How Radio Destroyed Itself and Almost Took New Music With It
For years, we of a certain age outsourced our musical curation to a handful of radio professionals. We’re all guilty of it and it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Those people knew us and our tastes, our histories, our cultures… and they quite frequently chose great music for us. Now times are different. Those radio professionals have “different” motivations than just playing the coolest new music for their brethren. “Risk,” one of the most attractive elements of the medium of radio, has itself been downsized. Commercial radio in recent years, though not without its listeners, has become a (ahem, here it comes) flaming trash bin of “same old,” “greatest hits,” “gold” (ew!) and otherwise pablumish (spellcheck tells me that’s not a word but… pfft) offerings.
No matter. Things are improving and there are options.
Those of us who learned computers as adults found new music pretty easily when we were young. Find a good radio station, listen long enough, and eventually hear something new that might be good. That process worked. The first time you heard Hendrix or Devo or Prince or the Pixies on the radio, remember how utterly revolutionary they sounded? And that dizzying blast of pride and dopamine in realizing you were alone amongst your friends with this special new song to share?
New music isn’t dead. It’s just gone to new and different places. You can find it again and take back your musical quest on your own terms. And it’s not scary. Come back and click this link when you’re done reading this post.
Way back when, curation was taken care of by someone immersed in YOUR favorite sounds on a full-time basis. Unfortunately, that person was in the radio business. That’s a problem.
“For a variety of hard, cold reasons, providing precious airtime to unproven bands has gone the way of the buggy whip.“
Commercial radio is a withering, fading diva. Sloppily conceived broadcasting legislation in the 90s combined with corporate financial missteps necessitated the repayment of huge loan payments by media companies. Since their revenue was derived from advertising, these media companies needed to create the largest possible audiences to maximize that ad revenue. That’s what radio does: attract audiences (programming) and sell access to advertisers (sales). Nothing wrong with that so long as the windows are left open to opportunity and growth. But more on that in a moment.
For a variety of cold, hard reasons, it was decided that providing precious airtime to unproven bands had to go the way of the buggy whip. Commercial broadcasters now see “new” music as risky. Its “unfamiliarity,” they reasoned, could potentially cause tune-out and reduce their audience’s size, decreasing ad revenue. In corporate America – even corporations that use inherently risky cultural artifacts like music and art as their core offerings – risk is bad. Thus, they reasoned, reducing risk increased the likelihood of their company making its monthly loan payment. That’s a good thing, right?
“Well, maybe. But what about the longer term copnsequences?” you query.
Glad you asked. In the long run, listeners are left with bland, lowest-common-denominator musical programming that’s just interesting enough. In other words, vanilla. “New,” “unique,” and “local” are all words from last year’s dictionary. “Classic rock,” “Classic Hits,” “Gold, (ew)” “The Greatest Songs of the 70s, 80s and Today,” even “Current Favorites and Yesterday’s Greatest” all emphasize proven and low-risk music that screams financial conservatism and, yes, short-sightedness.
Imagination is abandoned in the name of familiarity in order to make that monthly loan payment. And why not? Radio is, after all, a business. This does, however, leave listeners in a troubling position with long-term consequences.
Imagine if a radio station was a house and each different room held a musical genre. All the doors and windows are open and breezes blow in fresh songs from rock, reggae, pop or jazz. Some don’t work but many do. There is ample freshness and opportunity to thrive. And you live well in that house.
“People can hear Lynyrd Skynyrd only so many times.”
Now, imagine that house with the doors and windows hermetically sealed. Nothing fresh in or out. You must live with what’s already there. Well, this could work… for a while. In time, the songs – like air – become exhausted and used up. Two clear choices emerge: remain and suffocate, or simply leave. Most listeners choose the latter and — to conclude this tortured analogy — abandon commercial radio in search of fresher horizons.
In trying to increase audience size by reducing risk, broadcasters have actually strangled a bold and vibrant media form that was based on risk in the first place. In the end, perhaps the biggest and most profound lesson we have learned is that people can hear Lynyrd Skynyrd only so many times.
There has been, however, a slow and steady revolution. A rebirth of opportunity for music fans and musicians. It’s now easy to re-establish your musical quest. The internet, almost despite its too many streaming options, “radio” stations, preference-recognizing artificial intelligence algorithms and host of other technologies, is being used to reverse trends and minimize the risk of new music. Technology is also giving musicians tremendous tools to make music just the way they want.
“Go live where the good music is.”
The upshot is a HUGE amount of new music that is available every day – quality music, music that deserves to be on the radio right now – available via a HUGE number of new, and surprisingly intuitive outlets. VERY few of which are (yes, there are some… some… I’ll get to them) over-the-air broadcasters. Well, such is life. Go live where the good music is.
Save your sanity. LOTS of great new songs are available right now at your fingertips. Your next Hendrix, Prince, Devo or Pixies are out there. Remember that jolt? The actual physical sensation of a great discovery? It doesn’t have to be gone. Reclaim it. Click to the next post for some fruitful ways to restart your musical search and, just maybe, reclaim your musical spirit. (Same link as above… I know you can’t wait).
And hipness. Don’t forget about the hipness.
End of rant.
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Close your eyes. Open your mind. Trust your ears.
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