The Importance of Sending Your Music to Campus Radio

[djneedle 914]

The Importance of Sending Your Music to Campus Radio

Charts:
-Campus radio stations submit a weekly top 30 overall chart, and top 10 specialty charts (hip-hop, electronic, etc.) to Earshot! and CMJ, which are the leading Canadian and U.S. campus/community charting services.
-The only way to appear on these charts is to actually send your CD to the station's Music Director and have it added to the station's on-air music library. Why? Well with thousands of songs being played every week, most stations rely on computer databases to determine the weekly play counts for all the CDs they have in their music libraries.
-If you only give your CD directly to an individual DJ, they could play it frequently week after week, but if it's not in the station's database, it's likely never going to be counted.
-Not only that, but when the CD is added to the on-air library, it is available to all the DJs at the station, which drastically increases your chances of it being played.
-To use a local example, TRP sent CJAM his CD about 2 or 3 months ago. Since receiving and adding it to our on-air library, it has frequently appeared on our weekly hip-hop top 10 (including a few weeks at #1), and it has also appeared on our overall top 30 a few times.
-By sending it directly to the station, not only has it been played on the Needle 914 Show (which most of you know has a heavy focus on local hip-hop artists), but also on After Midnight Urban Beats, the Windsor Scene, and a few other CJAM shows. These combined spins are what helped keep TRP on our charts for so many weeks.
-In addition to sending charts to Earshot and CMJ, all stations send them to other Canadian campus Music Directors, and the various record labels and promotions companies that we regularly communicate with. When a local artist charts, we make note of it so it stands out, and if some of these people see your name consistently appearing, there's a relatively good chance that they might look for more information or ask about you.
-Another important aspect about charting is that it looks great on your bio. Trying to book a show or get promotion out of town can only be made easier if you can tell people that your CD did well on your local independent radio station.

Submission Tips:
-Every campus radio station is different, so it's important to do some research before sending your CDs out. All of the main campus radio stations in Canada have websites, and you can find links to these sites by visiting the Earshot website ( http://www.earshot-online.com/ ).
-The first thing you want to do is make sure that other stations have shows that will play your music. For example, it makes no sense to send a hip-hop CD to a campus station that only plays folk music.
-In addition to having the mailing address, many websites will also have submission guidelines, and once again, every station is different. For example, CJAM will not accept CDs with less than four original songs on them. With 50 to 100 CDs arriving every week, we needed to set some limits because we don't have time to listen to CD singles and things of that nature, and it takes a lot of time adding music to our on-air library. Also, having four or more songs on a CD helps us get the sense that you're a serious musician who can create something more than just one hot song.
-After mailing out your CD to different stations, it's generally customary to wait 2 or 3 weeks before following up on the status of your submission. Some stations take more time than others to review incoming music, and you have to factor in the time it takes to mail your package too. Personally, I'm usually able to review all of our submissions within one week, which is generally very fast for campus radio, but there might be other Music Directors who won't get around to your CD for a month.
-Most Music Directors have set tracking hours, which are usually listed on the station website. After waiting 2 or 3 weeks, feel free to call or email them to ask if your CD has arrived, and what its status might be at the station. The only information you really need to include is the name of the artist, the name of the album, and if you want, perhaps a link to your website, MySpace page, etc. Sending quotes from your bio, attaching mp3s to the emails, and other things like that are annoying and generally do not help.
-If a Music Director tells you that your CD was rejected or passed on, don't get angry or take offense. It happens! There could be a wide number of reasons why that station did not accept it. It's usually not recommended to ask why a station passed on adding your CD, but it's a very debatable topic. With so many CDs to review, chances are that the Music Director might not even remember why your CD wasn't cut out for their station.
-If your CD was added to a station's music library, then that's great! It's now acceptable to contact the Music Director on a semi-regular basis to find out if your CD is getting played. Asking for updates every week can get annoying, so I generally recommend tracking your CD once every two or three weeks.

Packaging Your Product:
-For lesser known artists, the CD packaging can be very important! If you have a good-looking product, DJs might be more willing to take a chance on playing it.
-Recently a rock band sent me a burned CD without any kind of writing on the disc. The only other information that came with the CD was a generic letter telling me about the band. This CD was immediately thrown away.
-Why? Well campus radio DJs and Music Directors need simple things like a tracklisting so they can tell listeners what songs are being played. Burned CDs are fine because not everyone can afford to send official, retail promo copies to radio stations, but you should at least write the band/artist and album name on the CD so it doesn't get lost.
-It is also important to package your CD in a jewel case with the artist name clearly visible on the spine. This makes it easier for DJs to find your music in the on-air library. Traditional jewel cases work best, but slim cases are nearly as good. In other words, anything is better than a paper sleeve. If you need some cases, contact your local campus radio station as they should have extras to give away.
-Radio edits aren't necessary for Canadian campus radio because we have some freedom to play obscenities. We do appreciate it if you put a sticker on the jewel case letting DJs know which songs have swearing. If you have the time to make a clean version of your album, that can only help.
-Personally, I rarely read bios that musicians include with their CDs because I think the music should speak for itself. If I want more information about an artist, it's usually not a problem to search for their website, MySpace page, etc. However, many Music Directors appreciate a one sheet, which can contain information such as your bio, quotes from press clippings, and/or a photo. A simple text document works the best, so no need to get extra flashy. Anything more than one-page in length can become overkill, and it's not worth your time to package it in a nice folder because they usually get thrown away.
-Lastly, you'll have a hard time finding stations that accept music sent to them via the Internet. Most Music Directors don't have time to download your mp3s, or visit your website to listen to streaming audio, so it's best not to do it.

Chris White
CJAM Music Director
cjammd@uwindsor.ca