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Interviews · music industry interview

Interview: The Power of Airplay Promotion with Maurits Dofferhoff

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Music2Deal: Welcome, Maurits! Airplay promotion is a crucial part of the music industry. Can you briefly explain what Airplay Promotion does?

Maurits Dofferhoff: Thank you! At Airplay Promotion, we help artists and labels get their music on radio and streaming platforms. We collaborate with radio stations, curators, and DJs to create the right exposure. This not only increases a track’s reach but also boosts streams, Shazam searches, and even chart positions.

Music2Deal: Many artists believe that streaming is everything these days. Why is radio still so important for promotion?

Maurits Dofferhoff: Streaming is incredibly powerful, but radio remains a crucial factor in music promotion. It provides credibility, reaches a broad audience, and exposes tracks in places where streaming alone might not reach. We’ve seen that radio airplay directly impacts streaming numbers and helps tracks go viral. Many big hits still start on radio before they explode on streaming services.

Music2Deal: What is the biggest misconception artists have about airplay promotion?

Maurits Dofferhoff: Many artists think their track will automatically get picked up if it’s good enough. But without the right strategy and connections, it’s tough to get into radio stations and playlists. Airplay promotion isn’t just about sending out a track it’s about storytelling, timing, and proper follow-ups with the media.

Music2Deal: What makes a song radio friendly, in your opinion?

Maurits Dofferhoff: First, the production quality has to be top notch a strong mix and master are essential. Radio stations also look for catchy hooks, a clear structure, and whether the track fits their audience. Length matters too; songs between 2:30 and 3:30 minutes usually work best. And of course, timing is key pushing a summer track in the winter often doesn’t work as well.

Music2Deal: Airplay Promotion works with many artists and labels. Can you share a success story?

Maurits Dofferhoff: Absolutely! A great example is the recent release of DJ Mauritius – ‘Alive’. We strategically pitched this track to radio and streaming curators before Miami Music Week and WMC 2025. As a result, it gained early support from key DJs and was added to several playlists, even before its official release. This kind of campaign shows just how powerful a well planned airplay strategy can be.

Music2Deal: How do you see the future of airplay promotion?

Maurits Dofferhoff: I think AI and data analysis will play an increasingly important role in identifying the right audiences. We also see that hybrid promotion a mix of radio, streaming, and social media is becoming the new standard. But one thing remains the same: great music and a compelling story are still the foundation of success.

Music2Deal: Finally, what is your top advice for artists looking to use airplay promotion?

Maurits Dofferhoff: Be strategic and realistic. Build your branding and create a story around your music. Work with professionals who know the industry. And most importantly, stay consistent and patient airplay promotion is an investment that pays off in the long run!

Music2Deal: Thanks for this inspiring conversation, Maurits!

Maurits Dofferhoff: My pleasure! And for artists and labels looking to grow through airplay, feel free to reach out. We’d love to help!

Music2Deal: Welcome, Maurits! Airplay promotion is a crucial part of the music industry. Can you briefly explain what Airplay Promotion does?

Maurits Dofferhoff: Thank you! At Airplay Promotion, we help artists and labels get their music on radio and streaming platforms. We collaborate with radio stations, curators, and DJs to create the right exposure. This not only increases a track’s reach but also boosts streams, Shazam searches, and even chart positions.

Music2Deal: Many artists believe that streaming is everything these days. Why is radio still so important for promotion?

Maurits Dofferhoff: Streaming is incredibly powerful, but radio remains a crucial factor in music promotion. It provides credibility, reaches a broad audience, and exposes tracks in places where streaming alone might not reach. We’ve seen that radio airplay directly impacts streaming numbers and helps tracks go viral. Many big hits still start on radio before they explode on streaming services.

Music2Deal: What is the biggest misconception artists have about airplay promotion?

Maurits Dofferhoff: Many artists think their track will automatically get picked up if it’s good enough. But without the right strategy and connections, it’s tough to get into radio stations and playlists. Airplay promotion isn’t just about sending out a track it’s about storytelling, timing, and proper follow-ups with the media.

Music2Deal: What makes a song radio friendly, in your opinion?

