Sunday, December 14, 2008

Radio Leads In New Music Discovery Across The Pond Too

From Steve Casey: Cordialment de Paris!

For what it is worth, I just completed 5 perceptual studies in France. They were all age 13-30 or 18-34, and a typical result, when we ask where they discover new songs:

FM Radio 62%
Web Radio 9%
Music Sites 8%
Friends 8%
Television 7%
Social Networks 4%
Other/None 2%

From my somewhat unusual position of working globally, I’m convinced that although there is some chicken and egg effect here, MOSTLY any lack of interest in using radio to discover new music versus other options is something radio caused, not new technologies.

It is our unique advantage to be so accessible with so little effort.

Ideally, our listeners will find great new music being presented that has been vetted by professionals who are actively trying to find the stuff what will excite the listeners. That’s something no other medium offers.

But I fear that our report card on both the quantity of fresh music and the execution of any care in what we choose to play is not too positive in most cases.

How many decisions are based on careful local listener research? How many are based on airplay tracking and label priorities?

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