The Radio & Airplay Promotion Textbook

A 67-page, fully sourced manual for getting independent records onto real radio — and getting paid for every spin. Written for artists, managers and small labels in any genre and any territory. Practical, honest, and clear about what radio can and cannot do at your stage. Inside — 18 chapters, 44 cited sources What radio actually does for an independent record, and what it doesn’t Genre strategy: how to tell a programmer-led format from a selector-led one, and why it changes everything The add date — the industry-standard system professional campaigns are built backward from Airplay monitoring & charts: Mediabase, WARM, NACC — what counts, what doesn’t, and why Building and tiering a target station list Broadcast asset standards: clean edits, metadata, ISRCs, one-sheet, EPK The pitch — plus email deliverability (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) so you reach the inbox at all Servicing platforms & DJ record pools: Play MPE, Syndicast, iPluggers, TopHit, and the pools that reach mixshow DJs Getting paid: PROs, SoundExchange registration in both roles, and the US AM/FM royalty loophole Going international — ranking foreign markets by real value DIY vs hiring a promoter, how to vet one, and the payola red flags Templates: station database, servicing emails, campaign timeline, pre-send checklist, campaign report 67-page PDF. Every rate, rule and platform fact footnoted to a checkable source. Educational information only. Instant download, yours to keep. Want us to run the servicing instead? Add our Radio Promotion service.