If you would like to submit your music for consideration for airplay, do the following things:

• Do not call or email asking if it’s okay to send something. Of course it is, you silly. We listen to everything that comes across the desk. Sometimes this takes awhile, so please allow two or three weeks before calling to ask if your CD has been received and reviewed. There is no particular genre we favor over others.
• Do not send MP3s via email. They will be deleted.
• Send your package to:
  KXSC
  University of Southern California
  3607 Trousdale Parkway - TCC B3 MC 3109
  Los Angeles, CA 90089-3109
• For follow-ups, email is best. You can email the appropriate person using the addresses on the right.
• If you would like to call for tracking, please refer to the office hours of the music and genre directors.

An open letter to musicians and promoters from a tired college radio music director—

Before we can even begin discussing the package you’re about to send, there are a few things you should know about KXSC and college radio employees. First and foremost, everyone that works here is a full-time student. On top of that, we’re all volunteers. We’re here because we love new and exciting music. But because we’re students, any time we actually get to spend at the station is a luxury.

KXSC receives hundreds of CDs every week and unfortunately, there’s only one Music Director and 5 Genre Directors. So sometimes it may take a while for us to even get around to listening to your CD. 

Since we’re a college station, we are attracted to ‘edgy’ music. The most beneficial thing you could do is listen to KXSC for a bit and make an honest decision about whether your music fits in with what we do. At least look at our charts. This small step alone could save yourself the cost of a CD and postage.

We rarely accept demos for airplay, unless they are brain-meltingly good. We never add single-song CDs and rarely add 3-song singles. This is unfortunately due to space constraints more than quality of music.

If you care enough about your music that you want other people to pay attention to it, you need to make it stand out somehow. The biggest mistake unsigned bands make is to send out a boring package. We’ve listened to some truly horrible music because of clever packaging. Think of what a bit of creativity could do for your brain-melting demo.

After a week or two, give the music director or genre director who you think would most enjoy your music a phone call. Their names and office hours are listed on this page. There’s a pretty good chance they have not listened to your CD. Don’t be offended; it’s nothing personal. Ask them to give a listen and call back in a week. Now that you’ve called, they’ll move it to the top of the stack. When you call about the CD again and ask if it has been added, don’t be offended if it wasn’t. Again, it’s nothing personal. We’re just picky, remember?

We depend on unique and independent artists to keep our programming interesting and vital. We get really excited when we hear something new and different. The aim of this little bit of honesty isn’t to discourage you from sending us your music. We just want to be up-front about what we look for when we sift through the stacks of CDs we receive every week. Hopefully it will be of use to you not only for submitting music to KXSC, but to any other college station in the country. 

KXSC Music Department
213.740.1486