How Much Influence Should You Tube Play In Music Decisions?

Jay Bedford, Program Director|Music Director|Morning Host at 1035 The Eagle/Sydney shared this fascinating factoid:

"So here are our five Power Currents for this week ... 5 of them ... and the corresponding number of views on YouTube ... plus one more song!

3.9 million views ... Blake Shelton ... Mine Would Be You
3.5 million views ... Chris Young ... Aw Naw
2.9 million views ... Tim McGraw ... Southern Girl
2.4 million views ... Robby Johnson ... South of Me1.2 million views ... Miranda Lambert ... All Kinds Of Kinds
1.1 million views ... Zac Brown Band ... Sweet Annie"

He asks:  "Should these figures have an influence? Those are amazing stats for an unknown guy from Quebec that is not play listed on any major radio stations. (Song is not Canadian content even though the artist is Canadian.)"

My reaction, after being intrigued, impressed and watching the video, is that streaming and downloads are a lot like sales figures.

I want to know more before deciding it's right for my radio station.  It would be interesting to see the location of the hits and views/listens to see how many are from your local area compared to the others.

Callout and online testing are still my major criteria for this reason, even over mScore tracking.

You know they are your heavy users, and even their age and gender cell, so you can target what we choose to play, but goodness knows this is certainly a great sign, among the many emerging stats that radio needs to stay aware of as listeners find new ways to discover new favorites.

If It's Not The First, It's The First I Have Seen....

Click here to see what Osama's watching. Hats off to Scrubs In The Morning on Thunder Country/Grand Rapids for being fast ... and funny.

The Immense Power Of Buzz

147, 262 and counting.

Need I say more?

When is the last time you did something to make a statement that 147,000 people noticed and wanted to support your efforts in under 24 hours?

Stand for something meaningful.
Be who you are.
Act on your beliefs.
Do it in a big way.
Show courage.
Take responsibility.
And, unlike Steven, try to keep it legal.

As It Gets Easier For Everyone To Do, It Gets Harder To Do It Right

Web video is the current rage.

All it takes is a hundred dollar camera and some freeware editing software and you’re in the video business, right?

Wayne Campbell, longtime Senior VP at Nashville’s venerable Filmhouse, which has been crafting video messages for radio stations and personalities about as long as anyone gives some excellent advice:

"Rather than show spots that might be Academy Award winners, in that they are pretty TV spots or that they have all kinds of neat graphic effects that may be fun to look at, we prefer to show people our 'best work' that win the "Work House" awards. The best TV spots are the ones that have been designed for one purpose -- NOT to win awards, but to 'get the job done.'

"My advice to anyone who is considering the use of video is to take the time even before you even decide to use the medium, over the air or online, say to yourself: 'why do I want to be on TV?' 'What message do I want to communicate to this mass audience?'

"The advantage of television and online video is that you can get a message out to a mass audience in a very quick amount of time in a very pervasive way. Because of that intrinsic power, it is actually possible to do more damage than good if you communicate the WRONG message about your product.

"In general, however, I can't think of a more exciting, advantageous time to be using a mass medium like television with all the attention that is being drawn to country music right now. It is an excellent time to simply tell the story of all the strategic benefits of "today's country," for example.

"In trying to decide what your message should communicate, you may have a number of tools available to you: strategic research to show you where the opportunities may lie, particularly if you have a country competitor; input from your consultant; perhaps you have the luxury of doing some focus groups, to test some creative approaches to see how the people in your market react to a spokesman, or music videos, or seeing station personalities, testimonials from a particular country artist, or from actual listeners, or actors. Use as many of these tools as you have available to you before you begin the creative process.

"Give yourself plenty of time to identify exactly WHY you want to be on video and what it is you want to say. Then, judge your creative ONLY in terms of how effectively and clearly it communicates EXACTLY what it is that you wanted to say."

Once a message or an implication about you is out there, it's out there forever.

Top March Viral Videos Are Commercials

Continuing a trend established in January and February 2010, the videos selected by video-content distributor goviral for March 2010 were universally light in tone.

For the first time this year, goviral did not select any public service announcement videos. Four of the 10 videos selected for March centered on some form of athletic performance or achievement. (click to see the ranker) These include the number one video, which demonstrates a possibly staged trick performed on a BMW motorcycle, as well as a Pepsi video featuring famous soccer players, a Nike ad highlighting the connection between athletes (both famous and unknown), and an Adidas ad with numerous athletic and non-athletic celebrities.

Two videos featured humor mocking other brands. Sony Playstation directly ridicules the controllers used by rival Microsoft’s Xbox gaming system, and SpecSavers directly parodies the sexist ads from men’s body spray Axe that suggest men who use Axe will have beautiful women in bikinis purse them.

In a return to a trend seen in January 2010, most of last month’s videos were global in theme and featured little or no language. Globally famous celebrities and/or simple yet powerful imagery made these videos easily consumed by viewers anywhere in the world.

CMA Awards On You Tube: Building the CMA Awards Sets

Ever wonder what it takes to pull off a worldwide telecast like the CMA Awards? Find out with our online video series, "CMA Awards All Access Pass - Behind The Scenes." Each episode brings you backstage to hear from the people who make the show happen, from lighting to staging crews, talent crews, camera operators, producers and more.

In the first episode, which you'll want to post on your website, "Building the CMA Awards Sets," you'll meet the construction crew who creates magic with their awe-inspiring stage elements. (Oh, and make sure and watch Wednesday, November 12, when the 2008 set is finally revealed!)

Rascal Flatts: Never Forgetting What Got You "Here"

You, the road and the radio are all in this amazing tribute video, produced and edited in-house at Lyric Street Records, a chronicle of friends, hard work, talent and dedication, the key ingredients of any success!

Country's Stars .. Lookin' Out At A Sea Of Video Cameras

Remember the old days? When concerts would forbid sound recordings and cameras?

Those days are long gone.

Brent Lane of the Cat Pak Morning Show in Pensacola reports:

"We had Joshua Stevens (in the yellow shirt) in to play for the first time ever on Pensacola Beach. We had about 500 people show to see the show. He signed autographs for about 2 hours. Pensacola loves "Rock -n- Roll and Pensacola"

(click to see a video). Notice all the video cameras up front, taking photos of Stevens.

Meanwhile, I was at Pat Green's show last Friday at Seattle's Show Box Theatre and observed the same thing there. Half the fans in Pat's mosh pit first few rows no doubt went home with video of his amazing show.

Colin Lovequist, MD and midday guy at 620 CKRM, Regina was at Craven (crowd photo) all last weekend and predicts that the announcement George Strait is next year's headliner no doubt means the '09 event will probably be 'sold out by Christmas.' What did he post on the CKRM website? Pictures. Many of them taken by listeners.

Halfway serious prediction: the day is going to come when the performers come out on stage with video cameras to take pictures of the audience as they put on the show. And, of course, they'll all expect to see it on your station website within hours of the experience.

From "NO Videos" To "Show Us Your Videos"

Remember when concert venues prohibited videos and photos at music events as a result of copyright riders in standard star artist contracts?

Thanks to cell phones, those days are long gone, of course.

Leave it to Starstruck to be the first to make the most of today's reality.