PLEASE NOTE ALL OPINIONS EXPRESSED HERE ARE THAT OF JILL WINTER AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE OPINIONS OF KRYC RHYTHM 105.9FM OR KLZY JAMZ 99.3 FM.
TIPS
1) Do not spam people with links on social media. That means on both threads or via DM's/private messages. It is far more effective to build up relationships with everyone. It takes more time but you have a much better chance of them listening to your music instead of them ignoring it as well deleting and/or blocking you.
2) My number one pet peeve when I would receive indie submissions for the "Winter On The Radio" Podcast, was out of tune vocals and overall poor quality recordings. In this world of technology, things don't necessarily have to cost a small fortune to be a quality product. Perhaps find an engineer online who can tune your vocals, mix your tracks and then send them off for proper mastering if you don't have the budget to record in a studio.
3) Listen to your recording next to a major artist in or near your genre to see if the quality matches. This is a good benchmark to see if you're headed in the right direction.
4) When reaching out to people, it is never good form to address them unprofessionally with an opening like "Hey, what's good?" Always use greetings such as "Hi (insert name here)" or "Good morning/afternoon (insert name here)" to show you take your craft seriously. Remember to keep it concise and professional.
5) When sending tracks out, make sure they are ID'D properly with song title and artist name or many indie stations will not accept them. Avoid ID's like:
"Sky Song-John Smith Version 27 Master 3 Best One Yet"
6) Before sending tracks out for potential indie airplay, know the station's format. If you send a Rock song to a Hip-Hop station, they will know you didn't even bother to listen or research them.
7) Always be courteous, even if you don't receive the answer you were hoping for.
8) If you are in a position to play larger gigs with well known acts, check your ego at the door. Be kind to everyone from the maintenance crew to the headlining act. Nobody will be impressed with "Rock Star Attitudes" anywhere but on stage.
9) When recording in a professional studio, know your parts beforehand. Preparation is your best ally in this situation. Once you nail all of the main parts, you can decide along with your engineer/producer if there is time and/or money in the budget for improv tracks.
10) Be open to suggestions of the people you trust and are paying for their expertise. If you hire people to engineer/produce your music, chances are, you like what they have worked on before and probably want some of those elements in your project. It doesn't hurt to try an idea, even if it's not used, at least you'll know what it sounded like instead of wondering after it's too late.