Maurits Dofferhoff: First, the production quality has to be top notch a strong mix and master are essential. Radio stations also look for catchy hooks, a clear structure, and whether the track fits their audience. Length matters too; songs between 2:30 and 3:30 minutes usually work best. And of course, timing is key pushing a summer track in the winter often doesn’t work as well.

Music2Deal: Airplay Promotion works with many artists and labels. Can you share a success story?

Maurits Dofferhoff: Absolutely! A great example is the recent release of DJ Mauritius – ‘Alive’. We strategically pitched this track to radio and streaming curators before Miami Music Week and WMC 2025. As a result, it gained early support from key DJs and was added to several playlists, even before its official release. This kind of campaign shows just how powerful a well planned airplay strategy can be.

Music2Deal: How do you see the future of airplay promotion?

Maurits Dofferhoff: I think AI and data analysis will play an increasingly important role in identifying the right audiences. We also see that hybrid promotion a mix of radio, streaming, and social media is becoming the new standard. But one thing remains the same: great music and a compelling story are still the foundation of success.

Music2Deal: Finally, what is your top advice for artists looking to use airplay promotion?

Maurits Dofferhoff: Be strategic and realistic. Build your branding and create a story around your music. Work with professionals who know the industry. And most importantly, stay consistent and patient airplay promotion is an investment that pays off in the long run!

Music2Deal: Thanks for this inspiring conversation, Maurits!

Maurits Dofferhoff: My pleasure! And for artists and labels looking to grow through airplay, feel free to reach out. We’d love to help!

Music2Deal: Welcome, Maurits! Airplay promotion is a crucial part of the music industry. Can you briefly explain what Airplay Promotion does?

Maurits Dofferhoff: Thank you! At Airplay Promotion, we help artists and labels get their music on radio and streaming platforms. We collaborate with radio stations, curators, and DJs to create the right exposure. This not only increases a track’s reach but also boosts streams, Shazam searches, and even chart positions.

Music2Deal: Many artists believe that streaming is everything these days. Why is radio still so important for promotion?

Maurits Dofferhoff: Streaming is incredibly powerful, but radio remains a crucial factor in music promotion. It provides credibility, reaches a broad audience, and exposes tracks in places where streaming alone might not reach. We’ve seen that radio airplay directly impacts streaming numbers and helps tracks go viral. Many big hits still start on radio before they explode on streaming services.

Music2Deal: What is the biggest misconception artists have about airplay promotion?

Maurits Dofferhoff: Many artists think their track will automatically get picked up if it’s good enough. But without the right strategy and connections, it’s tough to get into radio stations and playlists. Airplay promotion isn’t just about sending out a track it’s about storytelling, timing, and proper follow-ups with the media.

Music2Deal: What makes a song radio friendly, in your opinion?

Maurits Dofferhoff: First, the production quality has to be top notch a strong mix and master are essential. Radio stations also look for catchy hooks, a clear structure, and whether the track fits their audience. Length matters too; songs between 2:30 and 3:30 minutes usually work best. And of course, timing is key pushing a summer track in the winter often doesn’t work as well.

Music2Deal: Airplay Promotion works with many artists and labels. Can you share a success story?

Maurits Dofferhoff: Absolutely! A great example is the recent release of DJ Mauritius – ‘Alive’. We strategically pitched this track to radio and streaming curators before Miami Music Week and WMC 2025. As a result, it gained early support from key DJs and was added to several playlists, even before its official release. This kind of campaign shows just how powerful a well planned airplay strategy can be.

Music2Deal: How do you see the future of airplay promotion?

Maurits Dofferhoff: I think AI and data analysis will play an increasingly important role in identifying the right audiences. We also see that hybrid promotion a mix of radio, streaming, and social media is becoming the new standard. But one thing remains the same: great music and a compelling story are still the foundation of success.

Music2Deal: Finally, what is your top advice for artists looking to use airplay promotion?

Maurits Dofferhoff: Be strategic and realistic. Build your branding and create a story around your music. Work with professionals who know the industry. And most importantly, stay consistent and patient airplay promotion is an investment that pays off in the long run!

Music2Deal: Thanks for this inspiring conversation, Maurits!

Maurits Dofferhoff: My pleasure! And for artists and labels looking to grow through airplay, feel free to reach out. We’d love to help!

