BIGSOUND 2015 Community Radio Wrap

The BIGSOUND music conference descended on Brisbane in September and featured a packed schedule of panels, meetings and artist showcases.

The annual three-day event was attended by over 1,000 delegates alongside Australia’s music industry and international guests.

BIGSOUND selected community radio representatives to make the trip to Brisbane to be part of the action. The CBAA was happy to be involved again, with Amrap staff coordinating a community radio panel and meetings to raise the profile of community radio at the event and forge new relationships.

This year 70% of all showcasing acts at BIGSOUND used Amrap’s distribution services to get music to community radio, indicating that the connections between community radio and the Australian music industry are flourishing.

The Grow Your Audience With Community Radio panel featured tangible case studies, demonstrating how musicians and labels have used community radio to effectively raise their profile. Representatives from Triple R in Melbourne, 4ZZZ in Brisbane and FBi Radio in Sydney teamed up with Indigenous soul musician Emma Donovan, Bedroom Suck Label Manager Joe Alexander and music publicist Monique Rothstein from Positive Feedback, to provide tips and insights to the packed room of over 50 BIGSOUND delegates.

Emma Donovan was the most ordered artist on Amrap’s AirIt online music distribution platform in the 2015 financial year. Over 1,400 musicians were approved and added to AirIt in 14/15 submitting over 4,000 new tracks. During the panel, Donovan attributed her success to building relationships with local stations and specialist broadcasters both in her home city of Melbourne and further across the country. Presenters from Koori Radio Sydney to Mountain District Radio in Emerald (VIC), CAAMA Radio in Alice Springs (NT)  and Triple R in Melbourne (VIC) have supported Donovan to do in-store performances, meet other musicians and build her fan base on air and off, highlighting the involvement that many program makers have in their own music communities.

Joe Alexander co-runs successful Brisbane indie label Bedroom Suck. Over five years, Bedroom Suck’s artists have nabbed regular adds listings and rotation spots across metro community radio stations including 4ZZZ in Brisbane and FBi Radio in Sydney. Throughout the panel, Alexander emphasised the importance of strengthening radio relationships and discussed community radio’s continued support of acts that are authentic and build a narrative, using signed 4-piece act Blank Realm as an example.

BIGSOUND delegates were given tips, techniques and steps for building their audience with community radio alongside a rundown of Amrap’s Airplay Search which collates real time airplay reports from 800 participating programs across dozens of stations. The informative panel took place alongside valuable one-on-one listening sessions for delegates with FBi Radio, Triple R Melbourne and Amrap, organised by Sounds Australia and the Live Music Office.