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Country Radio Seminar is coming up next week. Some of you radio folks are attending, but most of you are unable to make it because of budgetary reasons. For those of you in the latter category, keep coming back to “For The Record” for articles and video updates as the event kicks off on Tuesday.
I’ll try to provide you a virtual postcard from CRS 2008.
The next country music star is about to shine. Adam Gregory just wrapped up a video in Florida for his first single “Crazy Days”. The following clip is behind the scenes footage from the making of the music video. Do yourself a favor and at least listen to this incredible track. Be ahead of the game and click play!
Jerry Del Colliano from Inside Music Media lists the 5 new rules for radio PD’s (addressed to consolidators or other serial abusers), so look out:
1. One PD per station. It used to be that a successful program director lived, breathed and experienced his or her one radio station 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This was an acknowledgment that the program director of a successful radio station is a specialist not a generalist. Consolidators anxious to get the most bang for the buck have spread otherwise qualified PDs beyond their core competency. If you want great radio stations that can program to the available market (which does not include the next generation), then suck it up and pay for one quarterback per station. Stop with the shortcuts and you’ll see a better return on your investment. And don’t tell me about the handful of PDs who are programming more than one station for you — imagine what they could do with one?
2. No airshift. (Does anyone know CPR for our consolidator friends?). The PD is responsible for talent, commercials, promotions, music or content, audience and community relations. Need I go on. If yours is a small market, an exception is allowed. Bigger markets — no exceptions. You don’t need your brain surgeons cleaning up the operating room at the end of the day. I know you don’t like this one but look at the results you are not getting by repurposing your PD. If you accept the suggestions so far, read on.
3. Outline goals and expectations on one page. How do you expect your content quarterback to do that which you ask him or her to do if you don’t articulate your goals and expectations on a piece of paper? I know. I know. Legal told you not to so when you fire an otherwise good PD who has achieved their goals you won’t have to lose the ensuing lawsuit. But really, put the items on a list. Make the program director sign off. Then, proceed to step four.
4. Give full authority to the PD to do his/her job. No meddling. No backseat programming. Leave your PD to either do what they promise or risk being replaced at the end of the year. Oh, no changing the rules in mid-stream. No using “corporate is making us cutback” as an excuse to stay involved. Warren Buffett, the billionaire who knows a little bit more than the Mays family about making money gives the people who run the companies he acquires full autonomy to do their jobs. Unlike the geniuses in radio, the Oracle from Omaha butts out. In fact, legend has it he only meets in person once a year for about two hours for an accounting of goals.
5. Fully fund the programming budget. Too many PDs have no real budget or the budget they have looks like Swiss cheese. If you suspect that corporate is going to ask for further givebacks during the year, under budget programming by the percentage of cutback you anticipate. You can’t expect a PD to do their job without knowing how much money they have to spend. In fact, put the amount on the goal sheet(#3 above) and make him or her sign off on it. Channel your inner Warren Buffett.
Check out the entire article here.
Chris Anderson & economist Jacques Attali speaking at the 2007 Midemnet Forum about the future of the music business. The revolution is happening……
Many of tomorrow’s popular artists are going to need more than a single and a CD to explode. To find entry into new media, exposure to potential fans and to sell their music it will be necessary to market and brand themselves with innovative means. Multi-level partnerships, sponsorships, new media, special events, sports and mobile based marketing are just a few important ways to reach the targets. Whiskey Falls is already making it happen. Other radio formats are recognizing the opportunities available to them with acts that are offering value not only in spins, but beyond them. When will the Country format do the same?
Here is an article from the current issue of Billboard by Ken Tucker:
Whiskey Falls is not just a band—it’s a four-man marketing machine. Made up of Seven Williams, Wally Brandt, Damon Johnson and Buck Johnson (no relation), the quartet has a history of building support for its career through the unlikeliest of partners. Even before the group released its first single, “Last Train Running,” last year on Nashville-based independent Midas Records, it had already built a network of sponsors. AAMCO, the American Tailgater’s Assn., the Laborers’ International Union of North America, the National Hod Rod Assn. and even NBC soap opera “Days of Our Lives” are all in the band’s corner.
