The Internet is a great tool that helps young bands promote their music. There are numerous online music sites that will submit your tunes to radio stations, online music magazines, along with a variety of free and paid download sites that gets your music out to listeners all over the world. Finding the right submission website is the key to getting your music heard.

When we think of radio, most of us tend to think of the traditional terrestrial type radio that comes into our homes and automobiles everyday. Up until recent times, land based radio stations were the only way to listen to music and have your music played. Now with the digital age in full swing, satellite has taken over and listeners have more options than ever before. XM satellite is the new hot trend in the radio business, and satellite stations are now giving traditional radio a run for their money. Internet radio has also become an extremely popular option.  Because of the larger variety of radio categories, bands have more choices when it comes to submitting their music. Submitting music to terrestrial radio stations is quickly becoming a thing of the past thanks to the Internet, however many bands still do choose this route. Your best option for submitting to land based stations is to pray that you know someone who works for the station that can get your music heard, or by mailing in a CD of your tunes and playing the waiting game. Your music will eventually be heard by the program directors, but it could take some time, and there is no guarantee it will ever hit the airways. The Internet offers a more lucrative option when it comes to the submission process.   

 The submission process for Internet radio platforms differs depending upon who you are dealing with. There are numerous sites that allow you to create an account and will do all the submissions for you. Other sites post your music and wait for radio program directors to contact you. One of these sites called AirPlay Direct lets you create an account and then restricts access to your music by only allowing radio stations to download your music. This is a great site to get your music out to radio stations around the world since thousands of stations will have quick access to your tunes once you sign up (go to www.airplaydirect.com).

Most Internet sites do charge some kind of fee for your submissions, but the prices vary. Most will ask you to mail them a CD or to email your mp3 files after you have filled out a sign up form, but in most cases you will be asked to mail a CD copy of your music.  Whether or not your music is accepted depends upon if the promoter likes it, but unlike the real world music industry, you are more likely to find someone in the virtual world who will want to play your music. You can send a page link with song samples to the promoter so he or she can hear your music beforehand, but it is probably just better to pay the shipping costs and mail a CD. You will get a quicker response if you go this route. Watch out for hidden fees. Some online radio sites will charge you an arm and a leg to get your music out to the public, but in reality very few people are hearing your tunes. One good online music site to go to get your music heard over the radio is www.musicsubmit.com. On this site you create an artist’s account and mail them a CD of your music. You can choose a submission package based on the amount of exposure you desire. Once you sign up for a submission package and your account is activated, submissions to radio stations, blogs, podcasts, and numerous other online music stores will begin in just 48 hours. Artists will receive regular emails updating them on submissions and acceptance letters from music websites that have decided to play their music. In fact, artists don’t even have to sign for a submission package to have their music heard. Just go to www.musicsubmit.com to find out how you can have your music heard all over the worldwide net.

Submitting your music to satellite radio is another great option. Satellite radio has better reception and unlimited listening distances, unlike land based radio. The submission process is similar for satellite radio. There are Internet sites out there that will submit your music to these stations or you can just contact the station itself by calling for instructions. Like Internet radio, satellite radio stations will want a CD of your music instead of an mp3 email. Many stations will contact you if they are going to play your music. Don’t pester the station about the airplay of submissions; doing this will not get you very far. Wait for their “big” guy to contact you. A good place to submit to your music for satellite radio is at www.xmradio.com. Just do a search for “submitting music”. You can go online here and read over their submission rules and fill out a submission form to get started. 

Updated: December 1, 2007

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