How Radio Airplay Now Relies On Social Media

Tony Monte is the founder and president of New Music Director, a multi-media company that provides interviews and exclusive performances from a variety of recording artists for web broadcasts, but prior to that he worked promotion for Capitol Records. Tony recently appeared on Rick Goetz's excellent MusicCoaching.com and had some very interesting comments on how radio is now relying on social media to determine airplay. Be sure to read the entire interview at musiccoaching.com.
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"It appears that because of the way the music industry and radio have evolved, it has become much more difficult than ever to secure a slot on radio. The reason I say that is because radio programmers, heads of programming – whether they be regional, national or consultants – are being looked at under the microscope by the people that oversee each of those different areas. They have to stand behind the decisions they make in supporting a record to put on the air. If a record doesn’t’ connect almost immediately, it doesn’t stay on the air. It has a shorter life span, unless they can see something happening. If you get to the point as an artist of even being on the air, having a great song is just a part of it. I don’t know if it’s as meaningful as it has been in the past, because they want to see other things.

A recent example is, I wound up sitting with some programmers with a new artist and playing the song. While the song was playing, they were just as interested in looking the artist up via their Facebook page, their Twitter page and their other online outlets as they were in the song itself. People want to know now, even with a brand new artist, what’s going on. And it goes back to what I was saying earlier:  If you can create a story and build a foundation locally, it gives you a platform to move from. One of the advantages of doing things locally is that the clock doesn’t necessarily run out. When you’re at a major corporation – a multi-national music company – there are a number of artists that are scheduled. That’s just fact and reality. And you have a window during which to connect with an audience and the general public. If the company doesn’t see those signs, they’re onto the next band or artist. I don’t mean that in a negative way. It’s just that the reality of the process."

Read the entire interview at musiccoaching.com.

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