Radio vs Streaming: How Independent Artists Can Get Their Music Heard

As an emerging or independent artist, you’re probably wondering about the best way to get your music in front of new audiences. It’s great that your family and friends turn up to all your gigs, and buy your EPs, but if they’re making up a large part of your fanbase, you’re probably starting to think about how you can branch out and get your music heard by wider and more diverse audiences. So, of course, you’re asking yourself, “Is streaming or radio promotion the best way forward?”

In the modern music industry, people seem to assume that streaming platforms have completely replaced radio as the main way people discover new music, or streaming platforms and radio are lumped together like they serve the same purpose. They seem to miss that streaming and radio serve very different functions. I’ll explain why independent artists shouldn’t fall for these assumptions, and highlight the unique strengths and limitations of radio vs. streaming. In reality, both are valuable tools for getting your music heard, but radio remains essential, and here’s why…

New Music Discovery is Driven by Algorithms

Here’s the deal: Spotify (and pretty much every other streaming platform) watches your every move, such as what songs you’ve played, how long you listen, what you skip, and what other playlists you already follow. This is all so that Spotify can predict what song or artist you probably want to hear next. Sounds great, right? But, this seriously limits the opportunity to discover new music outside of the usual genres, or artists and bands, that you would usually listen to. This can feel like playlists are curated and personalised for you, until you try to step outside your usual music habits.

Take me, for example. Most of the music I listen to is mid-2000s Nu Metal and Punk Rock. But when I recently started training for a half marathon, I realised that these genres weren’t great for running. So, I went on the hunt for tracks with the right BPM to match my running pace (Yes, running BPM playlists are a thing!).

At first, Spotify played along. Then it seems that I freaked out the algorithm, and it went straight back to its comfort zone: Green Day. On repeat. All the time.

And that’s part of the problem. Streaming platforms love what is already popular. So even when you try to branch out and discover new music, the algorithm not-so-gently nudges you back into familiar territory. Which, for independent artists, creates a vicious circle: you aren’t popular, so your songs aren’t being recommended; but you can’t get popular, because no one is hearing your music. You can end up feeling pretty invisible!

The Streaming Market Is Super-Overcrowded

Even before the algorithm buries your music, there’s another major hurdle: volume. According to Luminate’s 2023 Year-End Music Report, streaming platforms now host over 200 million tracks. And that number is constantly growing. Spotify alone sees around 120,000 new tracks uploaded every single day.

But here’s the reality most artists don’t hear about:

•  86.2% of all tracks receive fewer than 1,000 streams per year.
•  Over 50 million tracks (around 1 in 4) received zero plays. Not a single stream!

(Sources: Luminate / Music Business Worldwide, Nov 2023 & Jan 2024)

I’m going to say this again, because it is really important: one in every four tracks uploaded is never heard by anyone. It’s not even played once. Not even a pity play from their own Grandma.

Just for a moment, imagine your song as a single CD buried somewhere in a stack of 200 million other CD’s. Now imagine another 120,000 CD’s being dumped on top of the pile tomorrow. For those of us that need a visual to grasp the sheer size of 20 million CD’s: Mount Everest is a little over 8 kilometres high, so this pile would be roughly 27 times the height of Mount Everest. Ask yourself, what are the chances that someone digs through a pile of that size and just happens to find yours? Virtually non-existent.

Even if you’re really talented, and your music is brilliant, discovery by chance is not a strategy for getting your music heard. On streaming platforms, you’re not just competing with other indie artists, or the latest chart toppers, you’re competing with every song that’s ever been uploaded, and every song that’s going to be uploaded tomorrow. The chances of being found organically on streaming platforms are so low that they may as well be zero.

This highlights a brutal truth about streaming for new and independent artists: the challenge isn’t just making great music; it’s making your music visible on a platform that is completely flooded with content. And this is exactly why radio airplay is an essential promotional tool.

Why independent artists should be getting radio airplay

For decades, radio has been the place where indie artists have been able to reach new audiences. And in the digital age that we live in, radio promotion is opening doors and putting great music in front of audiences across the world. Radio offers some things that streaming can’t: validation, credibility, and the chance to reach listeners who aren’t actively searching for new music.

Reaching Passive Listeners

With iPluggers radio promotion, your music doesn’t get buried in the deepest depths of an algorithm. It is sent directly to radio stations, music directors, and presenters, in countries all over the world. No more relying on chance. iPluggers puts your music in the places where it can reach listeners who are paying attention. For example one single play on a local radio station can put your music in front of thousands of listeners. They can ‘shazam it’ and then play your music on streaming services. This is why radio is so important, it introduces audiences to new music that they might otherwise never discover.

Validation & Credibility

Unlike streaming, radio promotion breaks the algorithm barrier. Because getting radio airplay depends on human curation and not an algorithm, if your song is being played on the radio, it validates your music as being worthy of airplay. Believe it or not, gatekeeping by music directors is actually a good thing when it happens in your favour, because your track being added to the playlist gives it credibility.

Making great music just isn’t enough anymore!

Streaming is powerful for providing unprecedented access and convenience, instantly making your track available to a large and diverse audience; but on streaming platforms, visibility of your music is dictated by algorithms, and can be drowned out by the sheer volume of tracks being uploaded on a daily basis. But that doesn’t mean your music has to stay hidden. Radio offers something streaming can’t, a direct path to real listeners, validation, and genuine discovery of new music.

Radio opens up global opportunities, and iPluggers makes worldwide radio promotion achievable and accessible. Instead of waiting for the algorithm to notice you, your music is delivered straight into the hands of music directors and presenters. Over 35,000 radio stations across the world have signed up to iPluggers and indicated what genre of music they want to receive from us. So your music is promoted directly to music directors, music programmers and DJs that want to receive these new releases.

You’ve already done the hard part by making great music that is worth hearing. Now it’s time to let iPluggers give it the platform it deserves.