Weeks after music’s Blackout Tuesday, which sparked a plethora of heated, industry-wide conversations about systemic racism, companies and executives are still debating the use of the word “urban” in job titles, awards categories, and other facets of the music business. While not all organizations are in agreement about what to …
Read More »A Number One Radio Hit Costs $200,000, According to One Label Head
In April, P. Diddy’s Revolt Media announced plans for a “Hip Hop Summit,” with Diddy promising to “empower young people with sessions on the issues they care about.” “From entrepreneurship and economic empowerment to social justice, we’ll have the provocative conversations not happening anywhere else,” he added. Sure enough, in …
Read More »'Nobody Is Scrutinizing This': How Labels Pay to Get Songs on the Radio
Last year, “Luke,” a music-industry veteran who oversees label radio campaigns, received a dispiriting message: A onetime “starter station” — a radio outlet willing to give a song a chance before it’s a proven hit — was now working with an independent promoter. The new relationship meant that the independent …
Read More »Stars Are Releasing Singles Faster Than Ever. That's a Problem for Radio
Pop radio program directors, the men and women whose decisions govern the casual consumption of 100 million listeners every week, are currently buried under an avalanche of Ariana Grande songs. “I’ve got three currents and another two in recurrent [rotation],” says Nathan Graham, program director for the Philadelphia Top 40 …
Read More »R&B Radio Divided Over R. Kelly Ban in the Wake of Lifetime Docuseries
On Sunday night, George Cook, the Director of Operations, Program Director and Brand Manager for a pair of rap and R&B radio stations in Dallas, organized a crucial conference call with members of his team. Surviving R. Kelly, a six-part docuseries on Lifetime that alleged that the singer had committed …
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