Many moons ago I had a friend who had a great saying. She would tell people “I believe that if I cast my bread on the waters it will come back as toast and jam”.

I never found out if it was her own original saying or if she had nicked it from somewhere else but either way I’ve always thought it was a great saying. Personally I’m not great at the casting of bread on the waters let alone having anything come back as toast and jam but once I had my website up and running I began to wonder what else I could do with it.

Of course my website is here to promote my music, but it’s also here to tell my story and share a few ideas and tricks that I’ve learnt in my on-going battle to record and release music. I began to slowly pick up more followers on social media and I also began to get pestered by people offering to promote my music to millions of hungry listeners, all of whom were just dying to hear my music and would, I was assured, propel me to musical stardom across the planet.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt in life is that nothing is that easy. Oh sure, you could win the lottery but you’ve actually got more chance of dying during the lottery draw than actually winning the thing, so the real lesson is that if something appears too good to be true, it usually is. Success comes through hard work and persistence. Also given that most musicians haven’t got pockets lined with millions of pounds to throw at getting their message out there, it will only ever be hard work and persistence that will get your music heard widely.

So I decided to use my website and my social media channels to help other musicians get some publicity. At the time I was going through some health issues like losing my voice and shingles (neither of which I recommend) and so there was also a therapeutic element. I decided to promote musicians whose music I liked. I would also do it for free, as in no cost and nothing expected or asked for in return. And to support it all I started a Spotify playlist of those artists I was promoting that I and others could share.

And so the Radio section of my website and the Clip Bait playlist on Spotify were born.

Since then I’ve listened to literally hundreds of artists and come across some simply brilliant music. There’s also been some music I haven’t liked at all. For example, I simply don’t ‘get’ rap music. Some of it borders on the OK to my ears, but most of it I willingly avoid like the plague. That doesn’t mean rap music is bad in itself, it just doesn’t do anything for me.

I made the decision that if I was going to promote someone, add them to my website, my social media channels and to Clip Bait I had to like their music. And boy oh boy have I come across some great music. Not just good music, some really exceptional music. I fully appreciate that not everyone is going to share my enthusiasm for everything that’s on Clip Bait, but come on, there’s music on there for everyone.

If the likes of Flora Fiora, Cheri Smith, Dan’s People, Greg Murray and Churemi don’t move you musically then I really don’t know what will. And I’m coming across more brilliant indie artists every week. The problem is having the time it takes to add them to Radio and Clip Bait and then promote them more widely. But it’s a task that brings me great pleasure.

Some of these artists are already getting thousands of streams a month and some are only getting a few, but what it does go to show is that in amongst the 60,000 new songs that are added to Spotify EACH DAY there are some real gems. Music that will make you move and music that will impact you emotionally.

If you like any of the songs you hear on Clip Bait then please, please share them as widely as you possibly can. If you cast your bread on the water it might just come back as toast and jam. At the very least it will make you feel good, won’t it Annie?

Click here to go to the Radio section of this website

Update: I changed the name of the Radio section to Clip Bait in July 2024 so that it matched the name of the Spotify playlist