PLUGGERS, LABELS & MANAGERS: PLEASE NOTE
The Tom Robinson show ran on BBC Radio 6 Music from 2002 until March 2021 featuring new and old records, plus guests interviews and sessions. That show no longer exists. Please don’t send me emails, tweets, DMs, CDs, vinyl, press packs or promotional material about your new releases: it’s no longer possible for me to play them on the radio. Please also remove me from any mailing lists you may have. Thanks for your understanding.
ARTISTS: PLEASE NOTE
My only regular outlet on 6 Music is now The BBC Introducing Mixtape (Mondays, 4am). This is 60 minutes long, it receives 200-300 submissions a week, and only features music that’s been uploaded to BBC Introducing.
To get your song considered, there are two easy steps:
1) Upload it to BBC Introducing to make it eligible for airplay.
2) Share it to Fresh On The Net on a Monday morning, so that I’ll hear it.
Our inbox opens at 9am every Monday and close after 200 tracks have been received. Our whole team listens to every song in the inbox and pick their favourites for various playlists here at Fresh On The Net. That way our moderators and curators can support a far wider range of artists than I can play on BBC Radio.
I also (separately) choose tunes for my Mixtape from that same inbox. If I absolutely adore your song it’ll get included on a future show. But if it doesn’t get included that’s no reflection on its quality. With 300 artists chasing 60 minutes of airtime there are always loads of brilliant tunes each week that we simply can’t cram into the show.
NOWPLAYING @6MUSIC
NB I do also host a Sunday evening show on 6 Music called NowPlaying @6Music.
But that’s a request show where the music is chosen by listeners, not me.
Tom Robinson
Hi Tom, I’ve just watched the amazing and informative lecture you gave at the roundhouse in December 2012. You say if we need to know where to get cheap .coms form to contact you so that is what I am doing.
I need to get a domain name registered as well and do you know a good web site for me to start up with–I’m told the free ones are no good if I want to try and sell my music. I’m hoping you get this as I’m in a fix at the moment.
All the best, Roger Bourne.
Cheers Roger – all the info for domains etc is in the “Show More” section on the video itself on Youtube. To save you going back to look it up, it says:
*** Expanded version of this talk here: http://youtu.be/OcIAJjFZgW8 *** Posting comments asking us to “check you out” will not promote your music but the video has free advice on ways that WILL work.
This talk is from a DIY Masterclass on 3 Dec 2012 hosted by Generator, the UK’s leading music development agency as part of Roundhouse 3030 in London.
This is an audio recording of the opening session on “Attracting press, radio and online coverage” presented by Tom Robinson, covering the following topics:
• How do you get your music to press, radio and blogs?
• What goes in a press pack and what are people looking for?
• Physical vs. digital press pack
• Is your track right for the radio?
• Setting realistic expectations
• Release formats — tracks vs. singles vs. EPs & the pros and cons of physical
• The pros and cons of hiring PR & Plugging specialists
• Developing an online presence — websites, social networking, SEO & blogs
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS TALK:
MusicBrainz: https://freshonthe.net/musicbrainz
Sending CDs to radio: https://freshonthe.net/cds
Cheap .com domains: http://hover.com
Cheap .co.uk domains: http://123-reg.co.uk
Contact Tom Robinson: https://freshonthe.net/contact
I’ve uploaded a track to Soundcloud for consideration, however I can’t see the option for “widget enable”. Can anyone help me?
Hi Tom,
Just wanted to say a massive thank you for the fantastic lecture on how to promote your music, very useful indeed – I’ve shared it with my friends and will be listening again! Thanks for all you do to champion unsigned music too!
Much love!
Sheena Bratt
Venus Rising
Hi to if you get a chance could you please have a listen to The Cut Throat Razors on YouTube. They are a fantastic unsigned ten piece band who write, play and sing their own music. My favourite is Freedom, but it’s best to watch and listen to one of their live videos on YouTube.
