How to Submit Your Music to Kenyan and East African Radio Stations

Kenya has one of Africa's most competitive and fastest-moving radio markets. Between national broadcasters, Nairobi's urban stations and dozens of vernacular and community stations broadcasting in Kiswahili, Kikuyu, Luo, Luhya, Kamba and Somali, there are hundreds of playlists an independent artist can realistically get onto — if you pitch the way Kenyan radio actually works.

Understand the three tiers of Kenyan radio

1. National commercial stations: the biggest reach, playlist committees, usually need a distributor or PR contact and existing traction. 2. Urban and youth stations: gatekept by individual presenters and DJs. A single supportive presenter can put you into rotation. 3. Vernacular and community stations: the most accessible and, per listener, the most loyal. If your song has a vernacular hook or a regional story, these should be your first stop. Start at tier three, build proof, then move up. National stations respond to momentum, not cold emails.

Register for royalties before you push

MCSK collects performing rights for authors and composers, KAMP represents producers and record labels, and PRISK represents performers. Registering with all three is what turns airplay into income in Kenya. Do this before your campaign; airplay logs are only matched to registered works.

Prepare the files Kenyan stations ask for

• 320kbps MP3 plus a WAV. • A clean radio edit — mandatory for daytime rotation. • Runtime under 3:30 for urban formats. • ID3 tags with artist, title, ISRC and phone number. • A 10-second station drop recorded specifically for each station. • A vertical video snippet — Kenyan presenters push tracks on their own socials and a ready-made clip makes that effortless.

Email and WhatsApp etiquette

Email the station's programmes controller or music department, but understand that in Kenya a large share of music discovery happens over WhatsApp with individual presenters and DJs. If a presenter publicly shares a number for music submissions, use it — send one message, with the link, the artist name, the genre and one sentence of context. Never send unsolicited voice notes, never send at 2am, and never chase the same person twice in a week.

The email template

Subject: New Kenyan release for [Show] — [Artist] "[Title]" (Afro-pop, 3:05, clean) Hi [Name], I'm [Artist] from [City]. "[Title]" is out now — [genre], produced by [producer]. It fits [Show] because [specific reason]. Stream: [link] Broadcast WAV/MP3: [direct download] ISRC: [code] | Clean: yes | MCSK/KAMP registered: yes Station drop recorded for [Station]: [link] I'm available for a call-in or studio interview any weekday. Asante sana, [Name] | [phone] | [socials]

Give the presenter something to talk about

Kenyan radio is conversation-led. A song alone is a weak pitch; a song plus a story is a segment. Where were you when you wrote it? Is there a matatu, a neighbourhood, a language, a struggle behind it? Give the presenter two talking points and you turn a 3-minute spin into 10 minutes of airtime.

Then convert airplay into everything else

Screen-record every mention, clip it, post it, tag the station. Send the clip to the next station on your list as social proof. Radio in East Africa compounds fast — three stations in one county often leads to a regional network picking you up within a month.

Find the stations

Filter the SubmitFinder directory by country = Kenya to see verified stations with websites, submission emails and phone numbers, then build a shortlist by region and language before you send a single message.