PLA Forums
Other Stuff That Has Little To Do With PLA => General Discussions => Ask Anyone => Topic started by: murd0c on March 18, 2007, 04:02:41 PM
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Dear Jammie,
As a music industry person, why does music suck so hard nowadays? Also, can you get me Mike-D's autograph?
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I work in radio, just like Jammie, and I can agree with what Jammie MIGHT say. It's the shitbucket artists today. Even though I work in a country outfit, even I can tell that the bands/groups/singers aren't the best.
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music is dead because of stuff like this
(http://www.sundaypaper.com/Portals/0/040906images/S+6_Black-Eyed-Peas-2_04090.jpg)
everybody is "down" with the body-popping and "windmillz" and music has gone to hell.
What happened to the days of Neil Young?
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RAptor should review the music industry. That's why music sucks. The record companies have found it is fairly profitable and very easy to get bands that people will only care about for one album or two.
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Music does not suck anymore today than it has in the past. You're just going through one of those angsty teenage phases. It'll pass.
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Dear Jammie,
As a music industry person, why does music suck so hard nowadays? Also, can you get me Mike-D's autograph?
Dear Murd0c,
I haven't been squarely in the biz for a while, but my opinion is that record labels don't put the time and money into developing artists and talent as much as they used to. A lot of companies will just get something that is similar to the hot thing at the moment, spent a ton of money in promoter fees to get it on the radio, and make the quick buck and drop them. Bands like Aerosmith and Metallica would have never made it today. All that money that goes into promoting and marketing crap music could go to developing artists that have staying power... and those are really the cash cows. Unfortunately, A&R guys are only as good as their last big artist.
Also...(and kelso can probably back me up on this) radio isn't for the people, it's for the advertisers and the money and the record labels and promoters. I remember interning in a Promotions Dept at a record label and it was sick the thousand of thousands of dollars spent on indie promoters to get a song on the radio.
Also, the music industry right now is fighting too hard. Instead of finding viable new revenue streams it's trying to force the rest of the world to pay for music the old fashioned way. When I interned at another major record label it was NUTS the lengths they went to in order to prevent album leaking. Like they (no joke) put barking noises and bird noises and whatever on all copies of the CD that they passed to the various label departments so that if anything got leaked, they'd be able to pinpoint which department the leak came from. At a publicity company I interned at, they actually had reviewers come to the office to listen to the CD so that they wouldn't have a copy. It's so silly. There is a demand for music, so there must be ways to monetize it. Music industry just needs to innovate more. Put money where it's important. In this day and age, companies that don't keep their businesses flexible end up going under.
As for Mike D... Did you know he went to my high school? Also, that publicity company I mentioned earlier was the same one that represents the Beastie Boys. I used to answer the phone and say, "Hello, Nasty?" It was great :) He called a few times, but I never met him. I've never gotten an autograph. Also, as a general rule, if you're working it is VERY unprofessional to act fan-like. ;) I am sure there are some on ebay though!
Thanks for your question!
Love,
jammie
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Jammie,
Do you think the current music model is doomed? It seems like people are really starting to shift towards internet-based entertainment instead of radio. It's sure leveling the playing field for independent artists, especially now that Ipods and other mp3 players are so commonplace. If Apple starts allowing independent artists to sell music on Itunes, I think that'd be a major blow to the big record companies. Sure, they've still got the airwaves on their side, but it seems like that's mattering less each day.
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Most people i know only buy CD's from live shows...
And the airwaves will always rule! Who doesn't like tuning in to hear fergelicious fifty times every day on the radio? ...so delicious
:<
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I think Music sucks today because of MTV.
But I don't agree with Jammie on the development thing, they don't need development, they need good riffs and lyrics that make sense.
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The bone hard fact about it is that Jammie and me are in agreement. Radio isn't for you sheep, it's so the advertisers have an outlet, and the record companies can get airtime for their stars, and you sheep are along for the ride. Even working in radio isn't all that much better, we are still lambs for the slaughter.
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I think Music sucks today because of MTV.
Since when does MTV have anything to do with music?
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I think Music sucks today because of MTV.
Since when does MTV have anything to do with music?
