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Music Scheduling: Would This Work?

J

jcolletta275

This is just out of curiosity. For a CHR of any type (mainstream, rhythmic, urban... what have you), would it be wise to program music scheduling software to generate playlists based on the following factors, in this order (most important rule to least important rule)?

- Category
- Artist Separation
- Tempo
- Genre
- Artist Type (Male/Female/Group)

If that's not a good idea, what would be better?
 
I go by what a great programmer once taught me.

Four Songs. That's it. If you cannot show the range of your station within four songs, it's not scheduled properly. But it also must flow.

Anyone else agree?
 
A (Seperate song title by 90min, artist by 30min)
B (Seperate song title by 2hr, artist by 30min)
C (Seperate song by 5hr)
N (New Music) (Seperate song by 7hr)
P (Popular) (Seperate song by 4hr)
R/G-H (2 days)
R/G-M (4 days)
R/G-L (5 days)
 
Jeremy Andrews said:
A (Seperate song title by 90min, artist by 30min)
B (Seperate song title by 2hr, artist by 30min)
C (Seperate song by 5hr)
N (New Music) (Seperate song by 7hr)
P (Popular) (Seperate song by 4hr)
R/G-H (2 days)
R/G-M (4 days)
R/G-L (5 days)
Click to expand...

While I realize we are talking about terestrial analog radio, the DMCA, if enforced, would drastically change one of your rules as the same artist is only supposed to be played no more than 4 times in a three hour period. Not sure what if any exceptions are made to terestrial stations that also stream. I wonder when we are all digital in 10-15 years if the DMCA will drastically change CHR?
 
DMCA - whatever. It's bs.

There are MANY things to consider when scheduling a music log. If you want certain songs to rotate in certain ways, then you'll never have a perfect log. Anyone can make 1 or 2 hours perfect. But making day after day perfect is not possible. You don't want songs to play within the same period each day too... for example 5:15 on Monday and 5:21 on Tuesday.

Overall though, in any 15 minute period, it should give audiences a perfect sample of your station. Like was said earlier (4 songs)
 
I should explain a bit what I meant by the factors I listed in my original post.

Rule #1 - Category: this would be separated into Power Currents, Currents, Recurrents and Golds. Each category would only be allowed so many songs in one sweep.
Rule #2 - Artist Separation: just what it says. Every artist would only be allowed to be played so many times within a given time frame.
Rule #3 - Tempo: this would be broken down into High Tempo, Uptempo, Medium, Downtempo and Light. This would also be restricted based on time between each track of the same tempo and would also serve to keep songs of two different tempo extremes from playing back-to-back.
Rule #4 - Genre: broken down into Pop, Rock, Rap, R&B, Dance, etc. Much like the category rule, each genre would only be allowed so many songs in one sweep.
Rule #5 - Artist Type: as was explained above, this would be broken down into males, females and groups. I wouldn't want to put too much restriction on my playlist based on this rule, but enough so that I don't get, say, 18 boy-band tracks in a single hour.

Hopefully that clears up what I was trying to propose. Does that make more sense? Does it make sense at all? ;D
 
Russ said:
DMCA - whatever. It's bs.

There are MANY things to consider when scheduling a music log. If you want certain songs to rotate in certain ways, then you'll never have a perfect log. Anyone can make 1 or 2 hours perfect. But making day after day perfect is not possible. You don't want songs to play within the same period each day too... for example 5:15 on Monday and 5:21 on Tuesday.

Overall though, in any 15 minute period, it should give audiences a perfect sample of your station. Like was said earlier (4 songs)
Click to expand...

Digital Millineum Copyrigh Act - basically changed copyright law and definitions in the United States. Part of it restricts repetition of a song as well other issues for statuatory licenses.
 
And is basically BS. If I get a performance license from the unions (BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, etc.), I can play whatever the heck I want whenever the heck I want. Says so in their own agreements. If I were to broadcast online and go down that route, I wouldn't be worried about the DMCA one bit.
 
Josh C. said:
And is basically BS. If I get a performance license from the unions (BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, etc.), I can play whatever the heck I want whenever the heck I want. Says so in their own agreements. If I were to broadcast online and go down that route, I wouldn't be worried about the DMCA one bit.
Click to expand...

If you broadcast online you must also get a license from Sound Exchange, which pays artists and record company royalties. DMCA is the current law for copyright, there are some exceptions for retransmission of a terestrial station, however a SE license is still required for the stations online stream. Not my rules, but passed in 99 under Clinton and republican controlled Congress.
 
Josh C. said:
This is just out of curiosity. For a CHR of any type (mainstream, rhythmic, urban... what have you), would it be wise to program music scheduling software to generate playlists based on the following factors, in this order (most important rule to least important rule)?

- Category
- Artist Separation
- Tempo
- Genre
- Artist Type (Male/Female/Group)

If that's not a good idea, what would be better?
Click to expand...

No two stations should be scheduled or programmed the same. Every station has a different objective due to it's competitive situation. I do agree that flow and balance are very important...that 4 song theory may seem very simplistic, but it's ture.
 
The 4 songs per 15 minutes doesn't work because most stations can only play three. This is what really messes up music scheduling. The fourth "taste" , it means, crosses over to another quarter hour. With all the talk, ID's, and commercials, I haven't heard stations play more than three. Well, except for oldies of course. A CHR station NEEDS 4 songs per hour, so:

- DJ's have to talk less
- Less commercials or shorter commercials
- Editing of the songs (I'm not in favor of this)

All in all, a complicated matter. I do music scheduling for three radiostations, and find it impossible to deal with. Any other ideas?
 
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