That’s not by chance—it’s by design, lead singer Williams says.“We realized the more we could do for ourselves, the more that we could help our record label, the more we could help our relationship with radio, the more we could give back to our fans,” Williams told Billboard last year.
Country WSSL Greenville, S.C., OM/PD Steve Geoffries says the band “really understands the new avenues of marketing.” The station recruited Whiskey Falls to document life on the road for a Web site feature dubbed “Road to Fame.” “We post the video online and let our audience follow their long day from start to finish,” Geoffries says. The band also checks in with the station’s morning show each week to update listeners.“They’ve been in the market a couple of times for performances and they have developed a following here,” Country WGH Norfolk, Va., PD John Shomby says. “They really have learned what it takes to get known and they are doing it.”
The band’s appearance at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Mountain Region Heatseekers chart can likely be attributed to a busy week of performances leading up to the Super Bowl in Scottsdale, Ariz., including a gig for thousands of tailgaters outside the University of Phoenix Stadium, where the big game was held.
Geoffries says the band’s new single, “Falling Into You”—No. 46 on Hot Country Songs—is “contagious.” WSSL played the song 16 times during the week ending Feb. 17, according to Nielsen BDS.
Chris Anderson, Editor In Chief of Wired, is currently writing a follow up to his incredible book “The Long Tail”. The subject is the interesting phenomenon of FREE. In the spirit of the subject, a free 6,000 word preview and relating video can be found here.
You can also get a FREE copy of Wired featuring a preview of the much anticipated book here.
Finally, go to trendwatching.com for another informative article on brands making the most of FREE.
Emerson Drive’s newest single climbing the charts has a video from their performance on the Grand Ole Opry.
This years Academy Awards were the lowest rated on record. I watched most of the show and it was possibly one of the most boring Oscar’s I have ever seen. I was, however, very glad to see Daniel Day Lewis and Diablo Cody win.
Lewis is a tremendous actor. Seeing him accept the award last night, Amy and I were amazed that the character he portrayed in “There Will Be Blood” came out of his normal personality and voice. When actors speak on stage, the majority of them are not far removed from their acting presence. They also act similarly in many films. Not Daniel Day Lewis. The man is in a very small group of exceptionally gifted character actors that are on an entirely different level. An entire different planet of acting.
Although I appreciated all of the movies up for Best Film in different ways, Juno was my personal favorite. It surprised me how good it was and I found it refreshing in a year of very dark films.
Awards aside, my top favorite of all of last year was the independent film BELLA. A beautiful and meaningful movie I would recommend for anyone. Go rent and purchase it when it arrives on DVD!
I love Southwest Airlines for a number of reasons. They outperform every other airline I have traveled on except for maybe Frontier or other small specialty jet companies.
One of the reasons is because I like being able to determine my own seat. My preferences change depending on the day and flight, so having that option is great. For instance if I am flying from Nashville to, let’s say, Chicago in the early morning, I will find a window seat on the left side of the aircraft. First, since I prefer window seats and second because the sun will blind me rising into the sky from the east on the right side of the plane. Making that adjustment also helps with being able to see the ground better on a clear day and I enjoy looking out onto the world.
So if you fly Southwest and like window seats, think about where the sun is in the sky in relation to the direction you’ll by flying. Also consider this if you are booking flights and pre-selecting reserved seats on other airlines too.
I might add regarding Southwest, it is also nice to be able to change seats in an instant if someone loud (or potentially annoying) sits down close by.
Inside Music Media is the blog of Jerry Del Colliano, founder of Inside Radio and current professor of Music Industry at USC. I could not decide which article to link to because they are all extremely relevant and well done, so I will just encourage you to check them all out.
Thanks to Chris Huff at KSCS/Dallas for the heads up.
This blog is not going to get very political, but am I the only one who thinks the debates should not be in front of a live studio audience? Or at the very least have the crowd hold their biased approval or disapproval responses. Really. They should bring in nothing but undecided voters who are sitting in their seats actually thinking about the answers and not emotionally reacting to the candidate.
It is obvious the crowd is padded with followers of each candidate. Kind of like a fan club making requests on radio stations. It loses its authenticity and becomes disingenuous.
And let them REALLY debate.
