CLEAR CHANNEL CHRS AND BRIBES FROM LABELS

[atlantaboy]

I know there's been a bunch of discussion about the "narrowness" of CHR playlists in the last few years, and their tendency to play the same few artists over and over - came across this article discussing Clear Channel making news for accepting bribes from labels to play hits by established artists, and I just wanted to get people's reaction (since controlling Clear Channel essentially means controlling the CHR chart)...

Clear Channel, Payola, and How They're Killing Radio

Have you ever wondered why mainstream radio is so redundant? Why we may hear the same song so many times in one day? Or why so many of the artists sound similar?

The answer may lie in three words: Clear Channel Communications.

[EDIT]

http://rebelfrequencies.blogspot.com/2007/08/clear-channel-payola-and-how-theyre.html

[EDIT-citation exceeds fair use standards. Link repaired as a courtesy to other readers.]

 

[MarioMania]

CC is the Wal-Mart of Music

 

[CHRles]

It's an article from 2007 written by someone whose bitter about the music selection of successful stations, specifically Rock stations.
My guess is that he was picking on CC b/c they're the biggest company around.
If anything, Cumulus is more relevant to this discussion as some of their airplay choices for ALL of their CHRs has been suspicious, as was the case with certain Rob Thomas or Maroon 5 selections.
We've also seen Entercom (I love their stations) PDs get in trouble in the past.
So please, trying to put the blame on CC, where there's a lot more transparency than some of the other radio companies, doesn't give this thread much credibility.

 

[carolinaradio]

It's an article from 2007 written by someone whose bitter about the music selection of successful stations, specifically Rock stations.
My guess is that he was picking on CC b/c they're the biggest company around.
If anything, Cumulus is more relevant to this discussion as some of their airplay choices for ALL of their CHRs has been suspicious, as was the case with certain Rob Thomas or Maroon 5 selections.
We've also seen Entercom (I love their stations) PDs get in trouble in the past.
So please, trying to put the blame on CC, where there's a lot more transparency than some of the other radio companies, doesn't give this thread much credibility.

What did Entercom get in trouble for? I have noticed some of their CHR's have tended to get behind some strange songs super-fast.

 

[atlantaboy]

^Kind of related to that, I've noticed in the past couple years that once songs lose momentum on the pop chart, they tend to completely bottom out with huge negative bullets (i. e. like Clear Channel sends out the message to all its stations to drop the songs at the same time - or the label tells the stations to drop them...)

Another strange pattern IMO involved Sing by My Chemical Romance and Closer To The Edge by Thirty Seconds To Mars - their bullets were almost always nearly identical (with My Chem a few slots up in chart position) - they shrank at the same time, then grew at the same time, then shrank, then grew, etc., until both finally collapsed the same week

It's almost like someone was promoting them both at the same time, and then gave up promoting them at the same time

 

[Dkampy]

CC gets a bad rap these days...probably due to the over abundance of Kiss staions from 10 years ago which were all Rhythmic leaning at the time. Today you will find most CC stations programed for the market. Cumulus is much worse when it comes to adding similar songs.

 

[anthonydt06]

CC has a bad rep also because of Premium Choice and Ryan Seacrest too. Though, admittedly, CC is much better than Cumulus for CHR.

 

[anthonydt06]

Univision was guilty of doing this a few years ago http://en.terra.com/music/news/univision_agrees_to_pay_1m_in_payola_settlement/oci36389

 

[atlantaboy]

I think people target Clear Channel just because they own so many stations - Cumulus potentially accepting money from Rob Thomas/his label doesn't seem like as big a deal cause they only own 11-12 stations - but if labels are really influencing Clear Channel in terms of which songs they're putting into power at which time, then IMO labels are basically controlling the pop charts

 

[carolinaradio]

I think people target Clear Channel just because they own so many stations - Cumulus potentially accepting money from Rob Thomas/his label doesn't seem like as big a deal cause they only own 11-12 stations - but if labels are really influencing Clear Channel in terms of which songs they're putting into power at which time, then IMO labels are basically controlling the pop charts

I don't know if Cumulus uses bribes, they just like to use the same playlist everywhere with some odd song choices. JMO. Their influence is just going to grow with the takeover of Citadel, though.

 

[TheBigA]

This issue pops up from time to time, and there's no truth to it, because the Billboard and Mediabase folks simply won't let one company become too powerful. When Clear Channel started Premium Choice, Mediabase lumped all stations that used that service into one single reporter, rather than allowing a group of stations with the same playlists operate as individual stations. It's likely you'll see the same thing happen with Cumulus. But it really places responsibility on stations owned by smaller operators to work harder to get higher ratings and have more influence on the charts. Quite often, that means playing more of the hits, and fewer less familiar songs. The fact is that you can't pay listeners to like bad music or listen to stations that play it. And radio's influence is based on their ratings. So no one is forcing bad music down anyone's throats. Ultimately it comes down to the public's taste, and that's a hard fact for some to accept.

