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RADIO AIRPLAY 101 Small Market Commercial Regular Rotation
By Bryan Farrish www.radio-media.com
There are too many commercial stations in the U.S. (even within a single
format) for the typical new indie label to deal with at one time. So,
for the purposes of marketing music on radio (via airplay), you have to
divide up the markets ("markets" are cities) into different groups that
can be approached one at a time... each with different levels of difficulty.
And note: This information applies to regular rotation only, NOT to specialty,
mixshow, or college.
Markets are divided into "major", "medium", and "small", according to
how many people live in each market. Major markets are #1 (New York) to
#30 (San Antonio); Medium markets are #31 (San Jose) to #100 (Johnson
City, TN); Small markets are #101 (Lakeland, FL) and smaller. See the
complete list of markets here:
www.radio-media.com/markets/main.html
There are also "non-rated" markets, which are the smallest towns in the
country. Most regular-rotation airplay campaigns for new artists and new
labels should start with the small and non-rated markets first, since
these markets are easier, faster, and lower cost than the bigger markets
(not to mention the fact that many larger stations will not respond until
they see action in the small markets first.)
There are several other advantages to small and non-rated markets. First,
there are many more of them. This means that you have hundreds of choices
of places to perform on the road, and, there are thousands of small newspapers
in these markets to review you.
Second, the music and media people in these small markets are more likely
to work with you. Why? Because of less competition from major labels,
major PR firms, and major booking agencies. In small markets, (1) stations
are more likely to play indie music, even if you have no distribution,
gigs or press in their town, (2) the stores you try to get your CD into
will be more willing to work with you, and (3) the newspapers and TV (or
cable) will be more willing to interview you.
The first negative you or someone else might come up with regarding "small
markets" is, "they don't sell records". Let me start my reply by saying,
again, that if you don't have a salesperson calling stores to get the
stores to place orders, then you will sell zero records no matter what
radio or markets you choose to promote to. And note that this applies
to sales in stores, not sales at gigs.
The "small markets don't sell records" mindset comes from major labels
who actually have a choice of where to market their records to in the
first place. It's kind of like Sears saying, "We only put our stores in
malls, since only malls have enough people for us to make any money."
True, but then Sears is starting off with a five million dollar store.
YOUR very first retail clothing store (that you worked all your life to
open up) is not going to be a five million dollar store in a mall. After
all, the lease space in the mall alone would be a million dollars a year.
YOUR first store is going to have to be much lower scale, maybe in a strip
shopping center, and it's still going to cost you several hundred thousand
dollars to open. Point is, you have to put the store in a place with less
people (compared to a mall) because it's the only way you stand a chance
to get started. And, you might just do very well there.
It's true that a major label, who's priority artists are getting one-half
to three million dollar radio campaigns, think that starting off in small
markets is a waste of time, since their level of push (like Sears) puts
them right into regular rotation in the medium and major markets. Good
for them. And good for Sears.
Small market regular rotation radio works with almost any format, especially
country and AC. Even pop can be worked in small markets. The idea is just
to get your record started, so that you can tour, get press, get distro,
or attract investor attention in these markets. After you do well here,
you'll finally have the option (provided you have the marketing dollars)
to start a medium market regular rotation campaign.
Bryan Farrish
is an independent radio airplay promoter. He can
be reached at 818-905-8038 or www.radio-media.com