All I'm saying is that only sucky music gets broadcast. The good stuff usually doesn't and you have to look for it yourself.....
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good music exists
public radio is where it's at
i used to DJ on a college station called WRFL
and there were the wierdest Djs there who all turned me on to cool shit
we get cds from all kinds of cds from tiny labels, independent artists and "college rock" cd mills
but basically the DJs got play whatever they wanted, even from their personal collections or even mp3s they found on some stupid webpage.
that's a big change from regular commercial radio where the clear channel HQ has to approve all music and you have crazy computer programs that build playlists for you and all you can do at most is rearrange the next ten songs.
the coolest part about local public radio is you can call up the DJ and fuck with them pretty much whenever you want, they're usually there alone and bored as hell anyway.
speaking of... here's the number to WRFL in lexington KY
859-257-WRFL
the DJ's at night are bored as hell and you can listen to it on the net, they might even play shit you like or want them to play.
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I think we're all just getting old. I bet the people that listened to Elvis thought Cream sucked. Except for Emo. Emo is the ugly stepchild of punk that deserves to be abused. But that's just my opinion.
Also, crap like Fergie, BEP, Dem Franchize Boys, and their ilk are ruining hip-hop. At what point did become okay to have a crappy flows, terrible metaphores and no multis? Did I miss something?
EDIT- OMG! You're from Lexington? I'm from like thirty or forty minutes north of Hendorson.
EVANSVILLE INDIANA REPRESENT!
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Jammie,
Do you think the current music model is doomed? It seems like people are really starting to shift towards internet-based entertainment instead of radio. It's sure leveling the playing field for independent artists, especially now that Ipods and other mp3 players are so commonplace. If Apple starts allowing independent artists to sell music on Itunes, I think that'd be a major blow to the big record companies. Sure, they've still got the airwaves on their side, but it seems like that's mattering less each day.
I think good music EXISTS, I just think the tastemakers are promoting whatever the money tells them to as opposed to cultivating and branding artists that have any lasting power (MTV = tastemaker, which is what they have to do with music). And I like Fergie's album (but it is complete tripe).
As for the old fart thing, I listen to a decent amount of current music. Some new favorites: Gym Class Heroes, Natasha Bedingfield, Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, Panic! At the Disco, Under the Influence of Giants, Morningwood, Muse (not new so much tho)
As for the current model... Radio is still a multi-BILLION dollar industry. I don't know if it will completely die, but it is dy-ING and it is dy-ING a very slow death. It is still very powerful though. I mean seriously, we had some station sign up with my company the other day... on average between Mon-Fri 6a-12m they have over 100,000 people listening to them. That's huge audience reach. The radio is still important for advertisers. When the advertisers go, radio will die.
As for the model that record labels use... again not sure it will 100% die anytime soon, but certainly a new viable solid revenue stream needs to be found. They can't just keep consolidating. You don't grow by cutting costs, no matter how much more money it shows you're making once you do it. They need to put some money into research and innovation and technology and stop spending it all on fighting it.
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EVANSVILLE INDIANA REPRESENT!
Evansville, really? Nearly all of my family lives in Evansville.
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Speaking of radio, or any type of simplex broadcast, how do you get your numbers on how many people are listening?
Surveys by geographical location, mind reading, etc.?
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Speaking of radio, or any type of simplex broadcast, how do you get your numbers on how many people are listening?
Surveys by geographical location, mind reading, etc.?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbitron (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbitron)
I think the reason everyone thinks music sucks so bad today is because they only remember the great stuff from the various decades. You don't remember the crappy stuff so much. I remember watching MTV in the late 80's/early 90's as a teen and hating almost everything they played. (MTV actually played mostly videos back then.) There were countless disposable artists back then too, but we don't remember much about them or their music. That's why the music of x years ago seems like it was so much better.
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Speaking of radio, or any type of simplex broadcast, how do you get your numbers on how many people are listening?
Surveys by geographical location, mind reading, etc.?
