US Radio’s Attempt To Destroy Madonna (Or How To Become Irrelevent) The killer app on the internet has always been mp3s. It’s the reason kids got on the net in the first place (napster) and it’s the quiet little engine that drives MySpace, TagWorld, and other social networks. The music business adds to the bottomline of coffee sellers (Starbucks), movie makers and even clothing manufacturers. It’s also the most corrupt business on the planet. But this post is not about that. It’s about Madonna. And how US radio has tried to destroy her. Really. Madonna is a superstar. She has core fans around the world. She sells records. Millions of them. Now here’s how US radio stations are supposed to work. They play songs people want to hear and then make money by selling advertisements between the songs. That’s the deal in a nutshell. They run tests on new songs, check requests, and also use record sales as their main guides. (There’s more, but it’s not important to this story.) Madonna released an album late last year. It has sold approximately 2 million copies here in the United States. (That kids, is a lot of CDs) Now here’s how Billboard’s Hot 100 works. It’s a combination of radio airplay, digital sales and physical sales. Usually if you’re doing well in sales you are also going to do well in radio airplay. Playing what people want to hear is radio’s job. Madonna’s first single was “Hung Up”. A number one record around the world. In the US it was number one in sales. But peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 because radio wouldn’t play it. Her second single was “Sorry”. Again, number one around the world. Number 1 in sales. But radio isn’t playing it. …Since its release last November, “Confessions on a Dance Floor” has topped the charts in 29 countries and sold more than 8 million copies worldwide, according to Warner Bros. For the week ending July 15, the album’s third single, “Get Together,” had a radio audience of fewer than 1 million listeners in the United States (aggregate, based on market size and station share). Conversely, in the United Kingdom, where all three singles have been A-listed by BBC Radio 1, the single had 38.4 million listeners. “Confessions” has been healthy at retail: It has moved 1.5 million copies, already double that of its predecessor, 2003′s “American Life,” which has sold 666,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan. File-sharing stats from BigChampagne and support from MTV’s “TRL” are also solid. But radio won’t touch it. Why? Theories range from radio programmers thinking she’s irrelevant to her complaints against the Bush administration. Fans are so upset in her hometown of Detroit (which doesn’t have one radio station that plays her records) that they are protesting. I think maybe radio is irrelevant........ But all in all: WVUR BROADCASTING Does play Madonna and supports her music.....
Posted on: Tue, 08 Oct 2013 07:40:22 +0000
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