 

[anthonydt06]

And that's why alternative outlets for music like Pandora, iTunes, internet radio are thriving. They can afford musical risks.

 

[atlantaboy]

So no one is forcing bad music down anyone's throats.

Don't you think there are some songs that could go either way, though? You can't make a hit out of a song that people hate (i. e. Judas), but I feel like you can make a hit out of a big artist and a song people don't mind (i. e. Blow)

 

[TheBigA]

I feel like you can make a hit out of a big artist and a song people don't mind (i. e. Blow)

But who is making it a hit? Radio or the fan base of the big artist? Big artists have fan bases, and those fan bases are very active in pushing the music by their favorite stars.

And that's why alternative outlets for music like Pandora, iTunes, internet radio are thriving. They can afford musical risks.

I think you're misunderstanding what those two things are, especially iTunes.

 

[atlantaboy]

I feel like you can make a hit out of a big artist and a song people don't mind (i. e. Blow)

But who is making it a hit? Radio or the fan base of the big artist? Big artists have fan bases, and those fan bases are very active in pushing the music by their favorite stars.

I'd say it could just be the fan base except...why are there all these reports/accusations of labels paying radio corporations money to play new singles by big artists? If these allegations are true, I'm sure fan bases are heavily involved - so I'm not sure you can draw a line like that

 

[TheBigA]

I'd say it could just be the fan base except...why are there all these reports/accusations of labels paying radio corporations money to play new singles by big artists? If these allegations are true, I'm sure fan bases are heavily involved - so I'm not sure you can draw a line like that

There are "all these reports" because people can't accept the fact that their favorite music isn't popular. So it's easy to chalk it up to "payola." But no one's paying people to listen to OTA radio. And that's what drives the engine, not money from record labels. They don't have enough money to replace advertising dollars that depend on ratings.

 

[acesup]

I think people target Clear Channel just because they own so many stations - Cumulus potentially accepting money from Rob Thomas/his label doesn't seem like as big a deal cause they only own 11-12 stations - but if labels are really influencing Clear Channel in terms of which songs they're putting into power at which time, then IMO labels are basically controlling the pop charts

Ummm, they own a hell of a lot more than that, especially when you add in the number of stations that they'll own once the Citadel deal closes.

 

[carolinaradio]

I think people target Clear Channel just because they own so many stations - Cumulus potentially accepting money from Rob Thomas/his label doesn't seem like as big a deal cause they only own 11-12 stations - but if labels are really influencing Clear Channel in terms of which songs they're putting into power at which time, then IMO labels are basically controlling the pop charts

Ummm, they own a hell of a lot more than that, especially when you add in the number of stations that they'll own once the Citadel deal closes.

I think he was referencing to their larger market stations.

 

[the golden boy]

But it really places responsibility on stations owned by smaller operators to work harder to get higher ratings and have more influence on the charts.

The problem with that, especially in larger markets, is that there are fewer small operators of CHR stations. There aren't enough Flinns (WHBQ), Dittmans (WABB), New Souths (WYOY) and Entercoms (WEZB, WFBC) out there to counteract and make a real difference. Plus, those stations I just mentioned are in markets too small to be influential. It's not a bad idea in theory, but just don't know how it could be pulled off.

 

[atlantaboy]

I think people target Clear Channel just because they own so many stations - Cumulus potentially accepting money from Rob Thomas/his label doesn't seem like as big a deal cause they only own 11-12 stations - but if labels are really influencing Clear Channel in terms of which songs they're putting into power at which time, then IMO labels are basically controlling the pop charts

Ummm, they own a hell of a lot more than that, especially when you add in the number of stations that they'll own once the Citadel deal closes.

I think he was referencing to their larger market stations.

Cumulus only owns approximately 11-12 stations (including small market ones) - So at the time they were all adding Rob Thomas songs collectively, it didn't impact very much in terms of nationwide radio

I wasn't including the stations they just bought from Citadel, but we're talking about something that happened two years ago

Obviously, Cumulus potentially accepting bribes from labels is just as serious as Clear Channel doing it - the difference is though IMO that controlling Clear Channel means effectively controlling the CHR chart - when a majority of Clear Channel stations add a song into medium rotation it results in a +2000 bullet on the pop chart...same thing when they all move a song into power