How can you proceed?

First of all, you should contact the artist/band and suggest making an interview with him/them.

TO get the artist’s contact details, visit the artist website, or the myspace page, there’s always a contact link or online form. To find the Myspace page, just google-search ‘myspace + artist name’ and you’ll find it directly. On Myspace, one has to be a Myspace member to contact the artist. If you don’t get any answer or if you simply can’t reach the artist, try to contact the label or tour manager, they might answer quicker.

Once you’ve made contact, present your webradio, the music you put on it etc., put your audience forward, explain that your auditors are music connoisseurs, and suggest making an interview and recording it for your radio.

How to conduct the interview?

The cheapest and easiest way to make the interview is to use Skype: ask the artist’s Skype account, and agree with him on a Skype rendez-vous.

Then, it’s very important to prepare your interview:

- make a list of your questions

- start with a funny question, to break the ice

- avoid long and complicated questions

- try to get some nice stories about their work, their concerts, new tracks/album, future projects…

Before the interview, specify that it is being recorded, and at the end of the interview, don’t forget to tell the artist you will put the interview on your radio, tell him when exactly, and invite the artist to listen to the radio when the interview is being broadcasted.

To record the interview, the simplest is to record the artist’s answers directly from your speakers with a digital recorder (edirol, zoom, olympus…). Of course if the artist dos not have any Skype account, suggest him to create one, and if that’s not possible, just proceed the same way by calling the artist on the phone (land line will give a better sound quality). To call a land line you can also use Skype Out, it’s cheaper and easier than the regular phone.

]]> http://help.radionomy.com/en/10-12-2009/toolbox-en/interview-an-artist-with-skype/feed/ 0 http://help.radionomy.com/en/19-11-2009/toolbox-en/write-send-press-releasemedia-kit/ http://help.radionomy.com/en/19-11-2009/toolbox-en/write-send-press-releasemedia-kit/#comments Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:43:09 +0000 Benjamin http://help.radionomy.com/?p=1170 Hello,

A very good way to promote your radio and have it mentioned over the web is to create a media kit and write a press release, we strongly encourage you to do so!

These are handy tips for writing a press release:

1.       Put the news on top
Tell the most important things first; give details later.

2.       Choose a clear subject
Put ‘Press Release:’ followed by your headline. The shorter the better.

3.       Put your text in your e-mail, not as an attachment
Don’t just send an attachment! Journalists usually don’t appreciate that. Put the text without mark-up in your e-mail, it only distracts and it will not look the same in every email software. You can optional send the marked-up press release attached.

4.       It must be news
Don’t send out a press release for every new track you’ve uploaded; you have to tell the reader something outstanding.

5.       Use BCC
When you’re sending an e-mail to all of your contacts, they might appreciate it if you don’t spread their email addresses out. Put everybody in BCC (Blind Carbon Copy).

We also encourage you to dedicate a part of your website/blog to the press. In that ‘press page’, try to gather all the docs that a journalist would need if he would write an article about your radio:

- press release (PDF format)
- press brochure: general info about the radio (PDF format)
- photos
- logo (various standard formats: .jpg / .gif / .png)
- recent articles published about your radio
- important links
- quick description of your radio concept

Need an example? Check out Radionomy’s press page here

Finally, try to be present on the most popular social networks:

Facebook page
Flickr page
Youtube channel
Twitter account
…

And of course, if you have other ideas or comments, we’ll be happy to hear from you.