CCM Coaching Tip #33: Artist Interviews, And How To Make Them Not Stink

by Tommy Kramer, KramerMedia.net

Artist Interviews are almost always boring. And if you think they get great reaction, you need to see the research on them. You could pretty much just play a sound effect of ducks quacking and get better results.

Here's how to make interviews not su....uh, stink:

It's always about HUMANIZING the Artist. No one cares when the album comes out, where the tour starts (if it's not in the city this station's in), or who played left-handed stand-up bass on the album.

My dear friend Wally of "The Wally Show" based out of WAY-FM in Nashville does the best job with interviews I've heard in a long time. I remember when he had on Jimmy Needham, I think it was, and did "Win it to Spin it", where instead of just automatically playing a bunch of the artist's songs, Jimmy had to win a competition by stacking 6 "cakes" of Spam in a pyramid shape to get his new song played. The catch? He couldn't use his HANDS. He had to stack the Spam with his MOUTH.

It was great radio - and a great You Tube video to post after the show.

When I was on KLTY years ago, we had the great Rich Mullins on, and I wrote a play for him to "act" in, based on possible plot lines for the "Leave it to Beaver" movie that was about to come out. (I think our ideas were better than the actual movie.) After the show, Rich said, "That was SO much FUN! I get so tired of people asking me a question, and then expecting me to talk for five minutes."

Yeah, I get that. The audience gets tired of it, too.

Let's be clear: the purpose of doing an artist interview isn't to shill for the artist's album, record company, or concert. It's to let your audience learn more about the artist as a PERSON - to give the listeners a REASON to buy his album or a ticket to his show.