• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

New Music Without CMJ?

B

BerkSHireTim

Guest
Recently I have returned to the college radio station of my alma mater. For years and years in the past, this station regularly reported its top 50 album spins to CMJ, a process which most, if not all of you, are familiar with. However, for whatever reason the powers that be at the college have decided sometime in the recent past that a CMJ subscription is a waste of money. I guess the mentality at work here is that the only reason a station would maintain a subscription would be to get "free" music-and subsequently this music will only get stolen in many cases-therefore why encourage this kind of behavior with an expensive trade magazine subscription. Unfortunate. My question is this: Are there any ways around the standard CMJ method of obtaining music from, say, the big five distributers?(WEA, Universal, Sony, Interscope, & BMG)
 
> Recently I have returned to the college radio station of my
> alma mater. For years and years in the past, this station
> regularly reported its top 50 album spins to CMJ, a process
> which most, if not all of you, are familiar with. However,
> for whatever reason the powers that be at the college have
> decided sometime in the recent past that a CMJ subscription
> is a waste of money. I guess the mentality at work here is
> that the only reason a station would maintain a subscription
> would be to get "free" music-and subsequently this music
> will only get stolen in many cases-therefore why encourage
> this kind of behavior with an expensive trade magazine
> subscription. Unfortunate. My question is this: Are there
> any ways around the standard CMJ method of obtaining music
> from, say, the big five distributers?(WEA, Universal, Sony,
> Interscope, & BMG)
>
Why wouldn't they just be more diligent in preventing the theft of the CD's? I'm sure if it's a problem, that it'll continue no matter how the CD's are obtained.
 
You can often write to record labels directly. There are also a few speciality magazines for certain genres. But as I'm sure you know-record companies send you music hoping to see it chart--so if you're not charting-you're going to have a hard time convincing them to send you music.

My two cents: find the person responsible for cutting the CMJ budget and get the straight talk on why. If theft is the issue-there are many ways to work around this (the station I advise discovered an in-studio MP3 player and a locked CD library kept access available while preventing theft of the hard copies). Reporting in a mag isn't just about free CDs-it gives your station credibility too.
 
Perhaps you and some of your station's alumni would be interested in chipping in and buying the subscription as a donation. Write it off on your taxes. Or you can help find the underwriters for it, maybe.<P ID="signature">______________
Crescent City Radio Connection - Coming Back Soon</P>
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom