May 27, 2011

5 Tips to Get More Attention on Jango


We've recently done a few feature reminders and a couple blog posts on topics such as what works best for emails and 'outside the box' promotions strategies. Today we thought it would be good to break down in 5 simple tips how to get more attention, in the form of eyes and ears, on Jango.com with your Airplay campaign...so here we go.

1. Master your songs first - We can not stress enough the importance of mastering when it comes to radio airplay, especially when you're being played on Jango alongside all the biggest names in your genre. If your song comes on and it's not mastered it might only be at half to two thirds of the volume of the artist that played before. This will get you some attention, but not in the way you want, so make sure everything is mastered and sounds it's best.

2. Play your best song or songs the most - Just like on terrestrial radio listeners want to hear the hits, so find out what your hits are and play those songs the most. People will want to discover your other music then. You can easily run a test by keeping your targeting the same but only playing one song at a time. Then after a few days add up the likes and fans that each song got and pick the best ones.

3. Have an engaging profile pic or cover art - The first thing people see when they hear your song on Jango is the picture that's in the player so make sure it's something exciting. Figure out what your most valuable visual asset is and use that to your advantage.

4. Play with your custom message in the artist overlay - Change this message often. You can think of it like a Facebook status update. Say something funny, announce a show, share some music; The idea is to get people to click it so think about what would make you click?

5. Record an audio intro and add it to the beginning of your song - This is a really fun one because on internet radio it never happens and will definitely perk up some ears. Record a short message from you or your band, 5 to 8 seconds at most, that says something as simple as 'hey, this is our band and you're listening to us on Jango.com'. Have fun with it.

May 24, 2011

Jango Airplay Top 10

Here's the Top 10 Jango Airplay artists for the week ending May 22. It's great to see Mariah back on top as well as Sixty Miles Down who is one of the first Airplay artists from when we started in 2009. Check them all out below and give 'em a shout out in the comments.

#1: Mariah Ver Hoef
A young singer-songwriter from Fairbanks, Alaska, Mariah writes about the isolation and shifting landscapes of growing up. She recently released her fourth album, and has plans to tour internationally this summer.

Click to hear Mariah Ver Hoef:
Summertime
#2: Sad Alice Said
Urkainian septet Sad Alice Said play a distinctive blend of gothic metal with elements of doom, decorated with a symphonic wrap and multifaceted semantic filling.

Click to hear Sad Alice Said:
Open Your Eyes
#3: The Plastic Believers
The Plastic Believers are an experimental pop/rock duo from Minneapolis, MN, who wrap beautiful melodies in a sense of impending doom. Their debut album "All The Things We Carry" was released at the end of last year.

Click to hear The Plastic Believers:
On The Beach
#4: Aron Seals
Aron Seals is a rock/fusion guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. His music is heavily influenced by film scoring, and makes use of midi guitar to play various stings sounds while accompanying the solo guitar.

Click to hear Aron Seals:
Fearless
#5: Jace
Colorado's Jace is a Christian rapper hoping to "encourage you, the listener, no matter what circumstances you may face today, tomorrow or even a year from now."

Click to hear Jace:
All I Need Feat. PJ
#6: Albare
Australian guitarist & composer Albare plays rangey, mellow nu-jazz. A far cry from earlier, acid-tinged work, his latest release "[relies] on the nuance & skill of seasoned musicians to feather the contours of a landscape you would otherwise never glimpse."

Click to hear Albare:
Lose Control
#7: Sixty Miles Down
Hard-hitting & heavy, yet melodic, New Jersey's Sixty Miles Down grinds out gritty anthems pulled from the darker side of the soul. After 12 years of evolution, the quartet has lately been building on buzz around acclaimed releases "Sink Or Swim" and "A New Skin."

Click to hear Sixty Miles Down:
God Of Joy
#8: Pinney Woods
Pinney Woods takes its name from a Chattanooga neighborhood where the original members cut their teeth. Emcee Sutta Kane describes the group's sound as having "a southern feel, but it's been stretched so much that it's universal."

Click to hear Pinney Woods:
Distance (Feat. Francci)
#9: For This Cause
For This Cause is an alternative/post-hardcore band from Australia. They spent much of 2009 and 2010 on tour, and 2011 looks to be no different with opening slots lined up in front of major headliners like Switchfoot.

Click to hear For This Cause:
Promises
#10: Will Banister
Will Banister, a country singer-songwriter from Portales, NM has been singing in the West Texas/East New Mexico area since he was 10 years old. Now backed by the crack Mulberry Band and armed with an album of new, original material, Will continues to find himself in steady demand.

Click to hear Will Banister:
Santa Fe

May 23, 2011

Are You On SoundCloud Yet? You Should Be


We wanted to do a little update on one of our favorite music services, Soundcloud, so we got David Adams from their team to put together a guest blog post on how to get the most out of your soundcloud account.

So without further ado here's David with...



'5 ways to win at SoundCloud you may not even know!'


So your music is beginning to get heard and reaching your audience but how do you make the most of your SoundCloud profile to really be #winning!

1) Have an awesome profile!

People are listening to your music and coming back to your SoundCloud profile but what do they actually learn about you when they are there and where does this lead them next on the web? With your SoundCloud profile you can connect your other web presences as well as a spotlight tab to choose what songs fans see first. If fans are searching for your music just by getting your username and SoundCloud URL correct can make it easier for fans to find the right profile. For more information with this profile 101.

2) Don't just post to SoundCloud, use it to post to the whole web!

Your music should not just be on your SoundCloud profile but everywhere you have a presence on the web. It's time to unmute the web on all your online profiles! Put music on your facebook profile by connecting your SoundCloud account with Rootmusic.

Building a website? Use Flavors or Virb to make an awesome site in no time at all and connect your SoundCloud tracks direct into your site. You can always check your stats to know where your music is being heard!

3) Giving someone your promo CD, give them your promo card!

Found that person you have always wanted to get your music in front of? Don’t hand someone a promo CD – it will almost always end up in the bin. And not because the person doesn’t want to hear your music - but because these days, CDs are simply inconvenient. How about printing a link to your digital sampler on a promocard?Your SoundCloud profile can be the tool to who you want without them leaving with your CD with a bag full of other CD's weighing them down.

Have a brand new track you are working on and only want the right people to hear? Use SoundCloud's private sharing features like secret link to easily send a track to someone via email. Why not even create a private promo page with the secret widget with all your relevant press assets so they get the whole experience across with content you want to keep away from the public eye for now.

4) There's more to audio than your track

SoundCloud is an audio platform so it's important to think of the audio you can share with fans can be more than just your music. SoundCloud recently launched a record function. Accessible via the website or SoundCloud app for iPhone or Android, the record feature enables anyone to capture sound on the move and then, in the embeddable waveform player.

SoundCloud app is an ideal way to push out a quick audio message to the web - you can easily record your audio tweet to your SoundCloud profile. On tour? Tag your location and create an audio tour diary! Why not switch things up a little and conduct a few informal interviews on the fly - consider interviewing a bunch of different artists at shows, grab an audio snippet of their tour experience and share it between both sets of fans!

5) Everyone's a potential audio creator, create together!

With features like the record app anyone has the possibility to be an audio creator. How about taking requests for your next gig? Perhaps encourage fans to submit audio snippets of them requesting their most favourite track and explaining why they love it. Imogen Heap recently reached out to her creative fanbase and asked them to record and upload sounds via SoundCloud to be incorporated in her next single, which she then released two weeks later.

If your own fans want to send you audio messages another way to interact how about using our social audio Q&A site Takes Questions. Simply set up a TakesQuestions account, wait for your fans to submit questions to you, then record an interactive response using the record function on your iPhone or Android phone!

Fans want to create too so how about opening the stems to one of your tracks? You can set up a group, embed your stems onto a landing page and include a dropbox widget linked to the group for submissions. Set this up to suit you, it doesn't have to be just a remix competition, you could give out the backing track and set this up as a topline melody contest. Check out this Contests 101 post about how you can set this up.

May 17, 2011

Jango Airplay Top 10

Here's last weeks Top 10 artists on Jango Airplay. There's some great fresh faces here so take a minute to check them out and leave some positive comments below.

#1: Atlantic Aftermath
In early 2010 pop-punk/easycore band Atlantic Aftermath formed, ignoring the predictability of major key breakdowns and over-used 2-steps in favor of a fun, energetic amalgam of pop, punk and hardcore ideas.

Click to hear Atlantic Aftermath:
Expand Your Brocabulary
#2: Sad Alice Said
Urkainian septet Sad Alice Said play a distinctive blend of gothic metal with elements of doom, decorated with a symphonic wrap and multifaceted semantic filling.

Click to hear Sad Alice Said:
Open Your Eyes
#3: A New Monday
A New Monday is a modern rock band hailing from Fort McMurray, Alberta. Since their formation in the Fall of 2009, they have successfully released several self-produced songs to local radio, along with two EP's.

Click to hear A New Monday:
Love Is An Action
#4: Six Strings and a Piece of Wood Music
Radomir Vasiljevic aka Six Strings And A Piece Of Wood is an award-winning classically trained guitarist from Serbia. His award-winning play and recordings blend new age, flamenco and world music.

Click to hear Six Strings and a Piece of Wood Music:
Conquesto
#5: DelCity
Born Bamidele Citizen of Nigeria, Delcity's music blends the consciousness of rap, the swing of reggae and the international flair of his background into a melange of emotion.

Click to hear DelCity:
Bamidele
#6: The Black Sharks
England's The Black Sharks are an alternative rock band with a flair for vintage pop feel. Their first single, "Lose Control" came about after being discovered busking on a Vegas sidewalk.

