In this informal, on‑the‑go video Wendy Day explains why radio remains a powerful tool for independent and unsigned musicians in 2019 and how to use it strategically. She emphasizes that, unlike major labels that chase chart positions and market share, independents should pursue radio solely to build a fan base and generate income. Day outlines a step‑by‑step approach: identify a regional market (often the Southeast) that matches the artist’s sound, create street‑level buzz through clubs, videos, and digital campaigns before approaching radio, and then launch a phased radio promotion starting with urban stations, moving to rhythmic, and finally pop if warranted. She details realistic budget expectations—$10‑20K for an initial push, scaling to $100‑200K for a number‑one push—and warns against scattering spins nationwide, which inflates costs and hampers touring logistics. The video stresses the importance of clear communication with independent promoters, focusing on fan‑base growth rather than chart metrics, and aligning radio play with manageable touring routes to maximize ROI.
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Hi guys, Wendy Day here. I feel a little bit like, um, plies doing this from my car, but I really wanted to cover this topic with you about radio, and I'm so busy right now that I haven't been able to sit at my desk like I normally do and make a video, so you guys are gonna have to do it with me on the run. I hope that's okay. So there are many reasons to go for radio, and yes, radio still matters in 2019. 96% of the population is reached by radio. The numbers trail off a little bit for the super, super young and the super, super old, but radio has been holding steady over the past couple of decades. And yes, that surprises me too. So if you're gonna go for radio, which is still one one of the best ways to reach a whole lot of people at one time, you got to know why you're doing it. Because there's many reasons that, like, a major label will go for radio. They'll go for chart position, they'll go for market share. Like, there's a shit ton of reasons. But as an independent or unsigned artist, there's only one reason that you go for radio, and that is to build your fan base. So if you're dealing with a radio person that's talking about market share or talking about charting you on Billboard. None of that shit matters. It matters to them because that's what they have to deliver for major labels, so they think that's what matters to everybody, but it doesn't. What matters to you is building your career, building your fan base, and making money with your music. The whole reason you do this is so that you can earn a living with your music, right? Makes perfect sense. So when you hire somebody, and you've got to hire an independent radio promoter to take your song to radio, you can't really do it yourself. You can't sit down with PDs. It's illegal to pay them to play your record. They've got relationships with different independent promoters around the country. What I do when I go for radio is I figure out what market my client is— wants to reach, what market either they're based in or the sound of their music is ideal for, meaning I'm not going to go for radio in the Southeast with a song that sounds decidedly like it's from LA, like it's got that LA vibe, that California vibe. Most independent artists don't have the budget to break a song outside of a region that they're in, right? Also, for me, my experience tells me that the easiest place to get radio play is in the Southeast, and very often my clients are based in the South, so I usually go for radio play in the Southeast. I always build my single on the streets first. I don't ever just go right from the studio to radio. That doesn't make sense. You want to make sure that your song has legs and that there's some awareness of your song in the marketplace, a lot of awareness of your song in the marketplace before you go for radio. Also because radio is so expensive and I always start at urban radio and then I go to rhythmic and then pop if the song so dictates. But if I'm going for urban radio play, I want to make sure that my song is popping in the clubs in a lot of markets. So if I'm going for Southeast radio, I'm making sure that my song is popping in the streets and in the clubs in Atlanta, Macon, Columbia, South Carolina, Augusta, Georgia, Columbus, Georgia. I want to make sure that people on the streets have awareness of my song, like my song, and might even be requesting it at radio. I've also shot a video before I've gone to radio, and I've also put into play a digital campaign so that I'm blitzing the internet, not necessarily just in the Southeast, but of course I'm focused on the Southeast, but I'm making sure that there's a digital campaign so that my numbers are increasing. I want to be on the upswing as I go for radio. I don't want to be on the downswing as I go for radio. And I want to make sure that I have something because I'm gonna start my radio campaign with somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000, and then I'm going to keep feeding the bear provided I'm getting the proper feedback from radio, meaning it's, it's, it's getting play in good day parts, not just overnight. I don't want all my spin between 12 at night and 5 AM. That's where I'm gonna start because I'm a new, I'm a new artist and a new song, but I want to move out of that overnight, um, time slot relatively quickly, and I want to make sure that my song is catching on before I go and drop, you know, $100,000+ at radio. And you can easily spend that. You can easily spend somewhere between, depending on how overcrowded radio is, you can spend anywhere from $100,000 to $200,000 in order to take a song independently to number 1. And yes, you can take songs independently to number 1. It's really— it's challenging, but it's doable. It's not that difficult. Your radio guy or gal is gonna tell you how crowded radio is at the time. I try to avoid going for radio when it's super— when it's super congested. Like right now, radio is congested. It just happens. There are certain times of the year and there's certain large artists that are dropping where the major labels are spending a lot of money at radio. Sometimes there is even paying double bonuses, which means they're paying more money for radio than I ever want to pay for radio. As an independent, paying double bonuses does not make sense. And when I go for radio, I always start at urban and then I grow to rhythmic, which is like more, more on the pop side but still urban. And then I go for pop if my song so warrants that. But you can't go backwards. Like, you can't start at pop and then, and then go to urban. It doesn't work. You can't even really start at rhythmic and go to urban. You always climb up, not down. And then the last thing I want to say is radio is an area where most people lose a grip of money, and the reason is because it's so costly, and so many of you guys don't understand what it means to take a song to radio. If you're working the Southeast region and your radio guy is bringing you stations in, um, Oakland, California, and Las Vegas, and Corpus Christi, and and Atlantic City, New Jersey. That's not helping you because your spin is all over the country. That's somebody that is trying to deliver chart placement. As an independent, you don't give a fuck about the charts, and I can't make it any clearer than that. Your goal is to build a fan base and make money with your music. You want to be able to back up your music by doing shows and by doing interviews at the radio station in person and going to visit the stations and thanking them for everything they're doing for you. And if your music is playing all over the country, it's going to cost you a fortune to chase that record and to be in every different city. Also, when you start getting shows, if you've got to fly everywhere, it drastically reduces your schedule and your availability to do shows. Like, what are you going to do if you've got a show in Seattle, Washington on Friday night and you've got another show in Miami, Florida on Sunday night, like, that's a challenge because you've got to fly. So what if you're not at the point yet where you can command the type of budget to fly you and your team between Seattle and Miami? That means you're going to come out of your own pocket to make that trip, and as a new artist, that's a ridiculous waste of money. You want to have shows in one region like the Midwest or the Mid-South or the Southeast east. If, if you've got a show in Macon on a Friday night and you've got another show in Valdosta on Saturday night, you can make that 3-hour drive or 4-hour drive easily. You can get there with renting a, a vehicle. You don't have to fly. So there's a lot of reasons why you've got to understand what you're doing at radio before you go to radio, because if you just go to a radio guy and say, get me radio play, They're gonna do their job. They're gonna get you radio play wherever they can, wherever it's easiest for them and most convenient. But that's not what's going to benefit you as an artist, and it's not their job. Let me repeat that: it's not their job to do what's best for you. That's your job. It's your job to tell them what you want and what your needs are. They're not mind readers. They don't know if you're going for chart position. They don't know if you just want radio play so you can try to get a fucking deal, which by the way, doesn't work. They're not sure why you're getting radio play. They're just giving you what you're asking for. So make sure you ask them for the right shit. Okay guys, I've wasted enough of your time with this. Um, just do the right thing. Do the research. Know how to do this. If you don't know how to do this, find somebody that does and get some help. Okay guys, take care. Wendy Day, I'm out.
