Good radio airplay is a boost to any music artiste's career/ministry. No matter how much online downloads have impacted on the music, we still cant rule out radio rotation.
A lot of artistes and brands make leeway through having their music on radio so you sure wouldn't want to overlook this vital platform.
Now, the problem is that a lot of people get their songs to radio stations and still don't get the airplay they expect. Some people don't even get it there. Here, with the help of our guest blogger, we uncover 10 reasons that affect your song's radio airplay.
Tosyn’s Ten 10 : Why the radio won’t play your song
BY TOSYN BUCKNOR
A friend sent me a DM recently, ‘I love your new song Tosyn, you should play it on your show. Infact, you need to play more alternative music on your show; the radio needs to stop playing the same eight artistes over and over again’And then at the NEC (Nigerian Entertainment Conference), all radio OAPs got a resounding indictment during comments from the floor. It’s not the first time I will hear that, it won’t be the last. But it made me start thinking, why does a radio station play so many songs but yours? Why won’t the radio play your song?
10. You didn’t take it to them
This may seem like a joke but a guy called my show once and said, ‘tosyn please I need you to help me blow’. I said okay, ‘is your CD at the station’. ‘No’. Okay...The internet has led us all to believe it is okay to release a song online, put on blogs, and automatically assume it will be downloaded. Please, print physical copies and bring to us ehn. ‘Tainz’
9. Radio station’s policy
While it may never be written down or even acknowledged, the truth is, each station has a policy.
Said policy may be affecting your song getting airplay
8. NBC…
While you may from time to time see a list of ‘not to be broadcast’ songs, there is an unspoken list.
It’s a text or whisper and a simple message.
7. Radio edit
It is amazing how many c.ds get to us with curse words and words not suitable for radio. If a radio oap really likes your song, they may go out of their way to edit it or ‘beep’ the words as they play it. If they don’t however, they’ll play it safe and it won’t get played.
6. Targeting the wrong stations / show
A lot of times, people just send music out without necessarily noting who plays what, when. It’s hard work but good work to note that some stations are partial to hip hop, others to soul and some to ‘naija pop’. There are shows dedicated to rock music, some to classic songs and others to Naija pop.
5. Your fans don’t request your song
Fans go a long way in determining who gets airplay and who doesn’t. OAPS listen to fans who request songs and chances are, the songs you hear all the time when the radio comes on have all been requested for.
4. Your street team isn’t working
Your street team needs to be out there, requesting your song, urging people to download, calling stations and more. It all leads to my next point…
3. Presence / Networking
Remember, at any point in time, the radio host has a number of songs to choose from at any given point.It is almost a competition daily. Give yourself a fighting chance by actually being present and networking!!!
I say this because…
2. OAPs discretion
Radio hosts have thoughts, ideas and more per show. A lot goes into making a great playlist; from moods to themes to buzz and more. It is that simple.
1. Timing
Some songs get released Monday and ‘blow’ on Tuesday. Others take a year. Others become album fillers. There are more reasons than have been highlighted here and this is not exhaustive. But I hope I have been able to confuse…sorry, convince you.
ABOUT THE WRITER : Tosyn Bucknor is a morning show radio host working at Top Radio 90.9.
Tosyn studied Law at the University of Lagos, and the Nigerian Law School but she had always been attracted to writing, talking, acting, singing and more. She is a top Radio Presenter, Host, Personality and Dj in Nigeria. Apart from radio, Tosyn also works on television and is a writer.
EDITOR'S TIP: Additionally, you may be suffering poor radio airplay if you don't have a good plan or representative that will get and keep your song on radio. Our Media team handles that for various artistes. Contact us via gospelcitynaija@gmail.com with 'RADIO AIRPLAY' as subject. Add us on bbm with 23118FAC as well as on twitter with @360gospel.
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