For 20 years Bob Lefsetz has published the Lefsetz Letter. Bob has had stints as an entertainment business attorney, head of Sanctuary Music’s American division and consultancies to major labels.
In a recent post on his blog, he laments the future of labels and radio. Agree or not, Bob raises a lot of interesting questions on subjects we should be thinking about and discussing as an industry………
Last week I spoke at something called CIC, which stands for “Concert Industry Consortium”, Pollstar’s annual gathering of the concert geeks. And what a gathering it is, this ain’t no usual conference, EVERYBODY in the touring industry shows up.
And hanging in the lobby after I was done, I was bullshitting with Lewi, Strasburg and the assembled multitude, and Jim suddenly looked at his watch and said there was a panel he wanted to attend, about money. I’ll follow Lewi anywhere, so I followed him through the hotel, to hear what I figured was a discussion about getting paid at the gig. Boy was I wrong. This panel, entitled “Money Talks”, although chaired by Adam Friedman of Nederlander, was made up of VC’s, “venture capitalists” for the uninitiated. They were talking about the business BEHIND the business.
One had invested in HOB (House of Blues for those not up to speed on acronyms). There were issues of scale. Which they tried to address by purchasing Universal Concerts. But this didn’t do the trick and they ultimately sold out to Live Nation. Why did they make money? Because of the great real estate deals they’d made. Developers had cut them a break on rent because of the foot traffic the clubs generated. I’m sitting there listening to these guys thinking that I need an MBA, they’re talking about stuff I don’t know about. Oh sure, I’m aware of ROI (return on investment), but it went deeper than that. They talked about going public in just a few years, to get their money back, that was the PLAN! Then one said…in five years he expected there to be no music on terrestrial radio.
Emerson Drive played a BIG show in El Paso Friday night full of amazing energy and excitement. Thanks to Marty Austin and the entire KHEY and Whiskey Dicks crew for a fantastic night! Texas did indeed show E Drive the love! We will be back and in DFW the first week of April. Here is the latest installment of ED TV with some El Paso highlights for your viewing enjoyment:
Paul Mawhinney, the Pittsburgh-based publisher of the Music Master record price guide, is selling his entire 50 year collection of albums on eBay. And it can be yours with a starting price of only 3 million dollars.
Check out the web site and the eBay listing. Hurry, time is running out!
From Thomas Edison to American Idol, this is the complete history of the music that shaped and defined five generations. 3 million records and 300,000 CDs containing more than 6 million song titles. It’s the undisputed largest collection of recorded music in the world. About half of the recordings are new and never played, and every genre of 20th century music is represented. There are countless rare recordings worth hundreds, or even thousands of dollars each on the collectibles market. Organized and cataloged, the collection is meticulously maintained and housed in a climate-controlled warehouse. The estimated value of this amazing collection is more than $50 million.
Mawhinney says he kept collecting because he believed “someone had to preserve the music … the history,” but that he’s selling now due to “declining health and associated financial concerns.”
Boston Business Journal published a new report by Forrester Research Inc. that shows that half of all music sold in the U.S. will be digital in 2011 and sales of digitally downloaded music will surpass physical CD sales in 2012.
The report also claims that digital music sales will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23 percent over the next five years, reaching $4.8 billion in revenue by 2012. In contrast, by 2012, CD sales will be reduced to $3.8 billion.
“This is the end of the music industry as we know it,” said James McQuivey, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, in a statement. “Media executives eager to stay afloat in this receding tide must clear the path of discovery and purchase, but only hardware and software providers can ultimately make listening to music as easy as turning on the radio.”
McQuivey, a former professor at Boston University, tells record executives to cheer up because there are ways to rise from the ashes. He says first, the industry should quit fooling around with music subscriptions and ad-supported models. People want to own their music and downloads have won. Only 7 percent of adults on the Web say they have ever tried a subscription service, according to the report.
In a final note, McQuivey suggests that music artists, who have historically looked down their noses at advertising, had better change. He says the industry should rip a page out of NASCAR’s playbook.
“Artists who used to pretend that their platinum album success was really about their “art” will no longer have that luxurious pretense because labels won’t sign them unless they agree to a barrage of sponsorship opportunities,” McQuivey wrote. “There will eventually come a day when Chips Ahoy will contend with the Keebler Elves over who can be the official cookie of the Taylor Swift world tour.”
