How we promote your music
In today’s global music market, it’s even more challenging to get your music noticed. At NZ On Air, our goal is to get more great local music featured on platforms and radio stations, so that it can be enjoyed by the audiences of Aotearoa and beyond.
We do that through our NZ On Air music funding streams, New Music Single and New Music Project, and through our focus funding rounds, Waiata Takitahi, Pasifika, Pan-Asian, Kids and Project Kids.
We also have a NewTracks monthly compilation which we distribute to broadcasters and online media throughout Aotearoa. Each month, we feature 50 songs of both NZ On Air funded and non-funded singles to encourage broadcasters and media to feature more New Zealand music releases.
While there are many ways NZ On Air can support your music to reach audiences, it all starts with you, the artist, and your song.
Here are just a few tips to help you independently release and promote your music.
Our Music Promoter for platforms has meetings with the Content Directors and/or Music Directors of all of the major radio networks in NZ about two to three times a month.
We play those radio programmers tracks that are being released for radio airplay that week and that are appropriate to their format, in the hope that those songs will be prioritised for airplay.
We also have the ability to provide more context and information around each artist to feed into the play listing process.
The best way to get your music across us is by submitting your music into our NewTracks monthly compilation, where this gets your track across our whole NZ On Air Music team.
We use social media and streaming services to help connect a diverse range of music from NZ artists with NZ audiences online.
On Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@nzonairmusic) we share new music videos, albums, interviews with artists and other music news.
Our Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube playlists are regularly updated with recently released singles and music videos and we also curate a number of playlists of strictly New Zealand music.
We also regularly do 'Get To Know' interview videos, which feature upcoming or established artists who have played at our NZ On Air Music showcase, on our YouTube channel and social media.
Get To Know: Kiwi Artists
We sponsor a number of new music features on a range of radio stations in order to expose brand new songs to a larger audience.
Examples of these features include ‘Uncover Discover’ on The Edge and The Edge TV, ‘Locals Only’ on ZM, 'Backyard Beats' on Mai FM and ‘Locals Only’ on Radio Hauraki.
These features also have a large presence on the stations via website and social media.
We also support specialist NZ music shows on alternative/niche radio stations around the country such as The Most FM and Pulzar FM to help support and promote a wide range of NZ music.
NZ On Air also contributes funding to the five stations of the Student Radio Network (95bFM, Radio Control, Radio Active, RDU and Radio One), in part to help support the work they do playing and promoting New Zealand music.
We create and distribute NewTracks, a compilation of new NZ music released to broadcast and online platforms each month.
The aim is to connect quality NZ songs with audiences wherever they may be listening.
Selection for NewTracks is based on the airplay and online potential for the song, and having a solid release plan around the single.
To apply for NewTracks inclusion, visit the NewTracks website
Supporting events, seminars and workshops is an important part of the work we do to help raise the profile of NZ music, and assist with sharing knowledge and understanding of our funding and also the wider music ecology.
We support a wide range of events and industry seminars throughout the year such as the Aotearoa Music Awards, the Pacific Music Awards, the Taite Music Prize, APRA AMCOS NZ Silver Scroll Awards, the Waiata Maori Music Awards, Going Global and Going Local, the NZ Music Month Summit, Smokefree Rockquest and Tangata Beats, Play It Strange, and more.
Our music staff are regularly asked to speak at various tertiary institutions around the country for Music and Media-related classes/seminars.
We also organise and run several live music showcases each year to profile and expose new artists to mainstream media including radio and streaming services.
These short live performances help connect the artist and leave an impression on the key media gatekeepers so they have a good awareness of the act when it comes time to pitch new singles.
We are a major supporter of NZ Music Month which is run each May by the NZ Music Commission.
How you can promote your music
Advice, templates and resources to help you get your song funded and recorded, and to help you find an audience - on radio, on TV and online.
Plan & Research
Step one when you are looking to release music is understanding your target audience and catering your release plan to this. Here are a few questions to ask yourself at the research stage:
- Who listens to my music – age, gender, interests, location?
- What is my story? What is the song about?
- Who helped me with my song and new release? (e.g. producers, instrumentalists, mixing, mastering, visuals, video content)
- Are you working towards an EP, album, projects or body of work?
