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Like most national stations we receive hundreds of CDs a month, and last week I was working my way through a big stack of dull, safe "radio-friendly" tracks sent by record companies who really ought to know better. Your EP blasted out of the speakers like a breath of fresh air, so I ejected it and looked for the sleeve to see what it was.

Here's a suggestion. When you make a great sounding EP and send it to radio stations hoping they'll play it, how about putting it in an actual sleeve that includes a tracklisting, band info, release date and a contact number on it. Rather than just slipping a narrow band of arty carboard around the outside (see above). I know you probably enclosed some sort of letter or info sheet, but that got lost days ago when the last mountain of jiffy bags was being opened by some luckless intern.

Professional pluggers and record companies ALWAYS put an info sticker on the sleeves of all promo CDs they send to radio. There's no reason why independent artists can't do exactly the same. This promo CD for - sent by in London - is a classic example of how to send music to a radio station. Laser printed info on a big clear sticker, plastic disc wallet, plain white paper insert. Job done. Other radio promotion companies are of course available.

Anyway there I was, excited by a record that sounded like a 21st Century English-electro Cramps, wondering what it was and hoping to play it on my suppertime show last Friday. The only clue was the words VANILLA NIGHTMARE scrawled in felt tip pen on the disc itself. Luckily was the number one search result.

Here's another suggestion. When you make a great sounding EP and hope people will buy it, how about putting the tracklisting, release date and purchase links on . Instead of it still saying "NEW EP COMING SOON!!!!" a month after release. And if there's more up-to-date news on a somewhere, how about including a link to it ?

I was going to email this letter to you privately as a bit of friendly advice. But there's no contact details for you anywhere on the web - so here's one last suggestion.

With music as good as yours, it's possible that journalists, bloggers, presenters, producers, record companies, managers, promoters, publishers and (shock horror) members of the public may want to offer you their support. HowÌý about including an email address and contact phone number on your web pages so they can get in touch. Just a thought....

Luckily, for my Ö÷²¥´óÐã Introducing show Fresh On The Net, the whole process is a lot easier. No need to send us CDs in the post or MP3 files by email. Just nip along to our web page and click Recommend Music. Fill in the form telling us where to hear your music online, just the once, and we guarantee to listen and consider it for the show. Simple as that.

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