bristol@hou2h.UUCP (N.BRISTOL) (06/06/84)
In Stuart Lewis' article on playlists, he says that the disc jockeys and the program managers fill keep track of how many times a cut from an album is played. This information is passed on to trade journals such as Billboard. If disc jockeys and program managers use the Billboard list to determine the station's play list, the process seems to be self-perpetuating. If an album is considered hot, a certain cut gets played alot. The cut stays on the Billboard chart because it gets alot of air play. The cut gets alot of play because it's on the chart, and so on. Mr. Lewis' article answers some questions but raises a few others. What makes an album hot? How are the certain cuts selected? Radio stations play music that is selling well. But listeners have a tendency to buy what they hear. How does this cycle get started? Occasionally, several stations will play the same oldies. Is this a coincidence or are they playing "me too"? Or is the decision on what oldies to play made outside the station? Gil Bristol hou2h!bristol
rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (Rich Rosen) (06/06/84)
> In Stuart Lewis' article on playlists, he says that the disc jockeys and the > program managers fill keep track of how many times a cut from an album is > played. This information is passed on to trade journals such as Billboard. > If disc jockeys and program managers use the Billboard list to determine the > station's play list, the process seems to be self-perpetuating. If an album > is considered hot, a certain cut gets played alot. The cut stays on the > Billboard chart because it gets alot of air play. The cut gets alot of play > because it's on the chart, and so on. Thank you. At last, a concise understanding of how the "music industry" works. > Radio stations play music that is selling well. > But listeners have a tendency to buy what > they hear. How does this cycle get started? It rarely does anymore. People buy records by artists they already know and love. Stations play songs that they think people like. It is the rare bird who takes the chance to play something new. "Thriller" became so huge, in part, because AOR programmers felt the push to finally play something different. (More likely because MTV was told that if they didn't play Michael Jackson videos, CBS would pull all video product off the network.) The music industry will consisstently put out the same pap that sells universally and globally (lowest common denominator) until even the LCD people get tired of it. Unfortunately, they are almost never accurate in predicting when that will take place for a given genre, and they're even less accurate in predicting what will replace it. They'd rather push packaged, media-hype product than something new and different (too risky). > Occasionally, several stations will play > the same oldies. Is this a coincidence or are > they playing "me too"? Or is the > decision on what oldies to play made outside the station? That's something I've wondered about for years. Sure, WPLJ and every other AOR station would play "Stairway to Heaven" once an hour (you were able to set your watch by it!), but when three or more radio stations play "Magic Carpet Ride" or "Let It Bleed" or some other popular but less universal oldie, it gets me wondering whether they're in collusion. I used to live in Princeton, NJ, where I picked up NY and Philadelphia stations, and it was amazing hearing the same oldies even across two radio "markets" like that. -- "So, it was all a dream!" --Mr. Pither "No, dear, this is the dream; you're still in the cell." --his mother Rich Rosen pyuxn!rlr
ab3@stat-l (Rsk the Wombat) (06/08/84)
> The cut stays on the Billboard chart because it gets alot of air play. > The cut gets alot of play because it's on the chart, and so on. Precisely. The limiting factor is that Billboard charts are, I believe based on playlists *and* sales. Translation: Once everyone who's going to buy the single buys it, it begins dropping off the charts. Less airplay follows, and so on. > Mr. Lewis' article answers some questions but raises a few others. > What makes an album hot? How are the certain cuts selected? Most albums that radio stations receive come with a sticker on the front cover titled "Suggested Cuts"...this has a listing of all the cuts on the album, along with their timings and other information. Where I worked, Friday afternoon was our traditional time to sit around and listen to bits and pieces of new records; if something sounded interesting we'd put a check mark by that cut's name on the sticker. Some jocks would write comments on the sticker, or on the jacket as well... One thing that makes it harder for new artists to break in is that music directors, jocks, and whomever are much more inclined (usually) to listen to some cuts from, say, The New Steve Winwood Album, than, say, the debut from Omaha Sherrif. Or Thunderhead. Or Tata Vega. This is why you get to hear "Arc of a Diver", and not the other stuff. Some of us tried; some still are...but it's difficult to get listeners to open their ears to new stuff. This may explain why (for instance, in Chicago) WMET and WLUP, which both play sort-of-top-100-album-rock, attract more listeners than WXRT, which plays new stuff, blues, jazz, old obscure stuff, and anything they can get their hands on. > Occasionally, several stations will play the same oldies. Is this a > coincidence or are they playing "me too"? Or is the decision on what > oldies to play made outside the station? Sometimes it's coincidence...sometimes a jock hears something on another station and decides to play it...sometimes it's an external factor, maybe the band has just announced a concert date in town, or was just featured on page 1 of Melody Maker or Rolling Stone or whatever... -- Rsk the Wombat UUCP: { allegra, decvax, ihnp4, harpo, teklabs, ucbvax } !pur-ee!rsk { allegra, cornell, decvax, hplabs, ihnp4, ucbvax} !purdue!rsk
ron@brl-vgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (06/09/84)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the Billboard charts were based on sales. We never submitted playlists to Billboard as we did with some of the other music trades. -Ron