Here’s another tale of music discovery.
A few days ago, I was driving along listening to The Story on Minnesota Public Radio and they played a clip of a song with an awesome horns section as a transition between segments.
Being a sucker for a good horn section, I was determined to find the song. I tapped my iPhone and told Siri to remind me to look for the song on The Story website when I got home. I did just that but that night’s show had yet to be posted online. I did notice that the show listed the songs they played so I made a mental note to return later to find the name of the song and the artist.
I just did that and discovered Trombone Shorty, my new favorite musician.
In this case, they didn’t cite the name of the artist orthe song on air; had they, I would’ve searched using those keywords. Instead, I had to search for “The Story” and MPR to find the site. The lesson here is if you’re lucky enough to have your song featured on a radio or television show, you’ve got to put yourself in the head of the listener/viewer and think about how they would go about finding you if they liked your music. Mimic they’re likely discovery process to see if there are any opportunities for you to connect with new fans.
Here he is with Orleans Avenue on Austin City Limits. Found at YouTube from TromboneShortysFan.