Net Radio Offers Advance Research To Labels & Radio

According to Forbes.com broadcast radio needs to change and internet radio and the listener stats that the net makes possible may provide some of the solutions…if broadcasters are willing to listen.

"…Listenership has been dropping since 2003. And after posting double-digit growth rates for most of the 1990s, radio ad sales have slowed to a barely perceptible crawl: Last year advertising revenue climbed just 2%, to $21.4 billion. "

"If it wants to, though, the business could help itself, simply by doing a better job of finding out what listeners want…"

"The Web can provide radio program directors, and the record labels who try to persuade them to play their music, with all sorts of useful data, if they’re willing to use it. Yahoo!’s Internet radio service, for instance, draws some 2.5 million listeners per week…Listeners there can vote directly on what they’re hearing, or indirectly by simply skipping songs that don’t interest them. When Yahoo! execs tally the results, they can pick up on listener tastes that previously went unheard."

"When Atlantic…released Kid Rock’s 2001 album Cocky, for instance,it planned on promoting a duet with Sheryl Crow to "alternative radio" fans…  (these fans), however,wanted nothing to do with the song–but, surprisingly, Yahoo!’s country fans loved it. The portal reported the results back to the label, which changed gears, promoted the song to country stations and ended up with a hit…"

"Similarly, Time Warner’s America Online service provides results from its radio offering to both  radio stations and music labels, so they can use the Web as a sort of early warning system about songs or bands that are taking off. Jack Isquith, AOL’s executive director of music industry relations, says labels in particular are willing to use the data. "For the great marketing guys, and the great managers, there’s no longer a lot of skepticisim about the Internet," he says."

"Some are even willing to take a peek at what users of illegal file-sharing services are swapping…BigChampagne, which monitors peer-to-peer services like Morpheus and Grokster, also sells its data to both radio stations and labels. Last year it noticed that a new band, Story of the Year, was performing well in its charts, while receving barely any radio airplay. BigChampagne armed the band’s Maverick label with the data, which it used to help convince programmers to give the band a chance: It quickly shot up the charts."

"…Most (broadcast) stations, and the chains that own them, rely on expensive "call out" telephone  polls, in which listeners are asked to rate snippets of songs."

"But radio ratings themselves are compiled using stone-age methodology. Listeners are simply asked to record a diary of their daily listening patterns…Maybe Clear Channel–and the rest of the business–should rethink their research."