Yet another lawsuit is pending in the continuing saga of major labels and the RIAA focusing their resources on the wrong fight. It appears they think, for whatever reason, it will get them somewhere, but is it the wrong direction from where they should be traveling?
Warner Music Group is the latest to file a lawsuit, this time against the playable music search company SeeqPod.
Wired columnist Eliot Von Buskirk writes in a recent article:
“Rather than attacking SeeqPod, the labels should view it as a template for how to make money on the internet, which isn’t going away any time soon.
The labels could even harness SeeqPod’s search technology to offer music services far more comprehensive than the ones licensed today.
The music industry would become “Google-ized,” deriving revenue from other products associated with music, rather than music itself.
With music sales continuing to decline, SeeqPod’s attempt to Google-ize the industry could be a perfect fit for the labels’ much-vaunted 360-degree deals, which emphasize merchandise, ticket sales and other revenue streams.
The question now, as it has been since the early days of Napster, is whether the labels are flexible enough to survive the free-music age.
Seeqpod may be more of a publishing/performance rights issue, but Eliot’s viewpoint makes sense. Rather than trying to protect a system that is becoming outdated, we should be embracing cutting edge solutions to cutting edge technology. Check out the full article here.
Tell Me a Story
By: Daniel Anstandig
Music legend Ray Charles once said that he “was born with music inside” himself. It could be said that the best loved songs in history are the ones that resonate and harmonize with the music inside of us.
Country music is best known for producing these songs that reach into the souls of their listeners. The stories told by many Country songs can make your heart race, put a lump in your throat, and send tears down your face. They’re the songs and stories that have turned country radio stations into empires.
The world’s most powerful and best loved radio stations aren’t without persuasive stories themselves. Case in point: KLBJ in Austin… not just another radio station. It’s the radio station that was rescued from bankruptcy in 1942 by young entrepreneur, Lady Bird Johnson. KLBJ does a terrific job of summarizing their rich history at www.590klbj.com/History. WMMS is known in Cleveland (and beyond) as a way of life for Clevelanders more than a music service. Its logo (the Buzzard) and the many bands it made famous have kept it alive in Cleveland pop culture for years. WSM in Nashville catapulted its way into music history with the Grand Ol’ Opry. Read the rest of this entry »
……without reading about the dilemmas of the music industry. On two separate flights (American & Northwest), in two different flight magazines. The first is an American Way article on the problematic future of the music business. The second is from NEA World Travler on how former artists are taking their personal experience into the ever changing music business world. Both good reads. Without the peanuts though.
When planning to fly, do not spray yourself with five times the normal cologne or perfume you would normally wear. Wait till you make it to your destination, because I will likely have to sit next to you.
Something else that happened on my latest trip: I learned more about the person sitting behind me on a flight, who was talking to a complete stranger (loudly I might add), than I know about my own family. The oversharing buzzer went off so much I needed to put down the book and break out the ipod.
Undoubtedly there is something I will notice, good or bad, during each of my trips. Some others are also noted by my favorite comedian Brian Regan:
Arbitron and Edison Media completed a study that noted a nearly even gender split between male and female US podcast listeners, with 25- to 34-year-olds making up the largest single age bloc with 24% representation in the study.
Podcasts are becoming more of a tool in reaching those “self broadcasters” of content and this particular research shows that the podcasters aren’t as young as most thought.
Go here to check out the study and charts.
Emerson Drive visits the cast and crew of GAC Nights.
Here is an interesting follow up to yesterday’s post regarding Jim Cramer’s predictions. It is from Media Week and about the need for radio to get back to live and local personalities to compete for the future.
Personality Crisis: Will Cost Cutting Save Radio?
