Exploring differences in the most popular songs on streaming platforms Most programmers now regularly examine streaming data from MRC Data’s BDSradio or whatever BuzzAngle is now to help pick the best new music. Have you ever looked behind the curtain to examine the data that drives those aggregated data platforms? You have access to the … Continue reading Five Very Different Streaming Services
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Part two in a series 2020 Sucked (for Music) In our last post, we analyzed Billboard’s year-end charts to learn that listeners consumed less music in 2020 that was actually released in 2020 than they had consumed current-year music in previous years. This lackluster interest in 2020’s music holds true no matter how they were … Continue reading The Year Our Musical Tastes Stood Still
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Guy Zapoleon’s 10-year music cycle already declared CHR was in “the extremes” phase, with “the doldrums” its next stop. Our own Generational Music Cycle theory noted that as Millennials age out of youth, CHR music would sound increasingly stale and divisive until the next generation takes over control of determining popular music tastes in the … Continue reading It’s Official: 2020 Sucked (for Music)
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Part three in a series “How to prepare your station to appeal to a new generation.” Did you ever work with an engineer who clearly yearned to be the program director? Well, I have a confession. I was a program director who secretly yearned to be the engineer. So, while the Integr8 Research blog normally … Continue reading Why Your Station Needs to Lose the Loudness Wars
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Part two in a series: “How to prepare your station to appeal to a new generation.” I don’t know how to tell you, but your radio station needs new décor. Not that mystery stain couch in the lobby—but yeah, gross. Deal with that. It’s your imaging. Look, I know radio went a little overboard … Continue reading Radio: You Need New Décor
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A three-part series on future-proofing your station As a radio programmer, sometimes your #1 job is to not break what’s working. Then there are times where the only way you can fix things is to break things. If you program a hit music station, it’s time to start breaking things. Scary. However, “[i]n times … Continue reading How to Prepare Your Station to Appeal to a New Generation
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For the last two decades, Millennials’ tastes have driven the direction of pop music. They rejected the gritty reality Generation X expressed in Alternative Rock and Hip Hop for songs about friends out to have fun. They replaced the guitarist with the mix DJ as the hero of popular music. But a new generation is … Continue reading What “Drivers License” tells us about the future of pop music
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Richard Sands, author and publisher of Alternative newsletter The Sands Report, featured Integr8 Research President Matt Bailey in the October 29 and November 5 editions. Matt covers strategy that applies to multiple contemporary formats, including Alternative, CHR, Hip Hop/R&B, and Country. The interviews are reprinted with permission. Matt…tell me about yourself. Do you have a … Continue reading How to Use Shazam, Streaming, Sales, and Callout in Radio Programming
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When Shinedown’s “Second Chance” became a Top 10 hit in 2009, an era ended. That song became the last Rock song to reach the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. No, we don’t mean people no longer love rock. From Queen to Nirvana, Classic Rock remains revered, even by people who are now … Continue reading The Last Rock Song
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As specialists in researching new music, Integr8 is generally focused on what’s happening today in contemporary music. However, there are times when clarity about the present comes from understanding the patterns of the past. Now that so much of what’s to come seems uncertain, it seems like the perfect time to take a trip through … Continue reading Three Lessons the Millennium Has Taught Us about Popular Music
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