Links:

Profile Maurits Dofferhoff

www.airplaypromotion.nl 

Interviews · music industry interview

Kamrad Interview for Music2Deal.com – Part 2

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This is the second part of a two-part interview with German singer-songwriter Tim Kamrad, who rose to fame in 2017 with his hit single Changes. Known for his pop-driven hits like I Believe, Feel Alive, and I Hope You End Up Alone (With Me), the 27-year-old took on a new role in 2024 as a coach on The Voice of Germany.

Our expert A&R guru, Richard Rogers, leads the conversation.

Richard Roger: I did think there might be the opportunity there to do both of those. Please both sets of fans.

Kamrad:  I think if you make an album of like 12 singles it gets boring. You need two great ones and maybe 10 okay ones and I think there’s nothing worse than just an okay single. You need a really great pop song or an indie song. Do you know we do a blues song live? It has a long guitar solo. This is really unexpected for people, it has a long guitar solo and people that hear my songs on the radio would not expect that. It’s a really cool moment in the set.

RR: the line ‘I’d rather fall asleep than fall in love’ will I believe (excuse the pun) go down as one of the iconic song lyrics of the 2020s decade. When you were growing up, what were the sort of lyrics and artists that you were really into, those that really inspired you?

K: well, you wouldn’t expect it but in fact, I grew up with the Beatles so the Beatles. That was the first thing that was music for me maybe for like 5, maybe 10 years of me growing up.

RR: through your parents?

K: yeah through my dad. So I know every lyric and every song but as time moved on, I got more into the current pop music, so I feel that someone like Ed Sheeran was an artist that really inspired me to go on stage even if I didn’t have a band and just play. Also to focus more on lyrics because I was not coming from a native speaking context, it’s quite different listening to English music. You rather listen to the things that stick to your head rather than the clever ‘I’d rather fall asleep than fall in love’ line. I feel in Germany most people that know this song on the radio don’t know this line but they know the ‘I believe’ line. But I think this line is one of the main reasons why it got big on TikTok so I think you need the combination of something easy to sing and a deeper meaning.

RR: which is I suppose the same as your latest six track EP whereby you have the latest single ‘Friends’ that includes in the song, the line which is the EP title.

K: yes it’s the same thing. I’ve always loved the album titles where they are actually buried somewhere in the biggest single and you listen to that single and you hear that title in there and you go ‘oh yeah I know so and so’. So you’ve got an EP and the song ‘I Hope You End Up Alone (With Me which was a single and the line that is the album EP title ‘Not Good At Playing Love Songs’ is in that song.

RR: I’m currently writing a book on Taylor Swift.

K: oh really?

RR: yes it’s my 10th book. It’s my third book on A&R. The first was on Depeche Mode and the second one on ABBA. I just wondered what your thoughts were on Taylor Swift the artist, because pop can be described as a dirty word but personally I love it. Everything from growing up in the 80s listening to bands such as Duran Duran, Depeche Mode which really was pop and later a darker pop which they took slightly avant garde. So for you, how do you feel about somebody like Taylor Swift? Have you heard the whole of the new album?

K: I don’t listen to it every day

RR: there are 31 tracks on there

K: it’s a bit too many tracks for me

RR: that’s the problem. It’s a little bit wishy-washy, all a little bit watered down. But there are three tracks towards the end of the album and they just blow the rest away. It’s incredible for me that they leave them so late. Not great A&R in my estimation but it will still sell loads.

RR: do you go to big studios or not or do you record at your studio and then the record company takes it and get it mixed and mastered? How does it work?

K: we’re mixing it at the studio where we are and we send it to a mastering place in New York to a guy called Tutsijo who masters it. He is one of the greatest mastering engineers that I know. He gets our music and he gets our style, I say ‘our’ because it’s the producers and it’s me and we’re working very closely together. Tutsijo really gets the style and he finishes it off really nicely I think and if we’re going to LA to write songs or to London or whatever I always try not to go to studios I always try to be in a living room or something. I feel it seems so relaxed when you’re not forced to be in a room where music is created, better like a bed or a couch and your brainstorming and something comes across. The best songs come unconsciously I mean the sentence ‘I believe I rather fall asleep than fall in love’ was really like a stupid sentence that we said in the room and we thought we can use that. It wasn’t like we booked the biggest studio that we knew and made the biggest beat. That was an unconscious moment and let the unconscious happen and I think that you can do (something special) rather on a couch in a great living room with a cool view rather than in a really expensive studio for two days.

