1/7/1994
Question: How many independents does it take to get a record on a major radio station?
The answer in the 1980s was 11. One to get the add and 10 others to call it in.
The answer in the 1990s could be: What’s an independent? With few exceptions, record companies are changing the way they’ve been doing business with independent record promoters. Already gone are the automatic payments that begin when a radio station attains parallel status. Going is the seven-four-three equation that has been in place for the better part of a decade. Calling in the add just ain’t gonna cut it anymore.
Record companies aren’t going to accept someone else’s criteria of which stations are important any longer. The record companies will be making those decisions…and treating the stations and the independent representatives accordingly.
Paper adds will be a thing of the past. With the advent of BDS and Plays Per Week, playlists won’t be a deciding factor in record in record company remuneration.
Play for pay is back…with a vengeance. And the emphasis is on play.
If it’s not on the radio in a decent rotation, record companies won’t care. Isn’t that the way it should be?
Anyone interested in maintaining the status quo is living in a subjective dream world. Change has begun. Already. Be a part of the future or you are doomed to become a relic of the past.
So, how does this change in record company relevance affect you? If you’re in radio, you may not feel it…unless you’re a station that gets promotional and marketing dollars from independent record promoters in exchange for providing early adds. Or unless you’re a radio station that adds songs to your playlist without playing them. Or unless you’re a radio station in a smaller market that keeps a tight list and doesn’t influence record sales.
To quote that great line from the movie Planes, Trains And Automobiles, if you fall into one of these categories, “you’re fucked.†And quite frankly, if this is the case, you should be.
Why did we come up with a plan for independent record promoters to pay radio stations for the privilege of getting their adds early? In the strictest sense of the word, it might be legal, but it certainly isn’t right. And why have record companies paid independents for this information? In almost all cases, the independents involved don’t have any direct influence over the record adds on these stations. They just get them early. In the future, it’s not going to be enough.
Independents are going to be held accountable for their input. If they can get records played, they will be paid. And they should be. But just getting information early won’t wash. What will count?
Yank.
Before BDS and PPW, in independent could influence a record’s success by kee;ing it off a station’s playlist. It was an easy call for the program director. He could help the independent by not reporting the record. It didn’t hurt the PD because he could play it anyhow. The only way a record was measured was by its position on playlists. Not anymore. Keeping a record off a playlist doesn’t matter any longer. BDS and PPWs count airplay. And record companies are depending on BDS and PPWs. Not playlits.
If you’re in a BDS market, your airplay is an open book. What if you’re in a non-BDS market and don’t report PPWs? You can run, but you can’t hide. Record companies are not going to provide promotional or independent dollars to stations that don’t report PPWs. It’s not a threat on their part. It’s a fact. The simple train of thought is that if you don’t report PPW, your playlist must not be accurate. If you’re playing games with your list, record companies are not going to support you or your independent in the long run.
If you aren’t in a BDS market and you aren’t providing your PPWs, you should do so immediately. Once a record company makes a decision to downgrade your importance based on your inability to provide accurate information, it will be that much harder to convince them you’ve changed by providing PPWs after the fact. Do it now.
Before R&R’s parallel system (that made small stations with no impact on record sales as important as larger stations that impacted sales heavily), record companies looked to smaller markets to break acts. Radio stations in smaller markets were quicker to react to promotions and releases by new artists than those in the highly competitive major markets. In the parallel system, many of these stations become more interested in their status than the music and relationships with record companies. Lists shrank and adds tightened as much as on major market stations. Record companies were forced to find ways to break acts on larger stations in larger markets. Now, they need smaller stations less and less.
If you’re in a smaller market, it’s up to you to make yourself important to the record community again. Not by being claimed by an independent, but by committing to an open relationship with record companies. Remember the old saying, “Be nice to the people who are paid to be nice to you?†It’s going to be even more important in the future. Because these people are going to control the promotions and the audiences these promotions can attract.
As record companies change their way of doing business, independents won’t be able to afford to augment station budgets in return for early adds. In the 1990s, it won’t be the relationship with the general manager, but the program director that will matter.
To survive and prosper, independents will have to become involved in the msic they promote and the stations they work. No longer can they just take on projects. They might even have to know whether specific records are right for particular radio stations and their formats. Perish the thought!
Good independents will always be welcomed by both radio and records. But the day of the auctioneers are gone. Independents will have to influence the radio stations they claim. And the radio stations will have to have influence…with larger stations who watch what they do, with their audience who will purchase the records they play and with record companies who trust their lists because the provide Plays Per Week.
Simply put, for both independents and radio stations in the 1990s: No yank? No yen!