Music Funding 101
Ways For Radio To Tie The Sponsor And Band Names Together
For those bands and sponsors that pursue radio while still wanting to expose the sponsor's name, a "tie-in" will need to be created (much like it will have to be created for shirts and banners) so that radio will know how to present things to the public. Radio tie-ins of the band name and sponsor name are the most difficult to pull off, mostly because they are in the hands of a third party (the station). So some creativity and flexibility will need to be applied. If you have hired a radio promoter, they can do this work for you.
Note that I'm not talking here about paid radio ads... they an be worded however you like. I'm talking instead about the before-or-after announcements that DJs make when they are announcing a song. If the DJs are given an idea as to what the band-and-sponsor entity is, it will be easier for them to talk about it on the air.
I need to point out (and this will be obvious to bands) that it is very important that a band-sponsor name combination be chosen that is not corny and certainly not a "sell out." For some bands, and some sponsors, it may take quite a while to come up with something where the fans (who are most important) the description is somewhat "cool." This can be accomplished by testing the band-sponsor name combination on people that DO NOT know either the band or the sponsor. If someone already knows either one, they will resist the changing of the name.
Here are some ideas, using my previous TalentFunding.com very-difficult example of a band called XYZ that does not want to change its name, and a sponsor with a long name called John Doe and Sons Tractors, who fortunately is a bit more flexible in how its name can be used:
"Here's a track from the new John Doe XYZ Band"
"John Doe and Sons XYZ Band is a new act in town, and their first release is a track called..."
"The XYZ Band and the John Doe Sons got together and put out this next song, called..."
"The XYZ John Doe new song is..."
"This next song is called ___________, and it's from a new band called XYZ Featuring the John Doe Sons."
"John Doe and the XYZ Boys are a new band in town, and their first single is this song called ___________."
"John Doe's XYZ and Sons Band is a brand new act and they're coming out with a new song called _________"
Most band and sponsor name situations are not this difficult; especially when the band is open to renaming itself. (A sponsor would never rename itself; that would defeat the purpose of trying to expose its name in the first place.) Some technique must be used, however, otherwise stations will just announce the name of the band by itself and that will not be very useful to the sponsor. The exception, of course, is if the band and sponsor are only doing an "attempt to get signed" campaign, whereby the only focus is promoting the band , not the sponsor.
A final note: As opposed to posters or banners or shirts, you can't make it obvious to radio stations that a sponsor is involved in the description. If you did, they would never play the song because they'd want to be paid for "airing your commercial". Saying something like "The XYZ band brought to you by John Doe and Sons" would immediately turn stations off. The sponsor's name MUST be worked into the description in a way that sounds like a band name, and even better, it should be IN the band's name.
And again, you NEVER say the word "sponsored".
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