com/officialkyami
THE TEA STREET BAND - Marseille Blues [starts 29:01]
http://soundcloud.com/the-tea-street-band
THE AMBITION - Thirty Thousand Feet [starts 32:07]
https://www.facebook.com/TheAmbitionMusic
ZUZU - Dark Blue [starts 35:48]
https://soundcloud.com/thisiszuzu
MERSEY WYLIE - Giving Myself Away [starts 38:52]
http://www.merseywylie.com
THE FERNWEH - Brightening In The West [starts 43:11]
https://soundcloud.com/the-fernweh
NICK ELLIS - Blue Summer [starts 46:29]
https://www.facebook.com/Nick-Ellis-Music-133381333379089
MILO SEABIRD - Lullaby [starts 49:25]
https://soundcloud.com/milo-seabird
MONDEGREEN - Unsung Hero [starts 53:18]
http://heymondegreen.com
MUNKEY JUNKEY - Something For Nothing [starts 55:56]
http://www.facebook.com/munkeyjunkey
PS from TR
ARTISTS! Some important words of warning... After being featured by BBC Introducing you may receive emails from PR companies with impressive client lists. These emails will say they like your music and want to help you get further radio airplay. Please be aware this does NOT make you unique or special - it simply means they want your money. Large numbers of artists we play receive these emails from companies seeking new customers for their paid services.
Hiring a professional radio promotion team - just because they happen to send you an email - isn't necessarily the best use of your money at this point in your career. 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 suggestions on how to do your own music promotion see the free advice section at my Fresh On The Net blog (freshonthenet.co.uk)
If you do decide to pay a PR firm to do this work for you, there are over a hundred to choose from in the UK. Most of them have impressive-looking client lists - but just because somebody once did promotion on a record by a famous artist doesn't mean they did a great job. Before paying for promotional services of any kind, ALWAYS get an independent endorsement from a couple of their clients before parting with you hard-earned cash. You can find the management, record company or booking agent for most artists using Google.
It's true that further down the line - as your career gathers momentum - you may want to invest serious money in a professional PR campaign. The most effective pluggers charge a lot of money because they're good - these things can't be done on the cheap. But once again - be careful! All effective pluggers charge a lot of money, but not all pluggers who charge a lot of money are effective.
So if you do plan to invest several thousand quid on radio promotion at some point in the future, here's my advice. Do some research and find out which indie labels regularly get their artists played on your favourite radio stations. Then make friendly contact with whoever runs that record company to find out which PR company they would recommend.
Finally, 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
