Category: Music

Ceol 2018

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RTÉ 2fm and Conradh na Gaeilge are very excited to be taking part in ‘Bliain na Gaeilge 2018’ with our latest album, CEOL 2018 le hEoghan McDermott. An album where artists who aren’t usually associated with the Irish language help promote the language recording their original tracks ‘As Gaeilge’. Produced and distributed for free to students across Ireland, the full album will be released in the coming months.

Today we premiered our first track.

A throwback anthem of epic proportions! It’s called ‘Stócach Brocach’ Watch this short video to find out who it is!

 

A look back at the RTÉ Choice Music Prize

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Ships has been announced as the winner of the RTÉ Choice Music Prize Irish Album of the Year 2017 for the album Precession (Ships Music label). The judging panel, made up of Irish music media professionals, deliberated at length tonight before choosing the winning album.

Ships received a cheque for €10,000, a prize which has been provided by the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) – as well as a specially-commissioned award.

The winner of the RTÉ Choice Music Prize Irish Song of the Year was also announced and Chasing Abbey won the prize for their song “That Good Thing”. Decided by the public via the RTÉ and Choice Music Prize websites, fans got behind their favourite song in big numbers.

The sold-out event in Vicar Street was hosted by RTÉ 2FM’s Eoghan McDermott and was broadcast live on the station on a specially extended Louise McSharry show.

RTÉ2 will broadcast a one-hour TV highlights programme of the RTÉ Choice Music Prize featuring performances from the acts and interviews by Bláthnaid Treacy on Sunday March 18th at 11pm.

Earlier during the day, the inaugural “Conversations” took place at the Morrison Hotel, a music forum attended by international and Irish industry.

RTÉ Choice Music Prize

The shortlist for this year’s RTÉ Choice Music Prize, Irish Album of the Year 2017, in association with IMRO & IRMA, was announced today on RTÉ 2FM’s Tracy Clifford Show by Tony Clayton Lea, chairman of the judging panel. The shortlist is as follows:

Come On Live Long – In The Still (self released)

Marlene Enright – Placemats and Second Cuts (self released)

Fangclub – Fangclub (Universal)

Lankum – Beneath the Earth and the Sky (Rough Trade)

James Vincent McMorrow – True Care (Faction Records)

New Jackson – From Night to Night (All City)

Otherkin – OK (Rubyworks)

Fionn Regan – The Meetings of the Waters (Abbey Records)

Ships – Precession (Ships Music)

Talos – Wild Alee (Feel Good Lost)

As part of RTÉ’s continued commitment to promoting Irish music, RTÉ 2FM celebrates the announcement of the shortlist across its schedule throughout the day with All Irish Music All Day from 6am to midnight. As part of this Louise McSharry will present a two-hour special programme on this year’s RTÉ Choice Music Prize, Irish Album of the Year 2017 shortlist from 8-10pm this evening. RTÉ 2FM will continue to mark the announcement of the shortlist this week and beyond through a mix of airplay of tracks from the shortlisted albums, interviews with this year’s shortlisted artists and live performances.

The shortlisted albums can be enjoyed in full on the RTÉ Choice Music Prize website www.choicemusicprize.ieand on  www.2fm.ie/rtechoicemusic. The winning album will be announced at the RTÉ Choice Music Prize live event, held in Vicar Street, Dublin on Thursday 8th March 2018. As part of the partnership with RTÉ, the event will be broadcast live on RTÉ 2FM in a special four-hour extended programme from 7-11pm and on RTÉ2 as part of a special RTÉ Choice Music Prize TV programme, approximately one week later.

The 13th annual RTÉ Choice Music Prize will once again celebrate and acknowledge the best in Irish recorded music.  The prize has become one of the highlights of the Irish musical calendar since its inception in 2005 and is awarded to the Irish Album of the Year, as chosen from a shortlist of ten releases by a panel of twelve Irish music media professionals and industry experts.

The winning act will receive €10,000, a prize fund which has been provided by The Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). All of the shortlisted acts will receive a specially commissioned award. 

RAAP, Culture Ireland & Golden Discs are also official project partners. 

Culture Ireland will fund the attendance of influential overseas Industry executives to attend the RTE Choice Music Prize Live Event on March 8th while Golden Discs will feature special stands showcasing the RTE Choice Music Prize nominees across their stores nationwide.

RTÉ Choice Music Prize – Irish Song of The Year 2017

The shortlist for the RTÉ Choice Music Prize – Irish Song of The Year 2017 will be announced on Wednesday 31st January 2018. A special event featuring exclusive performances from both Album of the Year and Song of the Year nominees will be held in Dublin’s Tramline venue that evening. 

Tickets for the Choice Music Prize live event are available at all Ticketmaster outlets and at http://www.ticketmaster.ie priced €28.00 including booking fee

Looking to get on the playlist? Some tips to help you be heard

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Had the pleasure of being on a radio playlist discussion panel for Hard Working Class Heroes, Ireland’s Annual Showcase Festival & Conference for New Music last Friday. Really interesting chat and it was great to meet so many new Irish acts for the first time in person. As so much came out of it I thought it might be useful to do a post on some of the key points that got raised.

Here’s my top 5 takeaways for new acts looking for radio play. Hopefully it will save you some time, money and heartache.

  • Research who you’re sending tracks to. Nothing more frustrating then getting a track that’s not suited to your show or station. Personalise the message if possible. You have to build a relationship and be patient with who’s listening to your tracks.
  • Don’t waste your time sending massive CD packs in jiffy bags with sheets of paper and moody looking pics. In my opinion it’s a complete waste of time for everyone involved. Save some money and send a stream link, Spotify, Soundcloud or download link. If possible don’t set an expire date on the download. Don’t fill up peoples inboxes which huge WAV and Mp3 files.
  • If you insist in sending a CD please make sure it’s labelled with contact details. No blank CD-R’s with ‘track 1’ scribbled on it. It should be all about the music but unfortunately presentation does matter and you will be judged on it. Be clear, concise and straight to the point.
  • Don’t forget the producers of the shows. Naturally you’ll think of the presenters but showing some love to the backroom staff never hurts. They often have the ear of the playlister.
  • Tour, tour, tour. Play your songs to an audience before recording and sending them out. Although technology has made it so easy to record and distribute your music, it doesn’t mean you should. Gauge the live audience reaction to your tracks and take it from there. If you’re honest with yourself you’ll know when it’s ready.

….and I’ll throw in a sixth. (Top 5 takeaway sounded more catchy in a radio sense but I digress…) Have a story. I don’t really care what studio you recorded it in or that the engineer produced X,Y,Z. Think about how the presenter/journalist/blogger is going to introduce you to the listener/reader. Think of angles. It’s all about attention these days so how are you going stand out from the crowd??

Best of luck getting out there. I’m always happy to answer any questions about submitting demos/tracks so if you need to know anything specific, drop me a line via twitter @alanswan or on email here