I often receive questions from other artists about how and why I release a song into the market. Certainly the landscape of the music industry has changed drastically with digital age coming on full force. Real or terrestrial radio does not have the bite in the market as it in days past but there is a listening audience worth reaching.

Terrestrial stations are slowly being integrated into the digital market. Many physical stations are transforming into unmanned satellite receivers and broadcast towers. My radio promoter from National Radio Promotion uses a blend of both key mainstream and independent broadcasting outlets of which to launch a new record.

I am going to focus on answering some of the questions I receive about FMQB, which stands for Friday Morning Quarterback. FMQB has been around since 1968. Initially they were a tip sheet/trade magazine for the music industry. The magazine was founded in 1968 by Kal Rudman and is read by over 10,000 industry professionals. The charts at FMQB are driven by the stats &/or spin counts called in by key radio stations and broadcasters otherwise known as mainstream radio. Fans, Friends, Supporters Do Not contribute to the charts which are updated weekly. Only the Top40 for each of the charts is actually published on their site http://www.fmqb.com even though there are 200 on the unposted reports.

Releasing a song into the mainstream market to see if it will land on FMQB is a good way to test a song. The playing field is primarily Promoted Major Label artists and if a song holds up well here then you might just have something worth pursuing other opportunities with. I would definitely attribute my signing with Warner-Chappell via Jan Cooper Publishing to the successes I've had with this as part of my marketing strategy.

My current release "I'll be here waiting" released at the start of 2018 has been making a promising upward climb. This past week the record leaped upwards 44 places from #106 to #62. Even though we are hopeful and excited about it's progress, the testing of this song is far from over. It still has a long way to go. The record could potentially be the 18th Consecutive Top 40 hit. My whole team, including myself are all crossing our fingers and holding our breath.

Even more thrilling, was the discovery of the two songs released in 2017, "Lemonade Freshly Squeezed" and "Secret Lover" are not only on the chart, never left, and are climbing the chart again along with the new release. This is quite unusual and worth paying attention to. Long after the promotion budget ended, both songs have created lives of their own and are receiving enough airplay to remain on the charts and climb with no intervention. The bottom line for the stations is still advertising, and if the listening audience is happy, ads are being sold then that will help drive the playlists.

2/13/18 - I'll be here waiting #62, Secret Lover #73, Lemonade Freshly Squeezed #92

"I'll be here waiting" makes promising move up FMQB chart!