WSJ: Radio's Answer to Spotify? Less Variety

[Miguel]

...Faced with growing competition from digital alternatives, traditional broadcasters have managed to expand their listenership with an unlikely tactic: offering less variety than ever.

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.

The data, coupled with the ballooning number of music sources competing for listeners' attention, are making radio stations more reluctant than ever to pull well-known hits from their rotations, extending the time artists must wait to introduce new songs.

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.

That is partly because about 70 new Top 40 stations have sprouted up over the past decade, said Clear Channel's president of national programming, Tom Poleman, while stations specializing in rock and smooth jazz have dwindled. But other radio formats are getting more repetitive, too, while the line is blurring between pop songs and songs that once fit more neatly in other categories, as artists and listeners to embrace a wider variety of sounds as they jump from genre to genre on digital playlists.

The top country song last year, Darius Rucker's "Wagon Wheel," was played 229,633 times, while 2003's top country hit, Lonestar's "My Front Porch Looking In," got only 162,519 spins.

The intensifying repetition is largely a response to the way radio stations now measure listenership. Six years ago the industry began tracking listeners in many radio markets with pager-like devices called Portable People Meters, which monitor all the stations that selected listeners hear throughout the day—in their homes, cars or public spaces. Radio programmers can watch how many of these people tune in and out when they play a given song.

...Songwriters and publishers of the top-spun songs benefit from the extra airplay they get now, since they get paid royalties for every radio spin at a rate that increases once a song becomes a hit, thanks to the way performing-rights organizations distribute publishing royalties.

But for record labels and artists, who don't earn royalties from airplay in the U.S., the growing wait time to launch new singles makes it even harder to sell albums. Album sales fell 8% in 2013 to 289.4 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

"It's easier to sell albums when you have multiple hit singles," said Mr. Weisman, Capital Cities' manager.

...Sometimes there is simply no room for new tunes, despite a programmer's wishes. Ebro Darden, vice president of programming at New York's Hot 97, said he didn't have the space to immediately add a single from Wiz Khalifa's album "O.N.I.F.C." when it came out last winter, even though he liked it, the record label had bought ad time, and Mr. Khalifa—who would come in to do promotional interviews—is one of hip-hop's biggest stars.

In the new intensely scrutinized world of radio, said Mr. Darden, "taking risks is not rewarded, so we have to be more careful than ever before."

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10...0485141672

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[Tusk]

As Mega media companies consolidate, there is a dumbing down of options and variety. We've seen this in cable TV, where they are just as profitable running nonsensical reality TV that doesn't challenge intellect. We see 'relatable' but Extreme personalities on the most popular shows, Sugar and empty nutrition for the brain, which is fine with TPTB. A population that doesn't challenge itself, feeds itself on transparent mental fodder, is easier to coerce and manipulate.

Although, I would not be surprised if there will be an eventual push back, a reaction (over reaction?) to the status quo.

That's one of my 'fall backs' trying to figure out what Haley is doing. I see the pitfalls in following the well worn paths by other artists and the outcome, usually longevity in the industry, being the least likely outcome of all those who attempt it.

It makes it seem more plausible, to me, that she is not content w/ following that path. I have hope that she is exploring other options than the one she sees laid out, that that is not the only way, and she is young enough, open enough, to try them out.