How many times have you received this message, “I’m a local artist and have new music coming out…”? I think every station’s FB inbox has an incredible amount of these types of notes kept on “not read” mode. The second they see you’ve seen their request…well, you’ve now opened Pandora’s Box. How can you get around seeming uninterested, and instead give them a little bit of your time?
Dedicate Sunday nights to showcasing local artists and bands. The segment only has to be a few minutes of you playing a minute of the band’s song. Have the listeners vote on the best band of the night. You can have them call in – this is a great way to grab phoners, which I know we’ve all struggled with. Put up a poll on your website and post the link on your fb. This will draw more traffic to your site. Have an entire segment dedicated to this on your website. It’s up to you how many bands or artists you want to play every week. Play the minute of the song, take some calls, play back the calls, then move onto the next band.
The winner of the night will get their full song played the following Friday during the morning show. The last Sunday of the month play the full song of the weekly winners. Again, take callers and the poll. You can decide if you have a prize for the final winner (GC to a local music store for gear, GC to a local garage cause you know their band van is constantly breaking down, etc).
If this really takes off, you can turn it into an end of the year Battle of the Bands! You already have 12 bands. Narrow it down to 6 with a final poll. The 6 finalists will get to play three songs during the Battle.
Have local “celebrities” as judges. These could be news casters, if you have local bands that have gotten some sort of notoriety have their singer be a judge, the radio morning show hosts, if you have a relationship with an actual artist that would be phenomenal to have as a judge. The winner of the Battle can open for the next show coming through.
Clearly, there’s a plethora of sales opportunities here:
*Weekly show sponsorship
*Local Show on the website sponsorship
*Final Monthly Battle sponsorship
*The Year End Battle will have loads of sales spots as well
There are so many possibilities showcasing local artists. You don’t have to acknowledge every single one, but don’t dismiss them so easily. Embrace the annoying messages and turn them into a sales and show opportunity!