Ivana: good morning! we’re just missing bingo
HunterSThompson: i’m missing a coupla adds
SaltyDog: lol
Ivana: i heard that waqz just fired its staff
SaltyDog: jesus
Archie: more victims
HunterSThompson: a format flip and owner flip right?
SaltyDog: def an owner flip
Bingo: i just got off the phone
Ivana: you got another double somewhere?
Bingo: puhlease
Ivana: we're gathered here for the reading of the will, or the state of the union, or just to look busy for 30 minutes. i've gathered the best and brightest in modern rock promotion. (mostly the ones who haven't blocked me on their buddy lists). first question: has your job gotten harder this year? and if so, why?
SaltyDog: yep...people are even more inaccessible than before....
Archie: It will be a unanimous yes
HunterSThompson: people stopped caring after 9/11. that’s when it started getting hard
Archie: accessibility of PDs, fewer currents, heavier consulting, risk averse programming culture...
SaltyDog: all in one nice little package
Ivana: what about the difficulty in communicating with radio, actually DOING YOUR JOB? are they using the post-spitzer era as an excuse to disengage?
Bingo: i think apathy is just the norm, and we have to respond to that, and not expect radio to change
Archie: absolutely. everyone is disengaged in that sense.
SaltyDog: it certainly means that you have to be better prepared than ever.... cause you can't just fall back to the way things had been done before
Ivana: if i think too much i'll cry
SaltyDog: there’s no crying in promotion...oh wait, there is
Archie: but seriously, the onus is on us to have legitimate things going on with our developing artists outside of radio. The current climate just raises the bar for traditional marketing and digital outlets
Bingo: i find it funny when a publicity person says a writer doesn't like something and everyone just says, oh well you know writers...if we say that about a pd, they say “well making them fucking like it.”
Ivana: how much tougher is it now to break a new band?
SaltyDog: as compared to what/when? seriously, not trying to be an asshole
Archie: we're working closer than ever as a team here to try and lose the radio dependency. that's a tough adjustment. radio is still the biggest slice of the pie, but more than ever we need to take them a story
Bingo: so true
Archie: and if that fails i send them waxy packages in the mail that tick
Ivana: does your boss still believe you go to radio six weeks before a cd’s release? and do they still expect radio will care about your new band six weeks before the record comes out?
Bingo: depends on the record, but i find our peeps are becoming a lot more open to soft releases if the game plan is solid
HunterSThompson: it’s always hard to break a new band, the pressure doesn’t go away...it’s good to have early feedback so you know what you are up for, but six weeks will have many forgetting what you are going for, sometimes radio forgets in the course of one conversation
Archie: agree on that. not a lot of expectation of early radio support on baby bands.
SaltyDog: oh god no
Archie: actually I am worried that the pendulum swings too far the other way and even more promo peeps fighting to keep their gigs.
Ivana: is it as bad at other formats as it is ours?
Bingo: i think it totally is as bad everywhere else
Archie: well, the other rock formats are even worse. i barely even look at the active or mainstream rock charts anymore. what for?
HunterSThompson: this format has the most opinionated than any other... they don’t say this sounds like a hit let me play it without a lot of their personal tastes attached to it
SaltyDog: we devalue ourselves, to a degree
Ivana: good point—how do we stay relevant?
Bingo: we stay relevant by being more comprehensive "execs." for me, i spend a good 25% of my day working with agents of our bands working out routing etc. to make sure we hit the right places at the right time
Ivana: but what about those who still use the chart and how many spins you're up on a monday as your "report card"? how do you manage the expectations of your bosses and band managers with this new reality of fewer currents and more apathy?
Archie: it's like i say to my staff, you are not reporters. you affect change out there. same applies to us. we can't just be reporters to our bosses. we have to advise them how to affect change. And one way is to guide the company to spread its marketing footprint outside of radio and bring that back around to radio
HunterSThompson: it’s all about connecting the dots—that’s how we create stories to spread, to ultimately break bands. touring is key.
SaltyDog: was just typing that
Bingo: touring for us is everything
Ivana: also, if you were to break it down, what DOES impact a programmer's decision to play a new band?
Bingo: i think a lot things, the record for sure, but personal relationships, trust, confidence in the label's ability to deliver...
HunterSThompson: you go to the champions first. the others need to be convinced one station at a time.
Archie: and a big band for their show of course
SaltyDog: at the end of the day, tho, its also what’s left of the ability to use one’s gut...if they love it.....and you, as a company, have your shit together in general, and with other artists....that can tip the scales
Bingo: and also as gate-keepers at our respective companies, not every record deserves a shot at radio
HunterSThompson: everything has to come to place, radio is big, internet, touring, luck and the audience... it’s the audience that ultimately decides. we just need the shot sometimes to prove it, and the follow-up after your record goes on the air is key
Archie: it's up to us when we get a commitment to jump on supporting it via marketing. The clock is ticking and we have to do everything we can to help it connect.
SaltyDog: absolutely
Archie: and we can't expect it to get any better or easier. this is the new world order. we have to adapt to it and adjust our expectations accordingly
HunterSThompson: it does seem that is so confusing with the charts and this stupid add system that radio isn’t looking as closely right now
Ivana: unless you're down 3 spins and they're using it as an excuse
Archie: but it still pisses me off...
HunterSThompson: remember there is always an excuse to not add a record
Ivana: so what's your 5 year plan? will we even have a format in 5 years?
SaltyDog: scary to think it, but we may not.
HunterSThompson: i ask myself every day, i want to be relevant in 5 years and will keep up with the change, our business has been tumultuous for years, it’s still getting worse.
Archie: demand for music is bigger than ever. admittedly, not all being bought, but much of it is. w just have to find a way to satisfy that demand while staying profitable. no one can say what it will look like 5 years from now
Ivana: i've been working one radio format for 23 years. hard to imagine what's next
SaltyDog: you and me both
Archie: hard to imagine, but it could be great.
HunterSThompson: new media builds its business on content, it exciting to see that healthy... radio has lost a little vision here
Ivana: it needs to entice a new generation of listeners to remain relevant
SaltyDog: and that’s a helluva challenge
HunterSThompson: the 5 year question is also good to pose to radio where are going to be in 5 years... everyone has to embrace what’s happening
Archie: to go back and answer your original question. I don't see myself exclusively working radio in 5 years, but I hope to be a very relevant part of our music marketing team still.
Bingo: if i am still doing this, i hope to be doing something more entrepreneurial
Ivana: that's difficult to do when the day-to-day reality is so frustrating
Archie: And I hope my radio experience is still important to my company, but that's kind of up to radio.
SaltyDog: for all of us...
HunterSThompson: amen
Archie: i like this. saves me $$ on therapy.
Ivana: then we’ll have to reconvene soon-thanks everybody!