Click to hear The Black Sharks:
Lose Control
#7: Anthem
Sharp and sophisticated, 25-year old emcee Anthem is a product of the aggressive, fast-paced culture of New York City. Anthem traded in a career on Wall St for one on the mic, and is now Amoeba Music Group's marquee artist.

Click to hear Anthem:
God Of Joy
#8: Summertime's End
Summertime's End is the pop moniker of Australian singer-songwriter Daniel Throssell. His music mixes acoustic and electronic elements, guided by the notion that "nobody has any more of a right than you do to make good music."

Click to hear Summertime's End:
The Art Of Succinct Compliments
#9: Salvo Randazzo
Adult contemporary singer Salvo Randazzo grew up in Palermo, Italy with a passion for music. He graduated from the prestigious Vincenzo Bellini Conservatory, and now tours internationally.

Click to hear Salvo Randazzo:
Musica
#10: Dave Ro
Dave Ro is an Illinois MC who balances smooth vocal tones with razor sharp wordplay. Perfecting his craft over two decades, he aims to define hip-hop culture with his wit, charisma and clarity.

Click to hear Dave Ro:
The Fever

May 16, 2011

Feature Reminder - Gig Listings on Jango

Here's our monthly feature reminder for all of the new artists on Jango and for our existing artists who may have overlooked it.

If you head over to your 'Band Info' tab inside the artist dashboard you'll see a tab for 'Upcoming Gigs'. It's here where you can list date, venue, city, website etc. for all your upcoming gigs and post them on your Airplay profile for our listeners to check out. Then, if you have a string of dates in different cities you might want to take advantage of 'Premium Geo Targeting' as well so you make sure that your music is being directed to listeners that live near your upcoming shows. We have a lot of artists telling us about new fans coming to their shows that first heard them on Jango and that's music to our ears.

Just make sure you check the oil in the van before heading out.

See ya on the road, The Juggler

May 10, 2011

Jango Airplay Top 10

Here's the top 10 from last week with quite an international grouping with artists from the Ukraine to Switzerland and Wales to Brazil. Check 'em all out!


#1: Sad Alice Said
Urkainian septet Sad Alice Said play a distinctive blend of gothic metal with elements of doom, decorated with a symphonic wrap and multifaceted semantic filling.

Click to hear Sad Alice Said:
Open Your Eyes
#2: JC.B
Swiss electronica artist JC.B blurs pop, dance and new age into a fine, swirling mass. Sonics appear & disappear with practiced skill, neatly moving the listener forward and contributing ambience.

Click to hear JC.B:
Hey Hey
#3: Sydnee B.
From Racine to Milwaukee, WI rapper Sydnee B. has been making his presence known in the underground rap world. He recently established his own independent label - Tippy Top Entertainment.

Click to hear Sydnee B.:
Too Loud
#4: Atlantic Aftermath
In early 2010 pop-punk/easycore band Atlantic Aftermath formed, ignoring the predictability of major key breakdowns and over-used 2-steps in favor of a fun, energetic amalgam of pop, punk and hardcore ideas.

Click to hear Atlantic Aftermath:
Expand Your Brocabulary
#5: Anthem
Sharp and sophisticated, 25-year old emcee Anthem is a product of the aggressive, fast-paced culture of New York City. Anthem traded in a career on Wall St for one on the mic, and is now Amoeba Music Group?s marquee artist.

Click to hear Anthem:
God Of Joy
#6: Aron Seals
Aron Seals is a rock/fusion guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. His music is heavily influenced by film scoring, and makes use of midi guitar to play various stings sounds while accompanying the solo guitar.

Click to hear Aron Seals:
Fearless
#7: One Step Away
One Step Away got their start competing in battles of the bands, winning regularly with their sunny, melodic rock. A few short years later they're now in rotation on more than 125 radio stations and touring nationally.

Click to hear One Step Away:
Hook Line And Sinker
#8: Toy Horses
Toy Horses are one of Wales' brightest indie gems. After airplay in the UK their music came to the attention of KCRW starmaker Nic Harcourt who put them on radio & stages in the States. Their debut album is expected in early 2011.

Click to hear Toy Horses:
And It Was You
#9: Michael Silverman
Michael Silverman's music consists of relaxing, impressionist piano pieces and beautiful renditions of classical favorites. One of the most popular pianinsts on iTunes, he has logged 13 number one albums and more than 3 million downloads.

Click to hear Michael Silverman:
Bella's Lullaby
#10: Rosie and Me
Brazilian folk/pop five piece Rosie and Me released their debut EP, entitled "Bird and Whale" in 2010, after homemade demoes gained popularity on the web. Hailing from Brazil, the band draws on their native culture to enhance the American folk spirit.

Click to hear Rosie and Me:
Bonfires