Month: May 2020

TunedQuest: How the Radio Music Submissuib Resource Got Started

No one has asked me why. Why has a traditional sports blogger with a reputation for covering hockey (and making typos… I still pull that off really damn well, thank you) published a list of radio stations? Why in God’s name (and Wayne Gretzky’s… Or Gordie Howe? Maybe Martin St. Louis is more appropriate? I’m a Lightning fan after all and Marty was oh my God!)  have I spent so much time building on that list? Radio’s dead, Spotify Uber Ales and my vocal other reasons to wonder, doubt, and put down the post of 150+ radio and streaming stations that accept submissions. Why have I done it?

The short answer is the same reason I started hockey blogging in February  2004: Ir I don’t do it, who will?

The longer answer is tied to my own want to get into music and get out there… and how it failed, like it has for so many others. Don’t conclude I’m a musician/recording artist who didn’t know how to get out there. No, I’m just a writer, a poet, a would-be lyricist. For various reasons, I can’t do more than that.

I still got close to having lyrics put to the song; I paired up with an artist who started talking extended-play album with me. This had been back in the spring of 2018. I was thisclose to being within the realm of music, all the while knowing the next step was to get the would-be songs out there through airplay. So, what I did was throw a few inside music stations I knew (by way of me helping the Pretty Voices get their 201t album, Jangulaar out into the radio world)  into a simple text file. I added a few more stations that I found in web searching, and I saved it to my Windows desktop.

Then nothing happened. Life drew the artist away from music, I moved on, and the file stayed on my desktop.

In July of 2019, a long time friend of mine filled me in on her upcoming debut single. I was surprised and thrilled I’ve known Antheia Jayne since the fall of 1997. I’d known she had a music touch for quite some time. I also know she’s an educated woman (to say the least), earning a Masters’s degree. I didn’t know her plans for the music, or how much time she was to invest in promoting the tune and herself in the music field now (her Masters is not in Music by the way).

I wanted to help with promotion, I didn’t know how I could be involved… up until I remembered the list. The text file was raw, so I threw together an excel spreadsheet (in a unique, sloppy, and raw fo4emat) and sent it to Antheia Jayne. I was left hoping success would come for her with the publication of Beta Life.

With the excel file and not much else going on. I’m not involved in hockey like I used to be, no one’s courted me to resume the practice (in a respectable, serious manner), my hands aren’t quite cooperating anyway. I also knew that I’ve crossed too many indie musicians (by way of radio, Spotify, and Reddit) who don’t seem to try to achieve or push themselves down the traditional broadcast avenue. It’s either playlists, forums, or a single music stream that they’ll take a chance on. How many artists (who have music published online through a distributor) know there are so many places to try to push their art? So, I took my little list, added a few more options I discovered on a casual web search or two, and put together a blog post. That was the start…

I keep going with that thing – researching station submission options has become my hobby. I rarely have musicians remark about it, but the rare remarks that do happen drive me to find and list more options.

Why is there a list of 150+ stations? There are other articles on the web that promote music submission options. The catch is, they provide limited numbers or just station-name and an email address. While my post doesn’t provide for every listing, there is more context (including experience in some cases) with the sites/stations. There’s also no “this is the best sire to try with” declaration because the music business is a busy and complex place and the best avenues for some turn into a dead-end for others. It’s important to know there are more options out there… That, and to always keep going and not wait for success/fails with one single submission at one station. That kind of practice will work against you if you want to go far.

While submission options for musicians is whar the radio/streaming post was created for, it also can serve as a music discovery tool for listeners (and free advertising for stations). While it’s tough to find some of the listed sites, listeners aren’t necessarily going to find the music those stations air on Spotify, Apple Music, or elsewhere.playlist

So, why did I do the list? Because the option was there, so why not? Because some people could use it and might find success through the chance the broadcast options provide. Or just because. Take your pick.