RADIO KILLED THE RADIO STAR
I’ve blogged before about the decline of radio as a channel for breaking new music, which is due to both online competition from the likes of Spotify and the effect of consolidation on radio programming (i.e. there’s a reason you hear the same “classic” hits over and over and over again).
Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, new research indicates that radio programmers are even more likely to stick to the familiar rather than subject audiences to new music. What’s more, it’s actually working as an audience growth strategy:
The strategy is based on a growing amount of research that shows in increasingly granular detail what radio programmers have long believed-listeners tend to stay tuned when they hear a familiar song, and tune out when they hear music they don't recognize.
It doesn't mean stations aren't playing new songs so much as they’re milking hit songs and keeping them in rotation for far longer periods:
The top 10 songs last year were played close to twice as much on the radio than they were 10 years ago, according to Mediabase, a division of Clear Channel Communications Inc. that tracks radio spins for all broadcasters. The most-played song last year, Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines," aired 749,633 times in the 180 markets monitored by Mediabase. That is 2,053 times a day on average. The top song in 2003, "When I'm Gone" by 3 Doors Down, was played 442,160 times that year.
In theory this is good news for the artists/songwriters who make it into rotation - more plays = more royalties. However, it’s bad news for all the artists who haven’t been added, because they have to wait a lot longer to get a chance. Even for artists who are already on the air, they can’t promote a new song until the old one goes out of rotation. And that means lower album sales, because it’s harder to sell albums based on just one hit song, especially when people can just buy the one song from iTunes or Amazon.
Here’s the depressing part:
Old-fashioned terrestrial radio remains by far the most popular source of music in the U.S. and the way that most consumers say they discover new music, according to Nielsen research.
In other words, the medium people rely on most to discover new music is playing less and less of it.
Meanwhile, there is this:
Three years ago Clear Channel launched a program called "Artist Integration" that plays snippets of new songs during advertising time instead of music-designated time. Clear Channel itself is buying the ad slots in order to promote new records.
And this, children, is why yr Uncle Frog thinks commercial radio is bullshit.
And don’t get him started on the goddamn Grammys.
Glitering prizes and endless compromises,
This is dF
This entry was originally posted at http://defrog.dreamwidth.org/1446115.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, new research indicates that radio programmers are even more likely to stick to the familiar rather than subject audiences to new music. What’s more, it’s actually working as an audience growth strategy:
The strategy is based on a growing amount of research that shows in increasingly granular detail what radio programmers have long believed-listeners tend to stay tuned when they hear a familiar song, and tune out when they hear music they don't recognize.
It doesn't mean stations aren't playing new songs so much as they’re milking hit songs and keeping them in rotation for far longer periods:
The top 10 songs last year were played close to twice as much on the radio than they were 10 years ago, according to Mediabase, a division of Clear Channel Communications Inc. that tracks radio spins for all broadcasters. The most-played song last year, Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines," aired 749,633 times in the 180 markets monitored by Mediabase. That is 2,053 times a day on average. The top song in 2003, "When I'm Gone" by 3 Doors Down, was played 442,160 times that year.
In theory this is good news for the artists/songwriters who make it into rotation - more plays = more royalties. However, it’s bad news for all the artists who haven’t been added, because they have to wait a lot longer to get a chance. Even for artists who are already on the air, they can’t promote a new song until the old one goes out of rotation. And that means lower album sales, because it’s harder to sell albums based on just one hit song, especially when people can just buy the one song from iTunes or Amazon.
Here’s the depressing part:
Old-fashioned terrestrial radio remains by far the most popular source of music in the U.S. and the way that most consumers say they discover new music, according to Nielsen research.
In other words, the medium people rely on most to discover new music is playing less and less of it.
Meanwhile, there is this:
Three years ago Clear Channel launched a program called "Artist Integration" that plays snippets of new songs during advertising time instead of music-designated time. Clear Channel itself is buying the ad slots in order to promote new records.
And this, children, is why yr Uncle Frog thinks commercial radio is bullshit.
And don’t get him started on the goddamn Grammys.
Glitering prizes and endless compromises,
This is dF
This entry was originally posted at http://defrog.dreamwidth.org/1446115.html. Please comment there using OpenID.