I would love to hear your feedback and they have a Facebook page.
Gregor.
Hi gre just give the band the link to this page and they’re welcome to send Freedom over any Monday to Thursday like it says here…
Hi Tom
I’m searching for the track listing for the introducing mixtape for April 29, 2014.
Please help,
Best
Gary
Hi Gary – it was Monday April 28th you’ll be looking for, I think: the tracklisting is at
https://freshonthe.net/2014/04/mixtape20140428/
Just watched the video of you opening submitted cd’s. I remembered the only way we got John Peel to pay my old band (Koniguan) was to send a minidisc in a ‘fun size’ box of home made cereal.. ‘Konigipops’. Even then i felt the physical object was nothing special if it wasn’t unique.
I’m now almost obsessively back into vinyl and just wanted to know if you will be doing any carboot sales anytime soon 😉
Hello Tom,
i am a young boy from Denmark
i am a big fan of your music ( i think you should know it)
and love the track “Glad to be gay”
have a nice day
Hi
I am unable to upload a track for emerging artist Harry Pane? It says user is blocked?
Thanks,
Natalie
@NatalieEarle
Perhaps at some point Harry must have shared more than one track to our dropbox in the same week?
Our volunteers can just about listen to 150 tunes a week but not 300 – which is why we very clearly say “Send us ONE track”. We have to automatically block artists who send two or more tracks in the same week, out of sheer selfdefence.
However we always unblock people again if they ask us to – which we’ve just done – so you should be good to upload to us again this week. Let us know if you have any further problems.
Why do you not answer my comment??? i am a big fan
Get Tom are you still gay
Or have you leave it behind you?
Hey Jess you gave a fake email address with your message, but I notice you live in Balle, near Odder in Denmark.
Amazingly that’s just 10 km away from Poul Erik Deichman Dahl who lives on Odderwej (8660 Skanderborg) and also seems keenly interested in this subject. Why not send him a friend request at https://www.facebook.com/PoulErikDeichmann and maybe you can discuss it together.
If either of you are really that interested, there’s an entire website all about my sexuality at http://bothways.com – the clue is in the name
Hi Tom. I think BBC Introducing is a fantastic facility and we are massively grateful that you played our song ‘The Heart of You’ on the Mixtape show. The only problem (and this is not in any sense a criticism of such a great service) is that we now can’t upload any new tracks until June even if we delete existing ones. I totally understand this but it does unfortunately mean we can’t send our new single (although we have emailed the link to Andy & Ben). We’ll definitely be uploading new material in June though so I understand we may simply have to be patient. Most importantly, thanks for everything you do for new & emerging artists. 🙂
@NeilMarch Hi Neil – I personally agree with you that the BBC Introducing limit is now way too draconian because there are a great many BBC shows that can internally access your music once it’s there.
Both on the BBC Introducing Mixtape and here at Fresh On The Net we do try to offer open access to anybody to send in a tune and be sure of it getting heard. But in fact we also ask any artists we feature to wait 12 weeks before re-submitting.
Here’s why: https://freshonthe.net/2013/09/request/
Tom, thank you for your response and I absolutely agree with your whole ethos and approach. It must be a mammoth operation trying to decide what to play from the never-ending stream of new tracks you receive and, judging by the Mixtapes and playlists you keep putting out, there are so many great tracks to choose from too. Your commitment is hugely appreciated.
Dear Mr Robinson,
Just a brief message to say thank you to you and your team for all that you do helping unsigned musicians. Much appreciated by all us indie musicians.