Step two, it’s important to engage with, read or listen to the platforms which may feature your song – this will help you understand where your audience is and where best to promote your music release. Here are a few questions to ask yourself at the promotion stage:
- What is my goal for releasing music? Is it to reach and build new audiences? Building on the success of your previous releases? Introducing a new sound?
- Do you have a timeline with key dates and deadlines? This could include a social media plan, when your distributor needs the final single assets, when you should pitch your songs to media or platforms, when you need to have a press release finished, etc.
- Do you have a marketing or social media plan for your release, and how will you achieve this? (e.g. Boosted posts, streaming advertising via distribution or social media platforms)
- What are some interesting ways I can release and market my music? What is my angle?
The Ultimate Guide to Professionally Promoting Your Music
This guide comes from Zach Hangauer, owner of Range Life Records and is a comprehensive list of suggestions on how to go about a release and all the things you need to think about when it comes to promoting your music.
11 Ways To Promote A Music Video
Music videos require a lot time and often money to produce, so it's a shame if no one ends up seeing them.
In this piece rapper Kosha Dillz outlines eleven different methods for promoting a music video to ensure that as many fans (or potential fans) see it as possible.
Branding yourself
'Branding' is essentially telling your story in a way that sets you apart from other musicians and connects you with your fans.
Check out Branding for Musicians: A Simplified Guide to Marketing - a marketing consultant and content strategist who helps artists and creatives find their voice on the internet.
Reaching out to Media
When it comes to releasing new music, it can be difficult to work out exactly how to go about promoting yourself to the right people, at the right time and with the right information. This resource will outline some of the best practices and guidelines for how to approach media effectively.
Despite the increasing use of streaming services, radio still plays a hugely important role in music discovery and exposure with New Zealanders.
We use the New Tracks compilation to pitch kiwi songs to radio on your behalf - which you can apply for at newtracks.co.nz.
Check out the below resources for helping get your music on various radio stations.
Alternative Radio Station Contact
Check out the video below from Jeff Newton, NZ On Air Music Promoter for Platforms, on how to target radio with your own music.
Streaming services allow you to reach an international audience, be discovered by new fans and understand where and how your music is being consumed.
Royalties from online streams are currently the biggest generator of revenue for both the global and NZ music markets and data from streaming services now influences the single and album charts and even radio play.
Check out the below resources to help you get your music online:
Spotify:
Getting Access to Spotify for Artists
Promoting your music on Spotify
+ a tonne more here.
Apple Music:
Youtube:
Music distribution is the link between your finished record and your future fans.
Smart distribution can grow your visibility, get your music into as many ears as possible and it helps you get paid for your music. Some examples are DRM, Distrokid, Believe, and CD Baby.
This guide covers how music distribution works and the different distributers that can help you.
Everything Musicians Need to Know about Digital Music Distribution
Social media is (mostly) free, it gives you worldwide reach, helps you interact with your audience and be discovered by new fans.
This information is by no means exhaustive – social media platforms are consistently changing, so you’ve got to stay active on any given platform if you want to explore every promotional opportunity.
Check out the resources below for some info on utilising social media.
Resources and Videos
There are some incredible resources out there about the music industry in general, but below are a few of the key ones across a range of areas. These resources are updated regularly to provide context and relevant information for the Aotearoa music community.
Some wonderful resources made available by the NZ Music Commission:
Festival Lineups - Playing a festival is a great stepping stone for a band. It puts them in front of a large crowd of people, many of whom wouldn’t have seen them before. But how is an act able to get such a slot in the first place?
PR tips and tricks - Publicity and promotions are an important part of any release campaign or tour. Getting media to help promote your music allows you to reach a wider audience, which can be invaluable to both emerging and established artists. But if your budget is tight and it’s not possible to pay professionals to do your PR, there are things that you can do yourself.
Approaching a record label - Before we look at how to make contact with a label, it’s worth looking at the reasons why they might (or might not) be useful to your music career.
Industry research
Amplify Aotearoa is a research project developed by academics at Massey University in collaboration with APRA AMCOS New Zealand. APRA AMCOS is a non-profit Australasian organisation that collects and distributes song writing royalties to its 110,000 songwriter, composer and music publisher members across New Zealand and Australia.
This research focuses on APRA AMCOS NZ’s membership of over 12,000 song writers and composers. This project responds to growing calls, as well as recent international research, that demand critical investigations into diversity within music industries.
Some resources made by us below: