Remember the old days, when you used to call in to request that the DJs over at KXPY play “Kiss From a Rose” on the “Phat 5 at 9″? Well, you no longer need to dial to request, as startup Spins.FM has made the process super simple via a new web service.
The service, which launches in public beta today, is pretty easy to use. Simply visit the Spins.FM site, search for the song you want, choose your location from a map, and the service is able to find a list of local stations. Choose a station, and either post a request to that station’s Twitter or Facebook Wall — all from within Spins.FM.
According to David Baker, founder of Spins.FM, the service has already enlisted artists like Mike Posner, Bryan J, Mann and Travis Porter to test out the service with customized artist pages. Spins.FM will also soon be working with Jive Records artists –inclu ding Britney Spears (the service had received more than 1,400 requests for “Hold It Against Me” before Spears’s page had even gone live).
Baker cites Posner as a particular success story — his page went live back in April, at which time his song “Cooler Than Me” hadn’t been picked up by any stations. Three months later, the page had 14,692 unique visitors, and the song was ranking quite well on the Billboard U.S. pop radio charts.
Baker realizes that Spins.FM was not the sole reason for the song’s success, but he does think that it helped the jam get early spins on the radio.
Starting today, any artist can attempt to mimic Posner’s success by signing onto the service for free — features like custom design and metrics will come with a fee, though. Request pages can also be embedded on websites and featured as a tab on Facebook.
At this juncture, you may be wondering: “Who the he ll even listens to the...