I work in radio and my company pays for a program that lets me pull ratings. The ratings are tallied by a company called Arbitron. Four times a year Arbitron has various people fill out surveys of what they listen to (I've had a friend fill one out and I think they gave her a dollar). When the results come back, one is able to see what markets the station had ratings in as well as how many people are listening every 15 minutes. This is called "AQH" (Average per Quarter Hour)
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Jammie,
Do you think the current music model is doomed? It seems like people are really starting to shift towards internet-based entertainment instead of radio. It's sure leveling the playing field for independent artists, especially now that Ipods and other mp3 players are so commonplace. If Apple starts allowing independent artists to sell music on Itunes, I think that'd be a major blow to the big record companies. Sure, they've still got the airwaves on their side, but it seems like that's mattering less each day.
I think the current music model is doing exactly what the industry wants it to do. In the past they would sink money into all kinds of bands and some would work and some wouldnt. For every success you had a whole bunch of failures. Now they take what sells and replicate it. It seems as though not as much is spent on failures.
P4nyk
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I think the current music model is doing exactly what the industry wants it to do. In the past they would sink money into all kinds of bands and some would work and some wouldnt. For every success you had a whole bunch of failures. Now they take what sells and replicate it. It seems as though not as much is spent on failures.
P4nyk
While I haven't heard an upated statistic... about 5 yrs ago (damn I've been out of school a long time) something like 90% of artists failed to recoup album costs. If I had to guess, I would say it hasn't changed a whole lot since then. That kind of failure rate makes me point more to artist development instead of the hit or miss game.
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Arbitron is fucking stupid. I got picked to do one of these last spring, and they stressed how important it was for me to do it, because I'm one of those all important male 18-49 year olds they're looking for. So told them I would. They sent me a gay diary and $4 in crisp new dollar bills. So I filled it out that day, saying I listened to the really good modern rock station (I know that sounds oxymoronic, but KRBZ is a really good station) and NPR. I waited a couple weeks and sent it back.
Two weeks later I get a letter of thanks and four more dollars! So I made eight dollars by artificially inflating ratings! Huzzah.
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Woah $8! Now you can buy the digital watch you have always wanted!
(http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000L7CL4U.01-A3KSZRC2QYYADB.PT02._SS400_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg)
http://www.amazon.com/Care-Bears-Digital-Watch-Style/dp/B000L7CL4U/ref=sr_1_7/104-8779633-9528723?ie=UTF8&s=jewelry&qid=1174439793&sr=1-7
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Arbitron is fucking stupid. I got picked to do one of these last spring, and they stressed how important it was for me to do it, because I'm one of those all important male 18-49 year olds they're looking for. So told them I would. They sent me a gay diary and $4 in crisp new dollar bills. So I filled it out that day, saying I listened to the really good modern rock station (I know that sounds oxymoronic, but KRBZ is a really good station) and NPR. I waited a couple weeks and sent it back.
Two weeks later I get a letter of thanks and four more dollars! So I made eight dollars by artificially inflating ratings! Huzzah.
Stupid or not, it's the best way to find out how many people your station is reaching so that advertisers know how much your air time is worth. Also, I heard that Arbitron is working on technology that you will be able to clip on yourself and have it automatically record any radio stations you listen to / get exposed to. That would be awesome :)
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Arbitron is fucking stupid. I got picked to do one of these last spring, and they stressed how important it was for me to do it, because I'm one of those all important male 18-49 year olds they're looking for. So told them I would. They sent me a gay diary and $4 in crisp new dollar bills. So I filled it out that day, saying I listened to the really good modern rock station (I know that sounds oxymoronic, but KRBZ is a really good station) and NPR. I waited a couple weeks and sent it back.
Two weeks later I get a letter of thanks and four more dollars! So I made eight dollars by artificially inflating ratings! Huzzah.
Stupid or not, it's the best way to find out how many people your station is reaching so that advertisers know how much your air time is worth. Also, I heard that Arbitron is working on technology that you will be able to clip on yourself and have it automatically record any radio stations you listen to / get exposed to. That would be awesome :)
Would they hear me singing along to Soundgarden?
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Would they hear me singing along to Soundgarden?
Ha, no it would be more like it would pick up the frequency ;) But I'm sure you sing it beautifully.
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Ha, no it would be more like it would pick up the frequency ;) But I'm sure you sing it beautifully.
