Roesh from BBC Music Introducing In Manchester hosts this week's BBC Introducing Mixtape - with his personal pick of the latest tunes uploaded from around the UK. This is the episode broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music at 1am on Sunday 4 October 2020 - and in this edition you can hear:
ABNORMAL SLEEPZ, K.O.G, RAGGO ZULU REBEL, LEAH MUSIC, WEBMOMS, GEORGE RILEY, AARON TAYLOR, SHAÉ, TOBI SUNMOLA, DAVID REY, KAYOWA, LORD APEX, RIC FLO, KAY YOUNG, BRINZ and RORO
How To Listen
This is the episode broadcast at 1am on Sunday 4 October 2020. You can listen again for 30 days after broadcast on BBC Sounds via this link.
How To Download...
To receive the show automatically every week, subscribe to "BBC Music Introducing Mixtape" wherever you get your podcasts from. These are difficult times for almost everybody, and all the artists have allowed us to include their tunes in this podcast so that as many people as possible can enjoy them for free.
How To Help...
However these times are particularly difficult for artists because live performances are impossible, but bills still have to be paid. So if you do enjoy any of these tunes, please consider buying them direct from the artists' own own stores below. For musicians operating on a shoestring, literally every pound you can spare will make a difference.
Start times below are for the podcast version of the show...
ABNORMAL SLEEPZ ft. HMD - Running [starts 00:10]
https://abnormalsleepz.bandcamp.com
K.O.G ft. DARK ANGEL - Bad Man Town[starts 04:13]
https://kogmusic.bandcamp.com
RAGGO ZULU REBEL - Babylon Ah Come [starts 09:26]
https://www.raggozulurebel.com
LEAH MUSIC - Letter To The World [starts 14:06]
https://ampl.ink/nDyzQ
WEBMOMS - Summer Salad [starts 17:50]
https://webmoms.bandcamp.com
GEORGE RILEY - Move [starts 21:07]
https://www.facebook.com/georgerileymusic
AARON TAYLOR - Be My Muse [starts 24:18]
https://iaarontaylor.bandcamp.com
SHAÉ - Levels [starts 28:05]
https://soundcloud.com/shaesuniverse
TOBI SUNMOLA ft. HMD - Night Time Smoke [starts 32:02]
https://tobisunmola.bandcamp.com
DAVID REY - Mains [starts 34:30]
https://instagram.com/1davidrey
KAYOWA - Ridin’ [starts 38:24]
https://linktr.ee/1kayowa
LORD APEX - Belize [starts 40:57]
https://lawdapex.bandcamp.com
RIC FLO - Forbidden Games [starts 08:09]
https://aboycalledric.bandcamp.com
KAY YOUNG - Giving Thanks [starts 48:38]
https://kayyoungmusic.bandcamp.com
BRINZ - Bak2Bak [starts 52:48]
https://soundcloud.com/onetimeforthefam
RORO - Mood Forever [starts 57:07]
https://ffm.to/roro-moodforever
Tom Robinson will be back hosting the BBC Music Introducing Mixtape again from Sun 11 October 2020.
PS for artists from Tom Robinson...
(1) WARNING: After getting airplay on BBC Introducing, you may get emails out of the blue from radio pluggers who have an impressive list of former clients. They'll say how much they like your record and offer their services. Typically something like:
"Hi - I'm a national radio plugger... I came across 'YOURTRACKNAME' today, I'm a big fan of the single and wanted to find out if you have anyone looking after national radio yet?"
Be warned: they don't actually think your music is special. They just hope you're inexperienced enough - and desperate enough - to give them your money in the hope of getting more airplay. Paying a complete stranger to try and get your music on Radio 1 - just because they happened to send you an email - is NOT a good use of your hard earned cash.
There are over a hundred music PR firms in the UK and they all have impressive client lists. Obviously some pluggers are really good and (equally obviously) some of them aren't. But trust me on this: the really good ones are too busy to spend their time emailing BBC Introducing artists to ask them for money.
In any case emerging artists usually get MUCH better results themselves than a plugger - just by targeting radio shows and DJs direct via social media. For suggestions on how to do your own music promotion see the free advice section at my Fresh On The Net blog (freshonthenet.co.uk).
And in any case radio probably isn't even the best goal to be chasing. One or two extra plays simply won't make much difference to the size of your fanbase, until that fanbase is up in the thousands. This early in your career, building a direct relationship with your audience is far, far more important than airplay. And unlike getting on Radio 1, building a fanbase for your music through Youtube and Instagram is something you can achieve yourself without spending any money at all.
The time to seek professional PR services is when the live crowds you can draw at every gig are in the hundreds, and when your genuine online 'likes' are in the thousands. With that kind of traction, a major investment becomes worth risking to help take the next step up.
The best pluggers and PRs will charge a lot of money because they're good at their job. But (again) just because somebody charges a lot of money doesn't mean they're any good. Tip: check out which indie labels regularly get their releases played on your favourite radio station. Then contact those record companies to find out which PR firm they use.
And however things pan out, don't forget to carry on uploading your new releases to BBC Introducing so that we can carry on supporting you as your career unfolds.
(2) We only get enough airtime on this show to feature artists - even our absolute favourites - about four times a year, however much we love their work. So after you've been been on the Mixtape, please wait 12 weeks before sending me your next brilliant track. This leaves us time to help a load of other deserving artists meanwhile.
The best way of getting a tune direct to me is via Fresh On The Net using Soundcloud. From 10m on Monday mornings anybody is welcome to send us a track and we keep the inbox open until 200 submissions have arrived - so it's best to get in early. We publish all 200 tunes on our Soundcloud each week, and a dozen of us then listen to every single track. And be sure to also upload your tune to BBC Introducing, to make it eligible for Introducing airplay...
Tom Robinson