Chicks Win! Will Clear Channel Play?

[radiofriend1]

OK, so if these PDs did drop their music, isn't the outrage directed at them for not having the guts to stand up to groups you believe have no business making their griefs known?

they definitely share in the blame, no doubt about it. what's chilling is this *we WILL silence the opposition, by any means* mindset that's at the heart of the current far right wing conservative movement. if U disagree, u are un-american, U are not a patriot and u want our troops to die. even the president lets things he doesn't like or agree with go in one ear and out the other----evidenced by the number of sr. war advisors and generals who've been replaced and there have been a lot

to deny that is going on from the far right wing is tantamount to having one's head in the sand

 

[SirRoxalot]

Chicks Ditched Dixie

RF, you're trying to turn a programming decision into a political decision. The Chicks have gotten plenty of press, and people knew that they had a new album out. The fact is that the new album sold about a tenth of what previous albums sold should help explain the reaction by programmers. Country programmers in particular are taking heat for not playing them, but that heat is coming from the media, not from listeners.

The other point that's inescapable is the Dixie Chicks concert sales records. Those numbers - unlike album sales - can't be easily manipulated. The fact is that the Chicks are not selling tickets in areas that were their home base. They're selling tickets in the Northeast - not exactly a hotbed of country music - and outside the US. The rest of their US tour has been downsized or rerouted because people aren't buying tickets.

The Chicks themselves have said that they don't consider themselved country artists anymore. They said that they'd rather have a million fans who "get them", than 10-million who don't. Well, maybe they should either be careful what they wish for, or they should stop trading on their celebrity to make political statements based on their dubious qualifications as political commentators.

Other artists have found that politicizing their music usually restricts their audience. The whole Kerry-for-President Anti-war Tour of 2004 didn't produce big record sales for most of the artists on the tour. Bruce Springsteen did big business with "Born in the USA", which talked about the human condition of people who grew up during the Vietnam era and how their lives turned out. The record made no value judgement on the right or wrong of the Vietnam War, but it made a powerful statement on the effect of war on people. His albums that have been more directly political have not sold as well.

If the Chicks had stayed within the effect of war on the human condition, they might still be selling 10-million albums. Since they decided to become arbiters of the "rightness" or "wrongness" of the Iraq war, people who disagree with either their stance on the war, their use of celebrity to advance political issues, or both, have chosen to not purchase their records or go to their concerts.

 

[davideduardo]

Re: Chicks Ditched Dixie

RF, you're trying to turn a programming decision into a political decision. The Chicks have gotten plenty of press, and people knew that they had a new album out. The fact is that the new album sold about a tenth of what previous albums sold should help explain the reaction by programmers. Country programmers in particular are taking heat for not playing them, but that heat is coming from the media, not from listeners.

The other point that's inescapable is the Dixie Chicks concert sales records. Those numbers - unlike album sales - can't be easily manipulated. The fact is that the Chicks are not selling tickets in areas that were their home base. They're selling tickets in the Northeast - not exactly a hotbed of country music - and outside the US. The rest of their US tour has been downsized or rerouted because people aren't buying tickets.

The Chicks themselves have said that they don't consider themselved country artists anymore. They said that they'd rather have a million fans who "get them", than 10-million who don't. Well, maybe they should either be careful what they wish for, or they should stop trading on their celebrity to make political statements based on their dubious qualifications as political commentators.

Other artists have found that politicizing their music usually restricts their audience. The whole Kerry-for-President Anti-war Tour of 2004 didn't produce big record sales for most of the artists on the tour. Bruce Springsteen did big business with "Born in the USA", which talked about the human condition of people who grew up during the Vietnam era and how their lives turned out. The record made no value judgement on the right or wrong of the Vietnam War, but it made a powerful statement on the effect of war on people. His albums that have been more directly political have not sold as well.

If the Chicks had stayed within the effect of war on the human condition, they might still be selling 10-million albums. Since they decided to become arbiters of the "rightness" or "wrongness" of the Iraq war, people who disagree with either their stance on the war, their use of celebrity to advance political issues, or both, have chosen to not purchase their records or go to their concerts.

Excellent and thougtful post!

 

[SirRoxalot]

Re: Chicks Ditched Dixie

Excellent and thougtful post!

Gosh, I feel like I just won an "Eduardo"...

When do the new job offers start rolling in?

 

[radiofriend1]

Re: Chicks Ditched Dixie

RF, you're trying to turn a programming decision into a political decision. The Chicks have gotten plenty of press, and people knew that they had a new album out. The fact is that the new album sold about a tenth of what previous albums sold should help explain the reaction by programmers. Country programmers in particular are taking heat for not playing them, but that heat is coming from the media, not from listeners.

The other point that's inescapable is the Dixie Chicks concert sales records. Those numbers - unlike album sales - can't be easily manipulated. The fact is that the Chicks are not selling tickets in areas that were their home base. They're selling tickets in the Northeast - not exactly a hotbed of country music - and outside the US. The rest of their US tour has been downsized or rerouted because people aren't buying tickets.

The Chicks themselves have said that they don't consider themselved country artists anymore. They said that they'd rather have a million fans who "get them", than 10-million who don't. Well, maybe they should either be careful what they wish for, or they should stop trading on their celebrity to make political statements based on their dubious qualifications as political commentators.

