Radio Programmers Newsletter: July 3, 2007
AirPlay Direct is pleased to announce our sponsor for the July edition of our Radio Programmers Newsletter, Inside Strategy. Inside Strategy is a new media promotions firm that specializes in the digital promotion of Hard Rock/Heavy Metal acts to on-line radio and press outlets globally.
Your AirPlay Direct digital delivery services are always free of charge thanks to wonderful sponsors like Inside Strategy. If you are a Hard Rock/Heavy Metal artist or record label and are looking for an effective digital radio/media promotions firm, we highly recommend Inside Strategy www.InsideStrategy.net .
A little about Inside Strategy:
Inside Strategy utilizes the internet and creative digital strategies to promote Hard Rock / Heavy Metal acts to over 5,000 radio and media outlets globally. Inside Strategy www.InsideStrategy.net leverages digital distribution, industry outreach and relationship marketing to increase media coverage and brand awareness for established and emerging artists.
Throughout the month of July, AirPlay Direct, Vigilante Music, Inside Strategy and the Indianapolis Metal Fest will be running our first “All Things Digital Hard Rock/Heavy Metal” artist contest for our artist/label members.
We will be awarding one Grand Prize package, winner takes all. The winning song/artist will receive the Grand Prize package which will include a 12 week full PR/media relations campaign (print and online) in the UK and Europe from Vigilante Music ($8,000 value), a 4 week digital promotion campaign (on-line radio and media) from Inside Strategy ($2,000 value), a premier “Featured Artist” advertising package from AirPlay Direct (value $1,500). and the Indianapolis Metal Fest will provide an opening live performance slot for the winner (invaluable…!). The Grand Prize package is valued at $11,500.00 plus the appearance at the Indy Metal Fest…!
This contest is FREE and very simple… the best song wins. The only three requirements to enter are that you must be an AirPlay Direct artist/label member (free to join), your music must fall into the Hard Rock/Heavy Metal genre and you must submit your AirPlay Direct DPK prior to the official deadline of July 25th. Whether you are an indie artist or a well established record label with a roster, pick your best songs, you can submit from 1 to 3 tracks per artist. Submit you AirPlay Direct Digital Promo Kit/DPK to office@airplaydirect.com . Please make sure to note that you are submitting for the Hard Rock/Heavy Metal contest. Deadline for submissions is July 25th. The winner will be announced and “Featured” in the August Radio Programmers Newsletter, as well as in a company press release to all media outlets.
A little about Vigilante Music:
Vigilante Music is a rock PR company specialising in European rock press. We cover most areas of the key territories in Europe , dealing with hard rock. We have recently undertaken campaigns for Vixen, Twisted Sister, WASP and Violent Storm. We are also active in National Radio promotions in the UK for all styles of guitar based music.
We also offer a label management program where we can set up and run your label for you. We have a full worldwide distribution network, as well as marketing partners in other territories outside of the UK . www.peroxidemusic.com/vigilante.
A little about Indianapolis Metal Fest:
Indianapolis Metal Fest www.indianapolismetalfest.com is one promoter’s attempt to bring our community together to celebrate our genre and network with those in the actual business of Metal. This is no small undertaking, I assure you. In the beginning IMP had an extremely modest budget by anyone’s estimate. As of today we’ve more than tripled that budget, and it’s still growing! If we price IMP tickets at $30.00 each, we could not break even unless we sell more than 1,000 tickets.
But we’re not selling tickets at $30.00 each, friends and neighbors. We’re selling tickets for $15.00. Even if we sell out completely, we cannot possibly cover even 50% of our operational, promotional and talent expenses. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not a wealthy man, so you may be asking “How” and “Why”? The why part is easy: I live and breathe metal. I listen to it, I buy it and I perform it.
The how? Well, by aligning with sponsors who also live and breathe it, who share our vision and commitment to metal. These are people who make their living by working with metal bands on a daily basis.
A little about Inside Strategy:
Inside Strategy utilizes the internet and creative digital strategies to promote Hard Rock/Heavy Metal acts to over 5,000 radio and media outlets globally. Inside Strategy www.InsideStrategy.net leverages digital distribution, industry outreach and relationship marketing to increase media coverage and brand awareness for established and emerging artists. The winner of the AirPlay Direct “All Things Digital
Country” contest is Leslie Satcher and her new single “Texas Rubye”!
Listen to and download “broadcast-quality” tracks at http://www.airplaydirect.com/LeslieSatcher
The long awaited second CD by critically acclaimed singer/songwriter Leslie Satcher is finally complete as her first independent project. Leslie is well known for the songs she has written that have been recorded by artists such as Randy Travis, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, George Jones, George Strait, Gretchen Wilson, Trisha Yearwood, Patty Loveless, Vince Gill and dozens more. Now, she has finished her own “creation” from start to finish on her own terms. This “creation” exposes her Texas roots and tells us the story of her journey through the hard red dirt, heartaches & frustrations and the joy of finding true love.