Paul Heine and Katy Bachman FEBRUARY 11, 2008 - “shut up and rock!” screams a message on the Web site of WEBN-FM in Cincinnati. The shut-up part of that order at the iconic Rock station is being taken quite literally.Late last year, Clear Channel canned 12-year WEBN midday host Ken “Mr. K” Glidewell and replaced him with a personality who doubles as one of several co-hosts on the station’s morning show. The dismissal was part of a massive wave of layoffs in at least 20 markets that gave a wholly different meaning to the company’s Less Is More mantra.While the numbers varied from market to market, the results were alarmingly similar: on-air jobs eliminated, positions consolidated, air shifts radically extended, personality teams split up and more dayparts yielding to voice-tracking and syndication.
What’s so shocking is that those on-air cuts may be only the beginning. Just a few weeks ago, a CC edict came down from the top to freeze all budgets—including monies set aside for research, advertising and promotion—for first quarter, and possibly longer.
When the nation’s largest radio group makes deep cuts to boost the bottom line, you know the radio business is challenged. Radio revenue, following several years of practically no growth, took a turn for the worse in fourth quarter last year, a condition that is bleeding over into first-quarter 2008. Despite radio’s efforts to stimulate a second revenue stream from digital initiatives, reluctant advertisers and a looming local recession seem to be working against a prompt turnaround.
One of the industry’s chief money savers is voice-tracking, the practice of prerecorded on-air disc jockey patter spliced together with music, commercials and other elements. Pioneered by Clear Channel in the late ’90s at the height of consolidation and widely embraced by the industry, voice-tracking sacrificed the jobs of countless overnight personalities years ago. Now the practice is spreading to nights, middays and afternoons. Often, voice-tracking is used across dozens of markets, similar to syndication.
My Texas friends should appreciate this one. I stumbled upon this theater a few years ago as I was traveling through West Texas. Who can name the town?
2004 Mike Severson
WHO’S COMING OVER TO DINNER?
By Joel Burke
It was a hot and dusty day in May of 1927. An 18-year old dreamer was graduating from Oak Cliff High School in Dallas, Texas. He was already enrolled to attend Rice University in Houston to study architecture. He wrote about his hopes and wishes, in his high school scrapbook.
On one page he wrote about his experience while riding a mule, in the mud, to a party. He had a fun night that included chicken for dinner with homemade ice cream for desert. His college years at Rice were fulfilling and he was close to graduation. His dream of becoming an architect was getting closer and closer.
During the summer of 1931, he met a young lady who was a senior in high school. Read the rest of this entry »
Jim Cramer made an appearance on Wall Street Confidential on Friday and had some strong comments regarding the future of terrestrial radio. Cramer commented, ”It’s over for radio. The radio fundamentals are so poor. The industry is going away”
What is your take on his tough words regarding the future of radio? What must the broadcasting industry do to compete and be successful in a crowded media and entertainment marketplace?
Go here to check out Cramer’s video.
Brad Mates is featured in the “Country’s Hottest Bachelors” issue of Country Weekly. On newsstands now, the contest will be open for voting at www.countryweekly.com and the winner will be published in the March 24th issue.
Since a single photo may not be enough to capture the true essense of the Emerson Drive lead singer, here’s a special video displaying that Brad not only has the looks, but also some wicked boot repair and sales skills.
I don’t always watch the Grammys. It can be a bloated, over politicized, and a clueless evening. And they have a history of treating the Country format horribly. Or is that the MTV Awards? No matter.
However, there are always a number of good things happening at the Grammy Awards. It’s like Saturday Night Live, you have to sit through a lot of junk to see something very well done. I did watch the entire show this year and found quite a few things to be cheering about.
First and foremost was the quote of the evening from Vince Gill. Shortly after Kanye West’s pompous speech, Vince was presented “Country Album of the Year” by Ringo Starr. During his gracious acceptance, in grand Vince off the cuff style he said, “I just got an award given to me by a Beatle. Have you had that happen yet, Kanye?” The best moment of the night.
After an electrifying performance at the post Super Bowl XLII Tailgate Party in front of an estimated 30,000 people (photo above), Whiskey Falls has an action packed month.
This week the band will be featured in People Magazine, on stands February 12th. Later in the month Whiskey Falls is scheduled to appear on the syndicated show “Extra!”. On March 1st they make their debut on the “CBS Early Show,” where they will perform their new single “Falling Into You” which is climbing the charts.
“We’ve been working, writing, and performing on the road nonstop for the past year, so it’s extremely fulfilling to witness others take notice,” says Whiskey Falls member Damon Johnson.
