I got to thinking about radio stations that generally lean towards downtempo music. Soft ac definitely plays primarily downtempo music. Jazz and classical often play downtempo music. CHR around 2017 played a lot of downtempo music. A lot of times stations try to keep "uptempo." But is there a market for those who want downtempo music? I think there's days when we all don't feel "up" and I'm wondering if there's a hole to be filled in many markets for those looking for downtempo music?
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Downtempo music on the radio.
- Thread starter tall_guy1
- Start date
Is downtempo music supposed to be filled with dark emotions, or sadness, or what does that look like, exactly? By the way, I do feel you though. There are songs out there that belongs in the neutral or even upbeat category that just hits different when I'm down. So I categorize them as sad songs, and I'm careful about when I choose to listen to them.
What's an example of that?
I don't like sad songs but I like downtempo in most cases. On the stations I listen to those tend to be happy songs.
There are exceptions such as "Peter Gunn Theme" which I just heard.
The problem with a lot of Soft AC stations is they tend to have a lot of sad sounding songs like Michael Bolton's "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" and "You are the Reason" by Calum Scott. One example of a station that plays a lot of sad sounding songs is 104.1 EZ FM (KOEZ), which makes it kind of hard to listen to a lot of times.
How does the radio programmer anticipate "those days?"
Remember: The softer the music, the older the audience. Not something radio programmers are aiming for.
Simple: Think of the Bangles Song "Manic Monday" š
The Bolton song is sad for another reason, but I find Laura Branigan's version easier to take. It does have that guitar solo.
I don't like sad songs in general but it's only the more contemporary artists who perform them in a way that makes them unpleasant.
I've noticed that my father doesn't really care much about a song's tempo, but he complains if it has what he considers to be "screaming" vocals. And for the past 10-15 years or so, the trend is for ballads to be sung by people belting out at the top of their lungs like Adele, John Legend, Lewis Capaldi, etc. Michael Bolton and Celine Dion were that way 25-30 years ago, too.
So that might be a little insight into what turns people off of slower-tempo music -- not the fact that they're ballads, but rather that they're "screaming". OTOH, ballads with more demure vocals, like "Your Song", "Imagine", "She's Always a Woman", etc. are timeless classics that still get heavy radio airplay on AC stations.
So that might be a little insight into what turns people off of slower-tempo music -- not the fact that they're ballads, but rather that they're "screaming". OTOH, ballads with more demure vocals, like "Your Song", "Imagine", "She's Always a Woman", etc. are timeless classics that still get heavy radio airplay on AC stations.
I agree. I don't like any of those people, though I seem to recall a John Legend/Tony Bennett duet.
Yeah, those are good. I haven't heard "Imagine" but the other two are played on the same stations that play Sinatra and Nat King Cole.
I happened to be in the car when the oldies station was playing "Hey Jude". Not a bad song. Until they start screaming but I arrived at my destination at just the right time.
I have a Westwood One disc that fades it out at around 4:15, when it starts to devolve into an ad-libbed jam session.
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