British-Asian singer-songwriter Saloni is offering critical lessons for independent artists and radio programmers on the necessity of early rights registration and long-term radio promotion after winning the Artist Ally Emerging Artist Award. Her trajectory from pub gigs to Wembley Arena demonstrates a scalable model for Black and Asian music creators operating without major label backing, emphasizing that sustainable growth requires disciplined data management and strategic outsourcing rather than expensive, short-term PR campaigns.
Early Rights Registration and Radio Patience
Saloni’s career over the past two years has seen explosive independent growth, including a single titled “Bhalo Lage” that surpassed 20 million viral views and an EP called Rani that debuted at number one on the iTunes genre charts. Despite these metrics, she stresses that financial and legal foundations must be established immediately. She explicitly advises emerging artists to register with a collecting society early in their careers to ensure royalties are captured correctly.
Her approach to radio promotion rejects the idea of quick wins. Saloni advocates for playing the long game with radio promo, a strategy that aligns with the sustained backing she has received from national outlets like BBC Radio 1 and TV9. This persistence allowed her to secure features on major stages such as BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend and consistent national TV coverage, proving that radio relationships are built on consistency rather than one-off pushes.
Outsourcing PR and Building Mailing Lists
As an independent artist, Saloni found that spending thousands on a traditional PR company was not realistic, a lesson she learned after investing heavily in a firm that yielded limited returns. Instead, she now outsources specific tasks such as emailers, show outreach, label outreach, and song pitching. While the initial PR investment was financially draining, it provided her with a valuable asset: a comprehensive list of PR contacts she can leverage directly without intermediaries.
The most vital piece of evergreen advice Saloni offers concerns the importance of maintaining digital mailing lists. She regrets not logging attendee emails digitally at her early shows, noting that physical lists often get discarded. She warns that a single person attending a show today could become a merch buyer years down the line, making the immediate collection of email addresses at every performance a non-negotiable business practice for independent artists. This data-driven approach allows artists to build direct-to-fan revenue streams that do not rely on streaming algorithms or radio gatekeepers.
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