Hello, it's Tom Robinson with my penultimate BBC Introducing Mixtape. From Monday 22 April 2024 I'll be stepping down from the show and handing over to my friend and BBC colleague Emily Pilbeam. So this is the first of two retrospective 60 minute programmes showcasing a few of my favourite tunes from the early days of BBC Introducing on 6 Music around the time the photo above was taken. This week we present:
LA SHARK, NATALIE ROSS, HOODLUMS, GABBY YOUNG, BEST BOY GRIP, LADY LYKEZ, MOAK , CLOTH , TOM HOUSTON , THIS ELEGANT GULL , LAST MANGO IN PARIS, 3 BUCKET JONES, THE OCTOBER GAME , SNIPPET, SHARKS TOOK THE REST, SWAMI BARACUS x ZAHEER, and PATCH WILLIAM
This is the episode released on Monday 8th April 2024 and available via BBC Sounds for 30 days until Wednesday 8th May 2024. Between those dates you can download & keep the show permanently as an audio file from our podcast page or by searching "BBC Introducing Mixtape" on any podcast app. Featuring:
LA SHARK - Magazine Cover
https://www.instagram.com/exenprovencemusic
NATALIE ROSS - At Least I Know Where My Shoes Are
https://www.instagram.com/natalieross.co.uk
HOODLUMS - The Beat Bop
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xd08cf
GABBY YOUNG - We're All In This Together
http://www.gabbyyoung.com/
BEST BOY GRIP - Monster and Me
https://www.elmaorkestra.com/
LADY LYKEZ - Not Your Hair
https://soundcloud.com/ladylykez/lady-lykez-not-your-hair
MOAK - Barbershop
https://linktr.ee/moak_tp
CLOTH - Old Bear
https://linktr.ee/clothband
TOM HOUSTON - Sonic Deviance
https://www.tomhouston.org
THIS ELEGANT GULL - Stop Giving Us The Poison
https://instagram.com/thiselegantgull
LAST MANGO IN PARIS - Kiss Your Teeth
https://www.youtube.com/@lastmangoinparis/videos
3 BUCKET JONES - Tell Me Where You Are (Pick Up the Phone)
http://3bucketjones.com
THE OCTOBER GAME - Concrete (When We Were Invincible)
https://linktr.ee/lukejameswilliams
SNIPPET - Down The Swanny
https://linktr.ee/snippetcuts
SHARKS TOOK THE REST - Restaurant
https://linktr.ee/beccyowen
SWAMI BARACUS x ZAHEER - The Recipe
https://youtu.be/cwBueGZnNHs?si=kY3WRjbNjciURfdR
PATCH WILLIAM - The Last Bus
https://thecottonwoodshivers.com
I'll be back with one final retrospective mixtape of old favourites on Monday 15 April and Emily will be hosting her first show on Monday 22 April.
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
