Abbie McCarthy from BBC Introducing in Kent sits in for me on this week's BBC Introducing Mixtape, presenting her favourite new tunes by emerging and independent artists of the year so far. In this episode you can hear:
LADY BIRD, GANG, LECTURES, KWAYE, CHILDCARE, VASSER, £RNY BAITS & POPPY WILSON, SPENCER ENOCK, SOLOMONS GARDEN, BOBBY HARVEY, VIDEOCEAN, THANDII, THE MODERN STRANGERS, WAX and CARTOON PEOPLE
How to Listen...
This is the episode broadcast on Monday 21 August 2017. You can listen again for 30 days (until Wed 20th September) on our programme page via this link, using the BBC iPlayer Radio App on your mobile device, or as a rich playlist on the BBC Music app and web pages.
Best of all...
You can receive the show automatically every week as a podcast by subscribing via iTunes or direct from the Podcasts app on your mobile device: just search "Tom Robinson Introducing". This podcast is also downloadable direct from the 6 Music website.
All music has been sourced from the BBC Introducing Uploader and start times below are for the podcast version of the show...
LADY BIRD - Social Potions [starts 00:24]
https://www.facebook.com/thisisladybird
GANG - Messiah [starts 03:00]
https://www.facebook.com/gangband420
LECTURES - Peaches [starts 07:14]
http://lecturesmusic.co.uk
KWAYE - Sweetest Life [starts 11:19]
https://www.facebook.com/KWAYE
CHILDCARE - Dust [starts 15:54]
https://www.facebook.com/CHILDCAREBAND
VASSER - Puzzle Of Us [starts 20:22]
https://www.facebook.com/VasserMusic
£RNY BAITS & POPPY WILSON - Kaleidoscopes [starts 23:56]
https://soundcloud.com/ernybaits1
SPENCER ENOCK - Falling Out [starts 26:53]
https://www.facebook.com/SpencerEnockMusic
SOLOMONS GARDEN - Ego [starts 30:44]
https://soundcloud.com/solomonsgarden
BOBBY HARVEY - Don’t Stop The Music [starts 34:35]
https://www.facebook.com/iambobbyharvey
VIDEOCEAN - Fruitless Fever [starts 41:57]
https://www.facebook.com/Videocean
THANDII - Forgetful [starts 45:54]
https://www.thandii.com
THE MODERN STRANGERS - Coco Hello [starts 49:05]
https://www.facebook.com/themodernstrangers
WAX - In Vogue [starts 51:55]
https://soundcloud.com/waxband
CARTOON PEOPLE - Call It A Day [starts 56:42]
https://cartoonpeopleband.bandcamp.com
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
