Starting Your Career as a Musician by Neil Tortorella

Author:Neil Tortorella
Format: epub
Publisher: Allworth Press / Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. (Perseus)
Published: 2013-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

Commercial Radio

If you have your heart set on hearing your dark-as-night, angstdriven song, complete with tearful arpeggios and ear-shattering solos on the radio, nestled between Ozzy Osbourne and Alice Cooper—in a word, from my New York Italian vernacular, “fugetaboutit.” As an indie act, it’s simply not going to happen. Sorry. Sometimes the truth hurts.

Here’s why. Commercial radio is, for the most part, a pay-to-play thing. It tends to be a shakedown—a racket, if you will. It’s a very tightly secured industry. Deals are made on the basis of handshakes instead of quality contracts. Handshakes that often erode into broken dreams and broken promises.

As a matter of fact, here’s yet another history lesson for you. The term payola, which is a combination of the words, “pay” and “Victrola,” was coined for the music industry’s practice of pretty much outright bribery to get songs played. From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payola), “Under U.S. law, 47 U.S.C. § 317, a radio station can play a specific song in exchange for money, but this must be disclosed on the air as being sponsored airtime, and that play of the song should not be counted as a ‘regular airplay.’” However, that’s not always the case. Somewhere, a corporate headquarters, where the big wigs live, makes the track selections for commercial radio. Plus, those selections are often decided on based on who provides the best and most in terms of favors, vacations, junkets, money, nifty gifts such as drugs, and other seedy, seamy, and unsavory commodities and services. I think you get the idea. Feel like washing your hands?

Sure, you could hire a shady radio promoter for a ton of cash. Other options include a deep-pocketed label. As discussed, they’re pretty tough to get, if not impossible. You could also tap out your savings, pull funds from your 401(k), max out your credit cards, and get a second mortgage to hire a heavyweight public relation person or firm. People do it all the time. Fame is a powerful elixir. But, all in all, your money is likely better spent on the lower-cost techniques and tools discussed within the pages of this book.

However, there is one more option. Some commercial radio stations have local shows that feature local performers. Just be sure your music style is a good match for the show. Send out a one-sheet, some photos, and maybe a video, and start playing dialing for dialogue.

An additional word and reminder about one-sheets is probably in order. A one-sheet is a sales sheet, usually developed for labels and distributors to help sell an album. It typically contains information about the band or solo act, various achievements, information about the recording of the album, track list, and other pertinent data that, hopefully, all fits on one sheet of paper. Ergo the name “one-sheet.”

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