With the best musicians in the business and the guest vocals of Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Carl Jackson, Wes Hightower & Jeannie Winn all produced by Grammy winning Luke Wooten, this is a truly a gem for the discerning music lover.
Throughout the month of June, Airplay Specialists, Webster & Associates PR and AirPlay Direct co-sponsored our first “All Things Digital Country” artist promotion contest for our artist/label members. This was a Grand Prize package, winner takes all. The winning artist, Leslie Satcher will receive the Grand Prize package which will include a 14 week terrestrial and digital radio promotion campaign from Airplay Specialists www.airplayspecialists.com a national press release announcement of the winner by Webster & Associates PR www.websterpr.com and a premier “Featured Artist” advertising package from AirPlay Direct. The Grand Prize package is valued at over $7,500…! We will combine the radio promotion expertise of Airplay Specialists, the media relations experience of Webster & Associates PR with the power and speed of AirPlay Direct’s digital “smart-tools” to promote the winning single to Country / Americana radio stations and media outlets throughout the U.S. and abroad. There were a lot of very cool songs submitted. AirPlay Direct would like to thank all of the entrants.
AirPlay Direct Featured Artists for July
Listen to and download “broadcast-quality” tracks at http://www.airplaydirect.com/FirstRoundKnockout
In our current landscape singers don’t sing, they lip-sync and players don’t play, they pantomime to backing tracks. Many artists act as if it’s an imposition to perform to their fans, and it shows. Enter First Round Knockout aka 1RKO, with over 63,000 hits on their website, 1RKO is proving that authenticity does matter. With raw musicality, infectious energy and the purpose to headline stadiums this band is at the peak of their expression staking out the territory where talent does make a difference.
Listen to and download “broadcast-quality” tracks at http://www.airplaydirect.com/Karlex
The roots of black music stretches across the ocean from Africa and America to the Caribbean islands and Europe. This journey of a people and their culture - a journey of joy and struggle - is mirrored in the personal story of Karlex. Singer and songwriter Karlex blends the scratch ‘n’ riff guitar sounds of classic funk and soul with the fat-bottom bass of dub and roots reggae to create a frothy musical blend called Afro Groove.
Listen to and download “broadcast-quality” tracks at http://www.airplaydirect.com/TruckeeBrothers
The Truckee Brothers have been quietly breaking in their new album, Double Happiness, with a monthlong residency at a dive bar in a seedy area of San Diego. The wall to wall crowd is self-absorbed, unresponsive, and typically short on attentiveness; in other words, perfect to rehearse the new songs in front of. If they can win THESE people over at THIS watering hole…well…
Listen to and download “broadcast-quality” tracks at http://www.airplaydirect.com/JacksonTaylor
Jackson Taylor tells stories about what he knows-life. Jackson’s lyrics paint tales of lives filled with passion and joy as much as of a life tainted by sorrow and disappointment-his life. Jackson sings of heaven and hell, beauty and grit-Jackson sings or real life.
Recently signed to Smith Entertainment Group (Billy Joe Shaver, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Stoney LaRue) Jackson Taylor is ready to take country music by storm with his latest release, aptly entitled Dark Days which was produced and engineered in the mountains of Washington State at Cascade Studios. The CD (produced by Jackson Taylor & Ronnie Belaire and engineered by Allen Larsen) contains 12 tracks and features his first single “Lonely”, a tale of emotion that Jackson knows all too well. Other tracks include “Outlaws Ain’t Wanted Here No More” which is a true account of Jackson’s experiences in the country music industry that eventually pushed him to take his own musical path. Also featured on the new album is a cover of a tune “Honky Tonk Heroes” written by Billy Joe Shaver one of Jackson’s favorite
music outlaws.
Listen to and download “broadcast-quality” tracks at http://www.airplaydirect.com/JED
Ten years running, JED continues to pen multi-faceted compositions that challenge and break away from the typical verse-chorus formula of mainstream rock music without losing popular appeal. JED delves below artistic surfaces, into colorfully enigmatic dimensions, but yet doesn’t stray into anything that feels overly experimental or avant-garde. The music and message are darkly grooving, heavy, melodic and dynamically and stylistically contrasting enough to thwart any one musical niche.
AirPlay Direct… go straight to the source!
For more information on Inside Strategy please visit www.InsideStrategy.net
For more information on Vigilante Music please visit www.peroxidemusic.com /vigilante
For more information on the Indianapolis Music Fest please visit www.indianapolismetalfest.com
For more information on AirPlay Direct please visit www.AirPlayDirect.com