Best regards,
Mr Mandrake
Thankyou very much for these kind words Mr M 🙂
I watched the talk you gave on how best to promote your music on the BBC introducing site… Probably the best talk i have heard ever. Clear, concise and your use of metaphor is just the ticket. One question.. I have a new track uploaded to bbc introducing but i have temporarily stopped using my soundcloud account so how can i get it to you without using this platform?.. This track is “that track”… That you say… “has to be amazing”… Yes I’m bound to say that… But.. Check it out… NO FOOL BLUEPINT ft YZZY & VOLTAGE… Or doni just email you an mp3?… All i can say is thank you to all the guys on your teams bbc introducing and tbe fresh on the net crew for helping make it happen for all of us. Amazing xx
We promise to listen to every track we’re sent – and some weeks we get more than 200. The only way we can possibly manage this is if all the tracks arrive in the same Soundcloud playlist. If you don’t want to use your own Soundcloud account, just create a temporary one and share your track with us from there.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/link
I have enclosed my Spotify page I have over 450 CDs I need to sell they are all packaged independent albums of my group Bohemian Fifth.
Obviously I know it wouldn’t be for free. If you could listen to the CD see if it’s worth the Endeavor feedback would be very much appreciated.
Sincerely
D. Brown
You didn’t actually read the blog post on this page, did you?
Team Freshnet
Hey Tom,
Hope all is well!?
We’re a 5 piece alternative rock unsigned band from Holmes Chapel. We’re all 17 years old and have recently released our first two singles ‘People in My Head’, which was used by Match Of The Day a few weeks back, and ‘Cold Blooded’ which was recently played on by Jim Salveson on XS Manchester. Now we’re pushing for more radio play and we’d love you to listen to them and if you can, possibly give them a play?
Our next gig is in the Manchester club academy on November 9th and if you wanted to capture our live sound, we will get you a ticket and allow you to get to know us.
Streaming links below, let us know your thoughts. And if you need mp3 download links I can send you those.
AppleMusic: genericlink
Spotify: genericlink
Appreciate your time,
Angus (lead guitarist)
genericlink
Um, you didn’t actually read this page about how (and when) to send music to Tom, did you?
https://soundcloud.com/myartistpagelink
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to which we can only reply:
https://freshonthe.net/send
Hi Tom,
This is a super idea and I’m currently trying to upload something to you via amazingtunes. I’m from Scotland but live in Austria so i guessed that would be the best way to send it. Sorry to have to ask, how do I send the track to you once it is on amazingtunes? I’m still old school when it comes to music… Sad but true!
Thanks,
Andrew
Hi Tom, was so good to hear your story yesterday! I really appreciated your
(hope-giving) candidness, and was lovely to meet you afterwards albeit brief.
Also loved your chat with the refreshingly mercurial Jason Williamsom. Open discussions like this at BBC intro event have really helped to re-magnetise my internal compass over the past few days which was previously spinning in way too many directions! Will upload a track for you tom morning 🙂
Best regards, Dan
Hi Tom
Love this site and the help you give others. My grandsons band has just won the track of the year at the BMG awards Anglia. It was the very frst song he wrote and performed. His band Silence and Company have produced two CDs and are gigging all over the country despite not having any spare cash. Is there any chance you would at least listen to them on Spotify or Utube or even their website?? Like everyone from a working class backround you need help or luck or both.
Thank you
Cheers Pete – just give him the link to this page, which explains how to get his music heard by us.
Team Freshnet
Hi there,
My name is David and I am in a rock band called “Love Reptiles” from Kent. I was reading your blog on how to send music to you so I thought I’d try as your opinion is really important to me. I’ve been listening to your mixtape for months. We uploaded this track to BBC Introducing a couple months ago, it is called Inhaler. Here is the Soundcloud link:
https://soundcloud.com/linktoourmusic
I hope you like it.
Many thanks,
David
Hi David – the article on this page explains how to send us music if you want Tom & the team to listen to it.
Hello Tom,
Many, many thanks for playing ‘Can’t Stay Mad’ on the Monday 27th January 2020 BBC Music Introducing Mixtape on BBC Radio 6 Music… and your kind words are very much appreciated.
