Yes there are many rock and alternative stations doing well but do you think the genre is dead
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Rock music
- Thread starter CassChopper96
- Start date
That seems a somewhat self contradictory statement/question.
The statement is false. To answer yes to the question would be an overstatement. The genre is dying, but not yet dead.
L
lawman
Guest
I think all formats are dying, except Country, Religious, Sports and Spanish..news stations are even loosing numbers...
Adult contemporary and urban formats are also doing pretty well. "Spanish" is not a format. Latin pop is doing fine, various Mexican pop genres do well in the West and parts of the Midwest. Spanish-language talk/sports is not a ratings winner, though.
The original poster's question, though, was not whether rock as a format is dead, but whether rock as a musical genre is.
I think this is true in the sense that many traditional formats are having trouble finding consensus songs, because music isn't consumed that way any more.
That is particularly an increasing problem with active rock. There are consensus classics, which is why some rock stations end up filling the playlist with classics.
Regional Mexican is not a "pop" format, nor is "Spanish Adult Hits". Both are pretty much based on the country music of Mexico.
Spanish language sports is not a big ratings winner, but it is a good revenue generator as it covers a popular agency target that can't generally be reached with English language sports stations.
And of course it is not dead. It is declining, particularly since a whole generation of youth has grown up mostly on rhythmic music rather than rock. Add in the increased use as a format or genre of country by 18-34's and the niche for rock is just a more narrow one.
I was speaking with a 17 year old today wearing a Megadeth t-shirt. Sort of says it all to me.
I know lots of 20-somethings that are fans of Led Zeppelin, the Who, Pink Floyd, and other bands of the 1968-85 era -- "Dad's music." I've even met a few Elvis and Beatle fans of that age (Grandpa's music!). I know that those kids are anywhere close to a large percentage of Millennial music fans, but they're not nonexistent, either. But remember, Justin Bieber will be geezer-fare by the time I pass on to the Great Woodstock In The Sky.
Rock Music
David,
Talking to Andre Gardner from WMGK in October of 2018 during a live remote, I asked him what he thought about the ratings of Classic Rock format moving forward. He said that a lot of the younger crowd are still listening to the "older rock from the "60-80's." This is because their parents exposed them to it. But he also said that WMGK is also aware of the population aging, they are moving up to playing '90's and newer eventually. Hey, look at WMMR has it's niche also. Both stations are doing something right. My 2-1/2 cents.........................................................
Thanks,
Mike
David,
Talking to Andre Gardner from WMGK in October of 2018 during a live remote, I asked him what he thought about the ratings of Classic Rock format moving forward. He said that a lot of the younger crowd are still listening to the "older rock from the "60-80's." This is because their parents exposed them to it. But he also said that WMGK is also aware of the population aging, they are moving up to playing '90's and newer eventually. Hey, look at WMMR has it's niche also. Both stations are doing something right. My 2-1/2 cents.........................................................
Thanks,
Mike
Right, and I didn't want to make it sound as though this one kid represents his generation. I'm sure he doesn't. The problem with current rock music is there aren't enough obvious big star consensus acts to build a format around. You need about a dozen fencepost artists that each have a dozen big recognizable hits. The rock genre isn't building those kinds of artists any more. They're building artists who can attract enough die-hard fans who will pay for their music. The number to do that is pretty small, compared to the audience of the nation's rock radio stations. But as I often say, this is a music problem, not a radio problem. Because there's not much the radio industry can do about it.
L
lawman
Guest
wow that is a great observation I think Metal/Rock and Hard Rock spans more years of listeners then any other brand of music. In my travels I would observe teenagers wearing an AC/DC, Priest, Sabbath, Lepperd, Slayer, Cinderella, Pantara, Metallica, T-Sister, Ramstein shirts and then seeing 70 year old dudes with the same shirts. You won't see Elvis, Michael Jackson, Tupac, Sinatra, Snoop, Kenny Rogers, Ricky Martin, Public Enemy on a teenager or Senior nowadays, but you might see a few Alternative bands ala Pearl Jam or Nirvanna on teens and seniors.
I recently read a few articles and posts (don't remember from where) that dealt with declining music sales over a number of years, and the relatively lethargic state of current pop music.
It also doesn't help that about only three music companies are in general charge of the new pop scene. It's gotten so that I can't tell if a station I bandscan to is playing Contemporary Christian, Adult Contemporary, strict top 40-pop, or Country.
(Forget the commercial clusters ; that's another thread ;-) except that too many of the spots also sound the same.)
5-6-7 years ago someone posted that alleviating the sameness by finding more variety under one station roof probably would require some sort of tilt in social upheaval (' or God forbid, a war'). Sometimes I take in the news thinking that we might be on the verge of a CIVIL war.
It also doesn't help that about only three music companies are in general charge of the new pop scene. It's gotten so that I can't tell if a station I bandscan to is playing Contemporary Christian, Adult Contemporary, strict top 40-pop, or Country.
(Forget the commercial clusters ; that's another thread ;-) except that too many of the spots also sound the same.)
5-6-7 years ago someone posted that alleviating the sameness by finding more variety under one station roof probably would require some sort of tilt in social upheaval (' or God forbid, a war'). Sometimes I take in the news thinking that we might be on the verge of a CIVIL war.
Depends on what you consider "sales." Sales of hard goods, such as CDs and downloads are declining. But streaming on various sites, including Pandora, Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and You Tube," is increasing. The music industry says it's making more money now from streaming than anything else. The good news for them is they make money on every play, and the government keeps increasing their royalty rate. The bad news for the public is at some point the streaming companies will require some form of subscription to hear music. That's not a popular concept.
As far as "sameness," once again that depends on what you listen to. The popular stuff has a sameness to it, because it's popular. If you seek out some of the fringe stuff, it's very different. But that's why it's not as popular. The music industry seems to be promoting the sameness concept, with cross-genre collaborations. You'll see a lot of that on the Grammy Awards on Sunday.
When Beasley bought greater media Beasley gained a whole lot of rock stations
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