I went to see the IMAX U2 3D last night. It was completely amazing! The hour and a half film was shot at a stadium show in South America. It was as moving as their live show and the energy was authentically powerful.
Obviously, being able to attend one of U2’s concerts would be preferred, but this explosive multisensory experience is the closest you can get. I hope this is a trend in film making, because I would have no problem handing over $15 to see another show like this from a multitude of acts. If you like U2 at all you must check it out!
The only thing I would have changed is to have the surround sound louder. Maybe one day soon we’ll be able to bring our own headphones to plug in or they will install controllable speakers in each seat back. Regardless though, it was fantastic! I will see it again.
Here is the official web site: www.u23dmovie.com
Photo Credit: Tony Phipps
Midas Records’ GRAMMY nominees Emerson Drive strike a pose with fellow nominee, Big Machine recording artist, Taylor Swift at the Nashville GRAMMY Nominee reception. Emerson Drive are nominated in the category of “Best Country Performance By A Group or Duo with Vocals” for their #1 hit “Moments.”
Pictured L-R: Emerson Drive’s Dale Wallace, Taylor Swift, Emerson Drive’s Danick Dupelle, Brad Mates and David Pichette. www.emersondrive.com www.myspace.com/emersondrive
For any of you who missed a Super Bowl advertisement you’ve been hearing about all week, or if you just want to view an ad again, check out the following link. Time online ranks the best and worst commercials. See if you agree. Pretty funny commentary as well.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/0,28757,1707987,00.html
Chris Anderson at The Long Tail has written a piece about how he has moved from listening to the radio to customizing his listening via podcasts on his iphone. He writes about NPR specifically, but then makes it an industry wide subject. Do you agree with his predictions? Why or why not? If you do, how do you challenge or utilize the rise of “personal broadcasting”?
“Now that I get my radio via podcast, I don’t have to take the bad shows with the good. I’ve got an a la carte menu, and I assemble my own schedule with what I want and when I want it”
“But look at the arc of history here. The podcast model is getting cheaper and more ubiquitously available (who doesn’t have a cellphone?), and it serves individual needs and taste better. Meanwhile the broadcast model, which is all about one-size-fits-all taste, is based on human labor costs and costly transmission equipment and is only getting more expensive. You can see how this story ends.”
“My shifting of funding from the general (radio station) to the specific (show) tells me that radio is going to get microchunked, just like the rest of media. The more granular, the better. We’re about to find out where people’s loyalties really lie.”
The entire post is here.
Emerson Drive traveled to Mexico for a week at the end of January with fans from Wisconsin. WMIL/Milwaukee, WNCY/Green Bay, and WMAD/Madison all participated in the trip and ED-TV brings you a small taste of Rivera Maya.
And if you thought Naruto and Emerson Drive didn’t have anything in common. Well my friend, think again!
HD Radio is a topic I want to discuss a great deal on this blog as we move along. What are the implications of HD Radio? Is it a viable medium that can compete? Will it make a significant impact in the marketplace? What are stations doing in its development? Many questions are arising as the debate continues. Following is an article tackling some of these questions by Larry Rosin from The Infinite Dial.
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“I Want My MTV.” Probably no message could have been more powerful in the adoption of cable television. It got millions of teenagers and others to know that they just had to get cable television.
What can the radio industry do to get people to “want their HD?” Read the rest of this entry »
A clip of Whiskey Falls performing an acoustic version of “Falling Into You” during a recent visit to KASE in Austin. The current single is BREAKER status and moved into the Top 40.
Ever stop to think about the newest generation and what their reality of the world is and how it will impact them as they grow up? An interesting article from Media Week on what the implications could be as it relates to media and entertainment. Check it out here.
U2 manager Paul McGuinness recently raised a lot of music industry eyebrows with a speech in which he pushed for greater regulation on access providers. McGuinness, speaking in Cannes, pointed the finger at tech manufactureres and ISP’s when he said, “Network operators, in particular, have for too long had a free ride on music — on our clients’ content………..It’s time for a new approach — time for ISPs to start taking responsibility for the content they’ve profited from for years.”
The speech full speech is here.