Other artists have found that politicizing their music usually restricts their audience. The whole Kerry-for-President Anti-war Tour of 2004 didn't produce big record sales for most of the artists on the tour. Bruce Springsteen did big business with "Born in the USA", which talked about the human condition of people who grew up during the Vietnam era and how their lives turned out. The record made no value judgement on the right or wrong of the Vietnam War, but it made a powerful statement on the effect of war on people. His albums that have been more directly political have not sold as well.

If the Chicks had stayed within the effect of war on the human condition, they might still be selling 10-million albums. Since they decided to become arbiters of the "rightness" or "wrongness" of the Iraq war, people who disagree with either their stance on the war, their use of celebrity to advance political issues, or both, have chosen to not purchase their records or go to their concerts.

all this *objection* and criticism under the guise of concern for their career is amusing if not transparent

here's a news flash: the dixie chicks are not jumping off bridges these days.......they stood by their statement.......they live & breathe & laugh every day. they have CLEARLY gotten past the controversy---why can't U?

(and btw protest music has been around since the sixties- get used to it. this is america and it is OK to voice our thoughts and opinions)

 

[SirRoxalot]

Re: Chicks Ditched Dixie

all this *objection* and criticism under the guise of concern for their career is amusing if not transparent

here's a news flash: the dixie chicks are not jumping off bridges these days.......they stood by their statement.......they live & breathe & laugh every day. they have CLEARLY gotten past the controversy---why can't U?

(and btw protest music has been around since the sixties- get used to it. this is america and it is OK to voice our thoughts and opinions)

I have no concerns for their career. I never got excited by the "controversy", so I didn't need to get over it. I just chalked it up to somebody's ego getting out of control, and getting caught pandering to an audience. Once word got out, Ms. Maines apologized. When that didn't do any good, what course did the Dixie Chicks have other than to whip out the "free speech" card and do their version of the "Howard Stern" response? They rounded up support from the "Hollywood Liberal Elite", got naked on a magazine cover, and made the rounds of the news magazine shows. All those moves are fine if you want celebrity, but most country music listeners just saw it as a blatant attempt at manipulation. The Chicks found a new audience, but lost the old one. The old audience was bigger. So be it.

I'm well aware of protest music. I'm also aware that it doesn't sell albums. Americans in general respond to stories about the human condition. They don't respond well to being told what to think.

I have no problem with free expression of thoughts and opinions, as you might be able to determine from the fact that I frequent an OPINION board. YOU'RE the one that's trying to make this a political issue instead of a music research issue.

It's OK to express your opinions in your music. It's also OK if people don't buy albums from artists who we feel are exploiting their celebrity. I don't care if that's the Dixie Chicks or Lee Greenwood, Bruce Springsteen or Ted Nugent. People in this country a SICK TO DEATH of politics instead of progress, and sniping at opponents instead of searching for common ground and making progress.

 

[radiofriend1]

Re: Chicks Ditched Dixie

\
People in this country a SICK TO DEATH of politics instead of progress, and sniping at opponents instead of searching for common ground and making progress.

i don't disagree with u here. however, the politics of division and personal destruction got cranked up big-time after bill clinton was elected in '92.

U have rush, hannity and the far right wing conservatives in this country to complain to about how they've taken spirited political discource straight down the poop shute the past dozen or so years

 

[Johnny Morgan]

however, the politics of division and personal destruction got cranked up big-time after bill clinton was elected in '92.

Oh get off it. Nixon wasn't skipping through the daisies from the moment he was named a VP candidate in 1952. It only got worse when he ran in 1960 (old Joe Kennedy paid for his minions) and then the firebrands like Jack Anderson and Molly Ivins got revved up.

Reagan surely wasn't dealing with Muffets on tuffets. Perhaps you've forgotten the crap he had to deal with.

Rush, et al. merely brought to radio what had long been in the popular press. There's no difference, other than medium.

And NONE OF THIS has anything to do with why country radio audiences decided not to like the Dixie Chicks anymore. Your idea of a Great Right Monolith REQUIRING people to stop liking the Dixie Chicks is not only absurd, but has been affirmatively proven false here in this thread.

But you're too intent on seeing everything through your tainted political glasses. Take them off and see reality.

 

[radiofriend1]

i believe i'm seeing things VERY clearly these days, as are many americans

perhaps clearer than some would prefer

 

[Johnny Morgan]

THESE DAYS.

You're the one harking back to what you want to think happened almost 4 years ago. You cannot take what is (purportedly) clear today and retroactively apply it to what was the popular feeling 4 years ago.

Then is then, and now is now. You'd do wise to remember that when discussing this issue.

 

[radiofriend1]

i remember those day just fine, too

 

[SirRoxalot]

Moving On...

OK, I think that we have exhausted all rational radio-related discussion on this topic, and devolved into a political discussion. Perhaps you gentlemen would like to move over to the "Off the Air" board, or perhaps "Take It Outside"...

 

[Ultimajock]

what's chilling is this *we WILL silence the opposition, by any means* mindset that's at the heart of the current far right wing conservative movement. if U disagree, u are un-american, U are not a patriot and u want our troops to die.

...which reminds me -- anyone know whatever happened to that woman Charlie Daniels had fired from (I believe) CMT entirely because she dared to disagree with one of his blowhard emails back when we were about to invade Iraq?...