Polite Riot Blog
Bitesized musings, breakthroughts and controversial opinions from Polite Riot.
Inside BBC Broadcasting House, home of BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6Music. Credit: Polite Riot 2025.
Direct-to-consumer killed the radio star?
Over the last decade, I’ve lost count of the number of influential radio tastemakers, producers, and heads of music who’ve been snapped up by Spotify and Apple Music.
Sign of the times? Are they bailing before radio dies a slow, nostalgic death in the arms of Gen X and Millennials?
Not exactly. But for most emerging artists, pumping money into radio promotion just doesn’t add up anymore.
Here’s the problem: radio has always been a tough sell for indie artists.
Sure, spins on a big station look sexy in your press kit… but the effort and budget it takes to land one or two plays at a major station has never really translated into real, long-term fans.
Unless you’re in the tiny minority who have a realistic shot at landing a spot on an A, B, or C list (where you’re guaranteed a certain number of spins per day).
For the rest, direct-to-consumer promotion strategies like playlisting, ads and social content will always deliver way more ROI, way faster.
Ten years ago those tools didn't exist… and artists had no choice but to sign up for the expensive, slow burning process of trying to gain a foothold with radio (along with press and tastemaker blogs, for what it's worth).
This is just part of the wider shift in emerging music promotion, where artists no longer need to rely on the approval of music industry gatekeepers to reach people.
They can now just go out and reach people directly themselves.
But, no, radio isn’t going to vanish any time soon.
And there’s still magic in hearing your song played by your favourite DJ for the first tme.
There's also still a time and a place for radio promotion when it makes sense.
But when it comes to growing an audience as an indie artist… direct-to-consumer is killing the radio star.
Why artists don't grow with content
Posting social media content is one of the fastest ways any artist can build a fanbase in 2025.
Oh, and it's a totally free marketing strategy to implement.
But so many artists try to make content only to see it flop… and probably give up.
Here's 3 simple reasons why this happens:
You didn't post short-form videos
This ones really simple - images just don't grab strangers in the way that videos do. Images are fine for your current followers. But if you're trying to reach strangers with your content, you need to be posting short-form videos on TikTok, Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts (ideally all three).
You didn't use content hooks
People don't go on social media hoping to discover their next favourite artist. They go on social media because they want to be entertained.
Which means you have to earn their attention. And the reality is, you have around 3 seconds to do just that.
Most artists' content flops because it assumes that people already care about what they're saying. But strangers don't. They're not invested enough to give you their attention the first time you pop up in their feed.
Creating content that's designed to make strangers care quickly is the secret. To do that, you need to use "content hooks".
Here's an example:
Let's say you post a video performing your angry heartbreak song on your acoustic guitar. The song could be incredible, but why should a stranger stop scrolling?
Now let's say you post the same video, but this time with a simple text overlay saying something interesting like.. "I wrote this song about my ex.. if she hears it I'm dead".
See how the second version grabs attention and makes people invested, even if they've never heard the song before?
That's the power of hooks.
They don't stay consistent
I know, I know. You're an artist. Not a content creator.
But if you're serious about growing a fanbase with content, you need to be all in.
That doesn’t mean posting 6 TikToks a day about your Starbucks order.
But it does mean posting 3-4 videos per week for at least 2-3 months.
So there you have it. Post videos, hook people fast and stay consistent.
Bitesized musings, breakthroughts and controversial opinions from Polite Riot.
Polite Riot Blog
Inside BBC Broadcasting House, home of BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6Music. Credit: Polite Riot 2025.
Over the last decade, I’ve lost count of the number of influential radio tastemakers, producers, and heads of music who’ve been snapped up by Spotify and Apple Music.
Sign of the times? Are they bailing before radio dies a slow, nostalgic death in the arms of Gen X and Millennials?
Not exactly. But for most emerging artists, pumping money into radio promotion just doesn’t add up anymore.
Here’s the problem: radio has always been a tough sell for indie artists.
Sure, spins on a big station look sexy in your press kit… but the effort and budget it takes to land one or two plays at a major station has never really translated into real, long-term fans.
Unless you’re in the tiny minority who have a realistic shot at landing a spot on an A, B, or C list (where you’re guaranteed a certain number of spins per day).
For the rest, direct-to-consumer promotion strategies like playlisting, ads and social content will always deliver way more ROI, way faster.
Ten years ago those tools didn't exist… and artists had no choice but to sign up for the expensive, slow burning process of trying to gain a foothold with radio (along with press and tastemaker blogs, for what it's worth).
This is just part of the wider shift in emerging music promotion, where artists no longer need to rely on the approval of music industry gatekeepers to reach people.
They can now just go out and reach people directly themselves.
But, no, radio isn’t going to vanish any time soon.
And there’s still magic in hearing your song played by your favourite DJ for the first tme.
There's also still a time and a place for radio promotion when it makes sense.
But when it comes to growing an audience as an indie artist… direct-to-consumer is killing the radio star.
Playlisting killed the radiostar…?
Posting social media content is one of the fastest ways any artist can build a fanbase in 2025.
Oh, and it's a totally free marketing strategy to implement.
But so many artists try to make content only to see it flop… and probably give up.
Here's 3 simple reasons why this happens:
You didn't post short-form videos
This ones really simple - images just don't grab strangers in the way that videos do. Images are fine for your current followers. But if you're trying to reach strangers with your content, you need to be posting short-form videos on TikTok, Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts (ideally all three).
You didn't use content hooks
People don't go on social media hoping to discover their next favourite artist. They go on social media because they want to be entertained.
Which means you have to earn their attention. And the reality is, you have around 3 seconds to do just that.
Most artists' content flops because it assumes that people already care about what they're saying. But strangers don't. They're not invested enough to give you their attention the first time you pop up in their feed.
Creating content that's designed to make strangers care quickly is the secret. To do that, you need to use "content hooks".
Here's an example:
Let's say you post a video performing your angry heartbreak song on your acoustic guitar. The song could be incredible, but why should a stranger stop scrolling?
Now let's say you post the same video, but this time with a simple text overlay saying something interesting like.. "I wrote this song about my ex.. if she hears it I'm dead".
See how the second version grabs attention and makes people invested, even if they've never heard the song before?
That's the power of hooks.
They don't stay consistent
I know, I know. You're an artist. Not a content creator.
But if you're serious about growing a fanbase with content, you need to be all in.
That doesn’t mean posting 6 TikToks a day about your Starbucks order.
But it does mean posting 3-4 videos per week for at least 2-3 months.
So there you have it. Post videos, hook people fast and stay consistent.
Why artists don't grow with content…
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