RR: I agree. There’s a place in Italy called Erice, it’s a fantastic place if you just wanna get away in Sicily and write then just get a hotel there, sit there with a guitar or whatever and just write. I really recommend it. I wrote a minor hit and 3 other album tracks in just a week for an artist there once.

K: I love those places. It does something to your mind in a way that you can’t describe to people and I always have to explain to my publisher yeah, like I’m not going to LA on a paid vacation that I have to pay for it’s rather more like getting my head into a different space. Because you know Bochum is nice but it’s not the city that you want to write the biggest summer song in. It makes me want to write a depressed one. Laughs

So if I want to write a happy song, I need to go to a different place. it is brilliant.

RR: what I will say is that your drum patterns are phenomenal.

K: thank you so much.

RR: and I don’t know if it’s you or your producer or it’s you and your producer together but I do think they are excellent. As an A&R man, producer and songwriter, I personally believe that you are the best German artist in the country currently. I’m not saying that to suck up either.

K: Wow, thank you so so much. It is an honour.

Kamrad’s latest EP ‘Wanna Be Friends’ was released in November 2024 and he is currently supporting this release on the ‘Friends Tour’ in Germany, Switzerland and Austria for a number of months from January 2025 with more tours planned going into Winter 2026 across Europe. In addition he is now one of the judges on ‘The Voice Of Germany’.

Richard Rogers new book ‘Taylor Swift – ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ the Ultimate A&R Companion Guide’ will be released in April 2025 with contributions from Kamrad and Midge Ure. It will be available to Music2deal members for a heavily discounted once only price.

Links:
https://music2deal.com/gb/richardrogers

KAMRAD

a&r · Interviews · music industry interview

Kamrad Interview for Music2Deal.com – Part 1

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German singer songwriter Tim Kamrad rose to fame in 2017 with his single ‘Changes’. The 27 year olds pop oriented hits including ‘I Believe’, ‘Feel Alive’ and ‘I Hope You End Up Alone (With Me)’ and in 2024 he became a coach on The Voice Of Germany. This is the first of a two part interview.

Our professional A&R guru Richard Rogers asks the questions.

Kamrad, Richard Rogers

Richard Rogers: Nice to meet you Kamrad. Music2deal is an online music platform for the music industry. It is to connect people involved with music in whichever area they are working within. As for the platform itself, well, think of a Facebook for the music industry. Getting bands online, bands working with producers. Writers working with other writers, collaborations etc.

Kamrad:  it makes a lot of sense actually, I get it. It is (music) after all the most consumed thing in the world after food, I believe. You can obviously connect to a lot of people. different people in different cities and it’s hard to reach them so if you have a platform and a global connection then I think it’s really good.

RR: well we just started a Music2deal online map so that you can find people online and where they are from.

K: that’s really nice.

RR: actually from Music2deal I worked with a band from Munster in the north of Germany. Well, Emsdetten actually.

K: I’ve not actually been there but I’ve heard about it on the radio. Particularly when they talk about the traffic and at some point they say Emsdetten. Laughs.

RR: do you have a team of A&R people around you that you work with or is it a single person or do they (the record company) just let you get on with the A&R?

K: well it’s actually a bit of all of it. Like I have one A&R Annie, the main A&R (at the record company), but we’re working with two or three other people but actually to be honest my main A&R is my producer. We’ve been working together for about seven years now, so we know each other very well. You know, we made all the songs before anything blew up (was successful) so therefore just us two.

Then there are two more guys in the studio working on music and we’re kind of figuring out the sound and where we want to go and maybe suggesting a single to the label and when they say that’s a good song, we’ll probably do it (release it) because you know it has my name on it. So I wanna have my name on it so we have my vision in the way that I want to present it. But then feedback is always good from my management or from some people at the label in A&R and production.

RR: so you have a good bedrock (foundation) so to speak?

K: yeah then again I would rather go for the flop single that I chose than the hit that I didn’t like that somebody else chose. Do you know what I mean?  

