Here we are again for another in our weekly segment, Short Staff…No Problem.
The reason I love the internet and have a real passion for it is that it makes it easier for people in the media to do their job, really it does.
Think about it, before the Internet you had to get your show prep from the morning paper and even that didn’t have all the stuff you needed. You needed to listen to Casey Kasem or Rick Dees for the new music every week. Or maybe you were able to catch Entertainment Tonight a couple nights a week for celebrity dirt.
The internet not only makes it easier to get this information – Type into Google Rihanna and Chris Brown and see how much information you get. It also makes it more immediate, you can get the information and get it to your audience so much quicker than you ever did before.
One of the best things about the Internet is what it has done for music fans around the world…YOUR AUDIENCE. How do you take advantage of the fact that the internet is the BEST music discovery medium EVER. It used to be radio, it’s now the Internet, so let’s take advantage of that.
Here’s how to get your audience the latest music with minimal effort on your part.
1.) Link to hypem.com- this website has been my life blood for the last year. Here’s how it works. It surfs over 50 music blogs on the internet and aggregates them all into one site. You can then log-on to the site and listen to all of the music it finds from it’s searches. In recent weeks I have discovered the new Kanye, music from the Veronicas, the new Eminem song, before it was out. It’s an amazing service and one you should share with your audience.
2.) Tumblr – Tumblr is a blogging service, but it’s more than that, it allows people to quickly share music, photos, videos on their blog. So, how are you going to have time to search through all the blogs and find good ones for your audience? Don’t worry, I did it for you…well mashable did it for you. Hereis a list of the top Tumblr music blogs on the internet. More music discovery at your fingertips. You could get fancy with it and find a way to grab the feed from these sites and aggregate this music to your site or you could just link to your favorite ones on your site and let people start discovering music.
3.) PLAY THE SONGS YOU FIND!! I know I know, only play the hits, but the world has changed and the internet audience (YOUR audience) wants new music…they CRAVE new music. Take one song you find in both the above locations and feature it everyday. Have your jock that is talking it up talk about where he/she found it…ON YOUR WEBSITE and drive people to your site to do more music discovery. Trust me, they’ll come back for more and be talking about you in no time.
We used to be good at music discovery in the radio business…now we are afraid to embrace a new technology that opens up a world of possibilities when it comes to music discovery. Get on this bandwagon and people will be buzzing about your station in no time.
