Hi Everyone,
Happy new year! I hope you’ve recovered from the holidays. The traffic here in the DC area is crazy right now; everyone’s piling into town for the inauguration.
Here are the tips.
Deal on music videos. I talked Washington State videographer Eero Johnson into offering my friends a special deal. He normally charges roughly $1500 to make a video for one song. But if you mention this newsletter and contact him (eero@videoonestudio.com) before the end of February, he’ll make you a music video for $950. This is a very good deal if you live in Washington; Eero’s work is polished and eye-catching. Having a video can open many doors.
See http://www.videoonestudio.com/
How to Ace A Radio Interview. Since this month has been slow I thought I’d offer you a few words on how to handle a radio interview. (See below)
Keep the music going + turn it up!
Best,
Marc
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How to Ace a Radio Interview.
by Marc Kuchner
1/15/09
Once you start getting some airplay, you will inevitably be called upon to do some radio interviews. A radio interview is a fantastic opportunity to collect new fans. But there are also many ways an interview can go wrong. So I thought I would use this newsletter to tell you some of what I’ve learned about doing interviews and how to make them work for you. I learned some of this by taking a course with former TV newsman George Merlis; I recommend his book “Mastering The Media” if you’re looking for more information.
To ace an interview you need to 1) Prepare Your Stories 2) Practice, and 3) Work with the Interviewer. Here’s how.
1) Prepare Your Stories.
You might think that an interview is where a media personality asks you questions and you answer them. That’s incorrect! Or at least that’s the wrong way to think of it.
To a good artist, an interview is an opportunity for you to tell stories and anecdotes that you have prepared in advance. The “questions” the interviewer asks you are just cues to help you lead into each of your stories.
So before the interview you’ll need to prepare the stories. So take out a sheet of paper or open a fresh window on your laptop and write down some stories you can tell, or at least some notes to help you remember them. During a radio interview you can place this sheet in front of you and read the stories off the sheet! (You can sometimes do that on TV too. But if you can’t, don’t worry, TV interviews are short—-you can probably memorize whatever you need to say.)
Here are some of the stories you will need to prepare. You can (and should) use the same ones over and over again on different radio stations.
An embarrassing/zany/comic moment story.
Radio interviewers love to ask about embarrassing moments and funny things that happened to you. These stories are an opportunity for you to show off your sense of humor and also your humilty.
They might ask “What’s the craziest thing that ever happened to you on tour?” or “What’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done?” or more gently, “Tell our listeners something secret about you that nobody else knows!”.
This kind of question is your cue to launch into your comic moment story. So prepare a story that people will find entertaining. Ideally it should be about life as a musician! E.g. “I was backstage one night with Lynyrd Skynyrd and the amplifier fell on my foot…”
I guarantee that you will be asked onf of these questions—it might even be the first one that comes up. So make sure you prepare an entertaining story (that’s not too embarrassing.)
How did you get started being a musician/singer?
This is another classic radio interview question that new artists get tripped up on. Maybe the truth is your Mom gave you piano lessons and then you were in the school play and you really really love Tim McGraw so you want to be a singer. That’s OK. But it’s boring. Try to come up with something that’s unusual and different.
You need to come up with an anecdote that people will find entertaining. Tell a story with a hero and a villan. Make it funny, scary, ironic. Just come up with something unique. Remember, you should tell the truth (of course)—-but you don’t have to answer exactly the question that was asked!
For example, maybe you found this old guitar in the attic and you used to strum it randomly and loudly to annoy your brother. Then one day he say “I bet you couldn’t play an actual song on that thing because your a girl and girls are stupid. So you took the guitar and hit him in the head with it.” And the rest is history…
You may also get asked: Who are your influences? That’s probably an easy one. Just make sure you prepare something so you don’t sit there staring at the ceiling for 5 seconds thinking about it.
The story of the song.
You probably have a single or two that you’re promoting. You’ll need to be able to say something when they ask you about it. What’s the story behind it? Why is it special to you?
Well, once again, your goal when you answer the question is not to state the facts like you’re talking to your Dad or to a jury. You should not lie—but you don’t need to directly answer the question! The true story of the song might be that the demo tape showed up in the mail and your manager pressured you into cutting it. But don’t say that.
Say something like “That song’s very important to me. I’ll tell you what this song means to me.” And then tell up with a story about a moment in your life that the song resonates with. Is the song a breakup song? Tell a story about your first breakup, and say “whenever I sing this song, that’s what I’m thinking about”. Or is the song about trucks? Tell them a story about your first pickup truck. Just make it entertaining and make it about you.
