Hip Hop Radio Is NOT the End Game!!

By: Jai Hutcherson

Custom music websites, magazine advertisements, music videos, flyers, live shows, press releases and hip hop Radio stations are all means in which to get your music heard and ultimately bought by the public. You do not hear hip hop artists or record labels talking on the street or in music stores about how excited they will be when they get a press release out. You don’t hear folks talking about how good life will be when they print a hip hop flyer and get it into the hands of the public. So why do we hear, over and over, hip hop artists and labels talk about, dream about, and wish so hard for the day they get a song on hip hop radio?

Hip hop artists and record labels focus on what is tangible. Meaning, they can hear a song on the radio or they can see people driving in cars, at block parties, and even at work listening to their favorite artists on the radio. To an uninformed hip hop artist or record label this equals success. Why, because it feels good. What hip hop artist or record label wouldn’t want to see people enjoying the music they created?

Radio play is only a part of the detailed hip hop music marketing plan needed to succeed in the business of music - not the end game. Actually, radio play in today’s hip hop music business model is only a fraction of the complete music marketing plan. Detailed studies have shown that more and more people have found they have far more choices by going on the internet and searching out music they like rather than being forced to listen to what a program director deems good.

Hip hop radio play does not guarantee success. Sure, the writers get paid for the public performance of their copyrighted song. But to think radio play will sell enough units for the CD to be considered a platinum hit, make promoters knock at the door begging an artist to go on a national headlining tour, or that it, alone, will make an artist rich and famous is simply wrong. Hip hop radio play will only make the public more aware of an artist or song.

Selling product/units is the end game. A hip hop artist or record label should always be moving toward the end game. This means that before any music marketing steps are taken, an artist or label should ask, “If I do this, how will it ultimately get me toward my end game of selling units?” Here is an example of how radio play may work against the end game of a new artist or label if this question is not asked and thought about:

Let’s say an artist has a song that is great. He/She gets it in the hands of a high school buddy who happens to be a hot DJ at a local radio station. He decides the song is good and plays it on his radio show. Listeners dig the song and want to find out more about the artist. The listeners go online and do a search for the artist. Nothing comes up. The listener then calls the radio station to get information about the artist but the radio station has no information because the song was only played by one DJ and he is off the air and has gone home. The listener gives up, moves on, and forgets about the artist. If the song is played again, and the listener hears the song, it will only bring negative emotions about the lack of information. Not good.

This is a very simplistic example but the point hits home. The end game is to sell units. If the hip hop artist or label in our example asked the right question, before taking the step of getting radio play, the lost chance of a sale would have been avoided. By always planning for the end game, the artist or label would have thought about the entire process or chain of events that must take place in order to sell units.

Let’s break it down a bit further. If the end game is to sell units and hip hop radio play is to give the public the chance to hear a song and like the music enough to want to buy a CD, what must happen in the chain to make it possible? Here is the flow to final purchase:

Hip Hop Radio Play> Public Searches for Information> Public Awareness>Public Purchase

By looking at the entire flow we can see that once the public hears a song they like, they search out information about the artist or group. Once they find the information and see that the artist or group has a quality or style they feel is inline with their own, they make a purchase. By asking “the question” we see that before attempting radio play the artist or label must have a way of getting information to interested listeners. Then we see that if the information motivates the listener to purchase a CD there must be a way for the listener to make a purchase.

To properly use hip hop radio as a hip hop marketing tool an artist or label must first ask “the question” and then look at the entire flow to the end goal. Once all the pieces of the flow are in place the artist or label can then proceed with hip hop radio play. In our example, this would include building a website containing information about the artist, adding a shopping cart or an area pointing the fan to a location to purchase the CD, and they would have to get information to the DJs at the hip hop radio station to talk about on air and to relay to listeners looking for information.   

Radio play is not the end game. Selling units is the end game. Start focusing on your end game and you will see your efforts pay off faster, cheaper, and in a much larger way. Use hip hop radio as one of many tools in your hip hop marketing toolbox. But before you use any tool, make sure you are ready to take advantage of what the tool offers by asking yourself: “If I do this, how will it ultimately get me toward my end game of selling units?”