Hope it’s OK with you, I uploaded that part of your show to bandcamp: https://martin-h-samuel.bandcamp.com/track/cant-stay-mad
All the very best,
Martin
Yup that’s fine – very flattered that you wanted to do this, TBH 🙂
Hi Tom, here is the latest track from York based post punk band The Receivers. We really hope you enjoy. General release is April 17th
https://soundcloud.com/artisturl
Hi Nick. The blog post above explains how to get your track to me – thanks!
Hi Mr Robinson! My best efforts (all six) have been directed to BBC South and that is where they remain. My message there didn’t get a response, so is it a pool of people we’re dealing with or is it a lone hatchetman?
There is nothing left to send until another recording happens but I was excited about this one and whilst I don’t set out to make radio-friendly tunes, it was hoped that you would dig it too!
Our moderators here at Fresh On The Net are all volunteers. We listen to 200 tracks every week and there’s only room for 25 tracks on our Listening Post. Stands to reason 175 tracks aren’t going to get included. That doesn’t mean those tracks are worthless – just that the competition’s blooming ferocious. With those kinds of numbers we obviously can’t give individual feedback, but we do at least listen to everything. Tom Robinson.
new album-playlist on soundcloud,indie artsit,jonny lee miller https://soundcloud.com/link-to-my-new-music
You didn’t actually read this blog post, did you ?
TR
Hi Tom,
I am trying to send you a track (already uploaded on the BBC Introducing website) but it says submissions are now closed, despite it also saying you can send one track between Monday and Thursday (it is now Tuesday). Is it just a case of sending it in ASAP Monday before the inbox is full?
Any help would be appreciated.
Hayley
Yes – sorry but you do indeed need to send your track ASAP Monday to be sure of getting in. The number of submissions has grown so much in recent months we’ve been forced to close the inbox after the first 200 submissions each week.
Greetings to you Tom. I have great respect for what you do, primarily for independent artists on your excellent BBC Radio 6 Music Show. But, I was sad when I found out that the show was only for artists from the UK? I am from the USA and I would have loved to have had an opportunity to have been heard on the BBC,
Hi Tom,
Love the show!!!!
So 2 debut singles came out on the 1st! Did a crazy thing and release one Alt RnB Disclosure esk track, and one Rocknroll number! I DO hope you like both of them. They’re both on BBC introducing. All distro links stem from the website, but I’ll include the soundcloud links just for you buddy!
https://soundcloud.com/myartistpagelink
https://soundcloud.com/myartistpagelink
Hope to make a fan outa ya! ;p
All the best,
Jaysi
For info on how to send me music for me to consider, please read the blog post on this page. Thanks.
Hi Tom
Here’s my new single for you to consider:
https://soundcloud.com/myartistpage
Thanks.
Mike
For info on how to send music for me to consider, please read the blog post above. Thanks.
Hello hello! Can we still submit music to FreshontheNet? The inbox thing seems to always say closed at the mo?? I thought it was open between Mon-Thurs, but says closed today – is it me? IS IT GREMLINS? IS IT COVID?
M. x
Aaaaand I’ve just seen the answer above. 🤦🏻♀️
Hi Tom, I finished an album in May and also lost my main income so have been working hard to promote my music. I have had some success with increased interest and a play on smaller radio stations and BBC Bristol but but have failed in posting music on Fresh on the net e.g. when I was out of work it was closed and I now have secured part time work I must work every Monday.
Is there some way that I can set up something up so that I can press send on a Monday during my break or do I need to wait until the Christmas hols? Will the links be open?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Ed
Hello Ed. The inbox opens around 9am on Monday and will close whenever we reach 200 tracks, or Thursday lunchtime, whichever is sooner. In normal times, that would mean it was open for a few days, but currently it may close anytime from 3pm to 7pm on Monday.
To submit your track all you need to do is enter the artist name, the track name, and the URL of the Soundcloud track. See here for instructions and screenshots. It should take no more than a minute.
It works on mobile too, so if you have a smartphone, you just need to have the Soundcloud link handy. You can get that from the Soundcloud app (on iPhone, tap … and tap Copy Link, but that may it be a different on Android).