How would that work? Radios don't transmit a frequency. They only receive. Are you sure this thing doesn't listen to the audio to know what songs are playing? Doesn't the RIAA put a similar device in all the major cities to keep track of how many times their songs are played?
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Ha, no it would be more like it would pick up the frequency ;) But I'm sure you sing it beautifully.
How would that work? Radios don't transmit a frequency. They only receive. Are you sure this thing doesn't listen to the audio to know what songs are playing? Doesn't the RIAA put a similar device in all the major cities to keep track of how many times their songs are played?
Well THAT thing then. I don't know the technology stuff. I'm not a nerd like the rest of you :P
Here I looked it up:
Under development since 1992, Arbitron's Portable People Meter is a pager-like contraption that can tell what radio or television stations someone is tuned in to by tracking inaudible audio codes. At the end of the day, the user puts the device into a base station, which sends the data overnight to Arbitron. Presuming that the user is diligent about carrying the thing around and charging its battery--and doesn't mind the Orwellian thought that someone is eavesdropping on his or her every waking moment--the People Meter could provide broadcasters with more precise ratings data than ever before.
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EVANSVILLE INDIANA REPRESENT!
Evansville, really? Nearly all of my family lives in Evansville.
Actually Cynthiana. That's about nineteen miles north of E-Ville. And wow we are the only one's off topic. IT'S ALL M-26-7's FAULT!
I don't think I would want to wear that thing (The People Meter). Not unless I was going to be intentionally inflating the ratings of something completely inane all day.
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I bet the People Meter thing reveals that listeners switch around a lot more than they report since, at best, stations play 2 or 3 songs worth listening to an hour.
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Which is very true neep, the listener doesn't stay with the station for more than 5 to 10 minutes at any given time. Which is why guys like me, who actually work on-air, have to sell it so damn hard. As an example, my station, does a 1/2 hour music set every hour, where you won't hear a commercial between the :40 of the hour, and the :20 of the next. We have to sell that time chunk so hard because thats our little gimmick which keeps you all listening, and if we don't sell it right, or we undersell, you all push that little button that makes me go away.
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Why can't radio stations just do this: 1 song, 1 commercial, 1 song, 1 commercial, 1 song, 1 commercial, etc...
When a commercial comes on the radio, I know to immediately change the station because they aren't going to end anytime soon. But if it was just one single commercial, I would stick around to see what the next song was.
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It's because we have a spot load to sell most or all of. When we sell spots, we sell the most popular spot first at the highest price. We sell the 6 spots at the last break of the hour, at some outrageous price thats over $1k a spot. Then we sell back down to the first of the hour, for only like $150 a spot for 30 seconds, PSA's air for free. It's just a balance of the income from the spots, and the songs, and all of the station crap (ID's, stations promos, EAS) trying to compete for airtime.
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Why can't radio stations just do this: 1 song, 1 commercial, 1 song, 1 commercial, 1 song, 1 commercial, etc...
I hate when some station do that. The DJs take 5 minutes attempting to introduce each song and give the history on it. That's fine every one in a while, but not every god damn song. Reminds me of Kasey Kasem, I hated that man's voice.
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I spend a maximum of 45 seconds on the air yapping total. I backsell the last 2 songs, sell the next song, mention some point, and STFU!
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Why can't radio stations just do this: 1 song, 1 commercial, 1 song, 1 commercial, 1 song, 1 commercial, etc...
I hate when some station do that. The DJs take 5 minutes attempting to introduce each song and give the history on it. That's fine every one in a while, but not every god damn song. Reminds me of Kasey Kasem, I hated that man's voice.
My formula didn't have a DJ in it!
Speaking of Kasey Kasem...I heard him doing his top countdown show this Sunday. I didn't even know he was still on the air. He sounds really old now and he's even more boring than he used to be. He should retire.
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Kasey Kasem was the voice of Shaggy from Scooby Doo. I bet he would sound weird doing Shaggy today.
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There's only one way to find out!
Seriously, this discussion has shown me why I never want to get involved in mainstream radio. I can get college radio playtime just fine, and my band is just starting to emerge in the area Christian stations, so I'm cool with that.