The first issue that I am going to tackle when it comes to getting on the radio will be based on radio standards and the terms & conditions involved with getting a song on the radio – focussing mainly on how to get a song onto BBC radio, however, the standards tend to be similar for most stations.
The main source of my research for this was the BBC Introducing terms and conditions, which can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2JHbQtxpDBT56LG9wx0BDQ8/bbc-introducing-uploader-terms-and-conditions
The terms and conditions that I am mainly focusing on are number 5 and 11 from their list.
Term 5:
“The artist(s) must be the sole author(s) of the Material. The individual submitting the Material hereby warrants that they have obtained and can give all necessary consents and permissions on behalf of all persons or entities contributing to the Material by their writing, composing, musical performance, recording, producing or otherwise (or the consent and permission of the parent/guardian of those persons are under 16 years old) and are authorised by any such persons or entities to make the Material and to grant the rights set out in these terms and conditions.”
As I am only one member of the creative team involved with the production of these songs, I will be aiming to get spoken and written consent from the band and Oliver that says I am allowed to upload their music on their behalf. I will make sure they know what it is I will be doing as I do it and will tell them if they have successfully been played or are going to be played on the radio.
Term 11:
“Contributions must not contain defamatory or obscene material”
This is a fairly basic rule that applies to almost all radio stations (and TV prior to watershed). The songs that have been produced do have swearing in them and I am aware that I will have to either take the swearing out or obfuscate the word in some way during the mixing process. Alternatively, we could record a second version of the vocals that changes the obscenity to something else completely that still flows with the song.
This is part one of three radio posts that I will write, the next one will be about the mixing process and how it ties into the radio standards.