— Team Freshnet
Hi Tom
I’m just writing to encourage anybody reading this and thinking of using the listening post, to do so. The most encouraging part was reading the comments of strangers after I reviewed the 25 and chose my 5 (I couldn’t choose my own song obviously) and seeing detailed comments of how other people viewed the selection including my own song. This service is really worthwhile. Thanks to you and all your team. It has encouraged me to write and prepare more songs to compete against the incredible competition that is out there. In the words of Arnie, ‘I’ll be back’ with hopefully better work and a more thought through approach to social media and presentation. Best wishes @antonflint
Hi Tom,
Great to see another music platform that supports up and coming artists. There are many out there that do the opposite and cash in on false promises. I run an absolutely FREE platform called The SUBlist (The Scottish Unsigned Bands List) for any artist to upload their music and share as they please and all driven by passion, bands and artists of all genres are welcome 🙂
Hi Tom, I am a local Clubland Promoter starting a career in music management.
From a local Events site I have slowly built my facebook site into a local promo site for local clubland singers and have built my management ability using clubland singers…….I am now ready to take the next step and cross to original music…….I am looking at turning my Clubland site into a not for profit Community Interest Company promotional site for emerging artists……..I believe I have some raw ability to turn that Clubland ability into discovering someone and unlocking their potential to make them a successful singer……can you give me tips into getting into the industry in terms of standing alongside current resources and developing them for the local good
Big up Tom for all the support in the past with introducing, the Birdman salutes you!
hi Tom, i have written loads of all kinds and types of songs , i am not the greatest of singers or producers, i write with hope that other singers might like them enough to record them, who do you get the songs to them regards Billy
Hi Tom,
I used to upload tracks to BBC Introducing but despite some excelloent reviews and getting played on local radio they never passed tracks on to 6 music so I decided to go direct to 6 Music DJ’s who I felt might play my style of music – Post-punk electronica and I got immediate success with Gideon Coe now playing tracks regularly. I have sent my new album ‘Modernism’ by Pink Drone to you this week in the post which I know is a bit of a lottery, is there any other way I can get my music to you without using BBC Uploader? thanks, John
Hi John
Nice one – you did exactly the right thing by contacting Gideon direct: it’s always worth making a direct approach to any broadcaster who might like your music and who has the discretion and airtime to be able to play it. For instance John Kennedy at Radio X, Shell Zenner at Amazing Radio and yes – if you can find a way to get their attention – pretty much all the DJs at 6 Music have some leeway to play emerging artists. Obviously the track you send needs to suit the show you’re sending it to – there’d be no point in sending punk or dance tunes to Bob Harris’s Country show on Radio 2, for examplee. As Steve Lamacq famously says “people will listen, though only once”,
Unfortuntately I can’t do much to support new artists at 6 Music myself any more. Since my Saturday show ended in April, my only remaining outlet is the Introducing Mixtape. This is only an hour long, goes out at 4am, and can only play music that’s been uploaded to BBC Introducing. I get sent around 100 tracks a week from other Introducing shows around the country, and a further 200 come in via the inbox at Fresh On The Net. But with only 60 minutes of airtime we can only ever cram in 16 or 17 artists per show – sheer arithmetic means the other 280 simply aren’t going to get played.
So you’ve already done the best thing by getting your music to directly to Gideon, whose 12 hours of airtime a week gives him a lot more latitude than me with. Others DJs with plenty of free play slots include Marc Riley (on air 8 hours a week), Mary Anne Hobbs (12 hours a week), Steve Lamacq (16 hours a week) and the mighty Chris Hawkins (16.5 hours a week)…
And I’m afraid there’s no point mailing albums to our BBC 6 music address because there’s been nobody in the building to open the post since March 2020 – nearly all incoming mail gets thrown away unopened (see below).
Regretfully there’s no other way of sending music to me because – aside from the BBC Introducing Mixtape – there’s nowhere else I can possibly play it.