Tips for Bands and Artists |
Our in-house A&R team has developed these tips for Bands and Artists. Check them out! We'll be adding more periodically.
Artists who submit to CBCI's A&R Department will be added to this mailing list (sent once a month) with additional tips! If you just want to be added to the mailing list, contact our A&R Department by e-Mail.
- Be cautious about Record Label contracts. Don't sign any that provide a low amount of royalties, or that take away 100% of your copyright permanently.
- Be yourselves, but act accordingly when dealing with Industry. We love bands, and act a bit off-professional, but sometimes is straight business.
- Don't get pissed if your music is denied for airplay. Learn why it was and improve yourselves.
- Don't become affiliated with ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, or similar PRO / Performance Royalty Organizations. They are not in the best interest of your career, and provide little compensation.
- Keep contact with companys who are promoting you. It's hard for us to keep track.
- When you put out a new CD, consider submitting it for Airplay weeks beforehand so you get Pre-Release airplay.
- A Myspace is not a band website. Get one made. It's not that hard, and can provide you much more exposure, and make you look like a real Band.
- Read Contracts. Putting Music on MySpace allows them to do whatever they want with it. Do you want them to?
- Be Animated. A major thing that leads to the success of major bands is how they animate on stage. Be into your music, not just playing it.
- Keep band issues off the internet. We don't want to read it, and its bad for your future. Try to resolve things reasonably before things go haywire and end up into an e-flamefest.
- Don't Conform to a specific style just because thats most prominent in music. If you do, it makes you more transparent.
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Start Here. Receive Industry Feedback. Go Worldwide. Get Signed.
It's no secret that radio airplay is a powerful tool for any Band or Artist who wants to make it big. Contiga Broadcasting loves Bands and Artists who are not signed, and provide them with the best support of any Broadcasting Company in the Country.
Learn more about what Contiga Broadcasting does for Independent Bands, and how you can be a part of the music revolution thats taking over the nation.
Just what do we do for Independent Bands?
- Provide valueable Industry feedback from our Record Label on your tracks.
- Provide promotional support of shows and events.
- Provide a central location to mass-promote news across several sites.
- Get interviews or photos and post them.
- Find resources that can further help.
- Levels the playing field between Major and Independent acts.
- Equal Airplay to major acts.
- Provide International Airplay.
- Submits your Music to Record Labels who request it for consideration.
Interested? That's great to hear. In fact, last year we processed over 300 Independent Bands submissions, with about 85% of them getting onto our playlist. Those that didn't received valueable insight into how they can improve before we put them on radio.
What is CBCI's Airplay Standards?
Our airplay standards are pretty leniant. We allow for most recordings, as long as they sound reasonably good. If your planning on sending us MP3 files under 224 Kbps, forget it. Our broadcasting systems need the highest quality recording we have of your band. It doesn't have to be studio quality (but that gets you more airplay), but it does just have to sound good. Don't worry, we'll let you know if it doesn't meet standard and tell you what you can do to improve it.
What Music does CBCI Accept for Airplay?
Everything. Even though we don't have stations for every major Genre yet, we will in the near future, so sending us your music for a station not yet launched, can get you in the opening rotation.
So what do you have to do to get on Contiga Broadcasting stations?
It's pretty simple. Just follow the steps we have outlined for you below. They may be alot, but it's essential. Promotion Packs that are sent without the requested content, will be declined. If you spend time on your mailing, we'll spend time on listening to it and responding back.
First, grab a big envelope, preferrably tyvek or some other plastic-type that protects your contents from the US mail system destroying it, if something is out of position. We've seen it happen. Many bands have sent us paper envelopes under these tyvek's with their own artwork done, which is alright with us, and we will display the envelopes in our office.
Here's some important things to have in the envelope:
- A Photo of the Band
- Past and Current Music CD's (Even if your just submitting a single CD for airplay, providing us with your back catalog will help us provide you feedback, submit your content to record labels, and find potential songs you thought didn't meet airplay standards.
- Biography of the band
- Contact information for the band (and all members if possible) (Name, Address, E-mail, Phone)
- Any other contact information or pertinent information
- A letter saying hello!
Suggestion: In addition to printing out your photo and biography and contact info, consider putting them on a CD as well. It speeds up our data entry, which gets you on the network faster, but please make sure you print a copy of them as well!
Here are some things that are optional, but we do enjoy:
- Band Stickers (if you send them, send a few... We have vehicles with stickers, our office is flooded in them)
- Band Pins (if you send them, send a few... We love pins too!)
- Music Video (in .mpeg format at 5000 Kbps+ or on DVD)
- Any other Free Shwag
- Letter telling us about where you want your band to be, where you see yourselves, how you feel you are growing, and what can be expected in the future.
- Posters (people have sent them, believe it or not!)
- Whatever else you feel may give us a feel of the band, or is just fun to send us.
Submit all this to the following Address. Be sure to write the address exactly as shown, otherwise it may delay your package.
Contiga Broadcasting Corporation
C/o A & R New Music Relations
P.O. Box 536727
Orlando, FL 32853-6727
We highly recommend that you put Delivery Confirmation or some other form of Delivery Verification to ensure that your package arrives. We do not field phone calls about the receipt of a pack, it just takes too much time.
What happens after we Submit?
Allow our A&R team about 5 days to receive it (if inside the US) or up to 3 weeks (if outside the US). Then our usual processing time is about 2 weeks. We will contact you once we have finished reviewing your submission and let you know what we decided.
What if I have questions about the process?
You are more than welcome to shoot over those questions by e-Mailing us. |