If they pressure you about the business details, you might want to say something like this: ”We listened to thousands of songs from all over before I finally found this one, and when I heard it I knew right away that this was going to be my next hit.” If they ask you if you write your own songs, the answer is yes! (If you really don’t know anything about songwriting, give me a buzz and I’ll get you started. I don’t promise you’ll be happy with the results for the first 8 years, but at least you can say you do it.)
Try to guess what else your interviewer will ask about you.
Read your own bio and try to guess what will catch the interviewer’s eye. Do you have an unusual hobby? (If not, maybe you should get one!) Play a sport? Like to bake? Repair motorcycles? Come up with a story about one of those activities that radio listeners will find entertaining. If there’s nothing in your bio that will catch your interviewer’s attention, make sure you put something in!
I’ve worked for many years as a professional astronomer so I always get questions about astronomy. You better believe I have an entertaining story or two to tell about astronomy for when that topic inevitably comes up in interviews.
Try to think of some aggressive interview questions and prepare your answers to them. Not every interview is friendly! ”Why should people buy your album when there are so many good records out there?” ”Your music sounds just like this other song I know; did you copy it?” etc. Even if your interviewer is trying to have a laugh at your expense, you can still look cool, if you prepare.
While you are preparing your stories, keep your audience in mind. Remember, the typical radio listener is stuck in traffic somewhere, bored out of his/her skull and desparately in need of distraction. This listener does not care about your manager or about your label or about the nuts and bolts of business. (Do you really even care who George Strait’s A&R rep is, for example?)
The public wants to hear about UFOs. Love. War. Comedy. Famous people. Sex. Beauty. Life. Be as entertaining in your interview stories as you are in your music.
2) Practice.
The interview situation is unnatural. You’re used to having conversations with people. But an interview is not a conversation (see above).
So you’ll need to practice dealing with this strange situation and steering the interview towards the stories you want to tell. Find a partner (e.g. friend manager, band member etc.) who can play the interviewer and ask you questions. For example, almost everyone speaks with time fillers (like “um” “uh”) etc. You’ll need to practice to get those out of your speech.
Also you’ll need to work on controlling the flow of the interview. Practice telling your stories in response to the questions, and making it sound like your stories are somehow responses to what the interviwer has asked. Here are some examples of what you might say to help control the flow.
“Here’s something else that might interest you about me…”
“No I’ve never been too drunk to remember the words. But here’s another crazy story about me…”
“No I don’t have any hidden body piercings. But let me tell you about my pet gerbil/new single/entertaining story/website etc.”
“Don’t forget to ask me about…”
Making this sound smooth takes some work. So practice, practice, practice. Have your partner first simulate a friendly interviewer and then a hostile interviewer.
Tape record your practice interview and listen to it. Keep an ear out for things you’ve said that might be taken out of context and learn not to say them. Learn how not to say “uh” or “you know” or other time fillers that make you sound stupid.
When you are done telling your story, close your mouth! A common mistake people make on interviews is that when they run out of material they have prepared, they keep on talking, babbling about something they didn’t really mean to say, trying to make conversation or make friends with the interviewer. That’s not helping your image. Tell your prepared story, then shut up.
3) Work With the Interviewer.
The interviewer is looking to get as much entertainment value out of you as he/she can. So feel free to offer advice that will help your interviewer attain this goal. This way you can steer the interview the direction you want, so the entertainment is not at your expense.
The best way to help the interviewer is to feed him or her interesting facts about you ahead of time. You will have an opportunity to interact with your interviewer before the interview and send him/her things. Send him or her your promotional package, including a fact sheet about you, and a well written bio.
Before the interview starts you’ll be chatting a bit with the interviewer. This time represents an important opportunity. During this time (when the interviewer or the technical crew might be checking levels, testing equipment, etc.) tell the interviewer how to pronounce your name. Then tell the interviewer what to ask you about. Do you have an intereting story about how your pet gerbil crawled into your guitar? Say “Don’t forget to ask me about gerbils!”
During the interviewer, never talk down to the interviewer (I’m sure you wouldn’t do that). And also, remember that the interviewer is not your Dad or manager; you don’t need to look up to him or her. You and the interviewer are both stars—-on the same footing.
Here’s a good way to think of the interviewer during the interview. Pretend the interviewer is a guy/girl you think is hot—-and you’ve just met. So you’re flirting a bit. But you’re also being careful, coy, and cool so you make a good impression and you don’t show all your cards. Got it?
Finally, don’t forget to use the interview as a way to tell the audience about your next gig, your website, and your album. Usually interviewers are sensitive to your need to do this! But don’t hesitate to say “Do you mind if I take a moment to tell people about my new album?” or otherwise find way to work it into the conversation.
This little bit of self-promotion is part of how you get paid for your time doing the interview. Don’t let this opportunity go to waste. Make sure your album is available on the shelves, your website is up and running, and you have a gig booked in the area.
Good luck!
Marc
