KCRW launches MALCOLM music service to help indie bands in need
Being a DJ at radio station can be an embarrassment of riches. And really, who's going to listen to you complain about having too much music to listen to? Santa Monica's terrifically wonderful public radio station KCRW is looking to take a little bit of the pain of finding new music for its DJs, with the launch of MALCOLM, a site that lets artists submit their music for consideration -- a nice attempt at continued outreach in a medium so dominated by charts and major label interference. Bands can create profiles with images, bios and social media links, alongside up to three tracks. MALCOLM serves as a bit of a social network for the station's DJs, letting them share tracks and interact with profiles, alerting artists via email when someone has commented on or rated their listing. More information on the service, which borrows its name from KCRW's old internal record filing system, can be found in the press release after the break. Interested bands can submit songs in the source link below.
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Introducing: MALCOLM A New Digital Music Submission System for KCRW
KCRW (89.9FM and KCRW.com) is pleased to introduce MALCOLM, an online music submission system that assists independent artists in submitting their work to the Los Angeles-based public radio station. Proud to be one of few radio stations that still accepts and listens to demos and unsolicited music, KCRW is making an effort to better serve the up and coming artists that have built the foundation for KCRW's groundbreaking music programming.
"Independent artists are more important than ever and we want to champion as many as we can, yet the volume of submissions we receive has grown exponentially. We were asking ourselves how we can better serve these musicians and we came up with MALCOLM," said Anne Litt, Music Program Director. "It's fast, easy, and allows KCRW to do what we do best – support and share artist's work."
The interactive website will allow artists to easily submit the ir music to KCRW's tastemaking DJs for potential airplay and will become a hub for DJs to share music with each other internally as well.
For 15 years, KCRW has affectionately called the station's internal record filing system MALCOLM and decided to transfer the nickname to the new, tech-savvy creation, which was developed by Systems Administrator Ron Gonzalez and designed by Sr. Interactive Producer Nathan Lubeck. It is currently in beta mode.
"Not only is this an environmentally-friendly move forward, but will help us discover great new music faster," said KCRW DJ and Music Librarian Eric J Lawrence. "KCRW has been instrumental in helping start the careers of a wide range of musicians, from Beck to more recent bands such as Fitz and the Tantrums and Quadron. In many cases, the music was sent to us out of the blue and we pledge to continue this tradition by listening to as many submissions as possible."
A Little More About MALCOLM:
· Artists can create their own profile – with a bio, photo and links to social media sites -- and submit their best 3 tracks to KCRW's secure and private server.
· They can designate which DJs/shows the music is best suited for.
· Artists will be notified via email when a comment or rating has been added to their profile.
· Instead of chasing each other down in the hallways of KCRW's basement studios, DJs can share music with each other via this system.