RR: well I think you’re doing alright so far. Laughs

K:   yeah, I think you know if you get a feeling for what is right for me then the next steps are that you should probably go your way but still it’s great to have people you know caring and giving their opinions.

RR: so the record company Epic/Sony Records let you get on with both the writing and the recordings? Are the recordings done in the same studio as your home studio which I think is in Bochum, Germany?

K: well actually it’s the studio from my producer. For some reason on Wikipedia it says the studio is mine and it’s a great studio but it’s not mine it’s my producers. So every day that I’m not on tour, I’m in the studio and we’re working on music and it’s very connected. You know we’re writing and producing so it’s all in one. It’s a really cool base because no one else there does music so we’re on our own, so we’re not too much in the bubble, which I think is really good to stay connected too. The people that really listen to music.

RR: well I’ve been doing A&R for many years and I promise you it’s not the easiest job in the world, to put it mildly.

K: well I think A&R has changed a lot. It’s not really so much picking an artist and a song and believing in it and fighting for it to work, although there are A&R people that still do that. I mean in my team they still do it, I mean, they really do it, but that general A&R now is, finding the viral TikTok and signing them and making this bigger. But it’s not like working on the core, which is the music and I think that has become less of an important thing. From the label perspective.

RR: well now the marketing appears to be more important than ever.

K: and it’s now the hit that is more important than the artist I think. But in the end the artist will always be more important because people want a person to feel connected too and for them to be understood by going to a show for example. You can have 1 million artists and 1 million hits but you’d rather have one artist that you can really connect to such as Ed Sheeran, you know an artist that tells their story. You know in Germany it’s changed into like a viral only concept that I don’t really like and music is so much more than just viral.

RR: okay and when it comes to your albums, what happens because you’ve only released one full album in eight years. So you bring out these EPS with five or six tracks and they’re only about 2 1/2 minutes per song, and I’m not saying that’s wrong I’m simply making an observation. So for you, is it a case of you deciding not to put out an album or do you have something on the horizon album wise? Maybe this year?

K: that’s a good question. You know it’s really hard because I’m not much of an album listener. Still I know an album is still really important to build the brand of an artist. To really attach fans to a project in a way cause I feel like singles are great and they make people notice you and they make people maybe buy a ticket to a show. If you have an album out then people will come again and again and again and that is what you want, particularly if you wanna have more than 1 or 2 years (in the industry), maybe 20 years, yeah a full career, so I feel like you know there’s gonna be an album. But I want to put out as much music as fast as possible so I felt that the fastest way to do it was release EPs and it’s not because I’m lazy or anything or I’m trying to be attractive to the algorithm.

It’s rather, I make the song that I would rather listen to and I have a feeling that when I have a four minute song, I’d rather play the two minute 30 second song twice. So not to get bored by the four minute song, this is my idea of doing it. There are some four minute songs that work really well but for me, it’s like ‘get to the point and listen to it again’.

RR: well fair enough. Had you not thought of doing both? Whereas you could do an extended mixes EP and the ordinary short versions EP.

K: well we do that live, so we have long versions of the songs and I really like that. And I think at some point there’s gonna be an extended thing to present what we do on stage as well as onto the streaming platforms. This is like a weird thing because I’m so much into trying to make a great hit and a great pop song and not only the success of it. You know the writing, you know being so on point of a hit. This is what I really like and gives me the biggest smile. I’m a big Max Martin junkie, I studied everything he did. For me, I try to make the best pop song possible. So it’s hard to go the five minute way when you want to do that.

Part 2 of the interview with Kamrad will be available on Music2deal shortly.

Kamrad’s latest EP ‘Wanna Be Friends’ was released in November 2024 and he is currently supporting this release on the ‘Friends Tour’ in Germany, Switzerland and Austria for a number of months from January 2025 with more tours planned going into Winter 2026 across Europe. In addition he is now one of the judges on ‘The Voice Of Germany’.

Richard Rogers new book ‘Taylor Swift – ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ the Ultimate A&R Companion Guide’ will be released in April 2025 with contributions from Kamrad and Midge Ure. It will be available to Music2deal members for a heavily discounted once only price.

Links:
https://music2deal.com/gb/richardrogers

KAMRAD