In our last Callout Summer School class, we examined how to use Burn to determine when a song has reached the end of its life as a current hit. In today’s class, we tackle the other end of a song’s life as a hit—it’s beginning—and how to use Familiarity to judge when a song’s appeal … Continue reading Callout Summer School: BFFs (Benchmarks For Familiarity)
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In our last Callout Summer School class, we examined how listeners’ reactions to songs translate into the five most common scores used to rate how much listeners love or hate a song. Now, we’ll tackle one of the most misunderstood and debated dimensions of how listeners fell about your music: Burn. What question is Burn … Continue reading Callout Summer School: Don’t Get Burned by Burn
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While going full-on Marie Kondo on my radio career box, I unearthed the very first music test I ever implemented back in 1999. It was a hand-me-down AMT from a large-market Soft AC. The format captain of our new owners had graciously shared it with me—and with it started my journey with music research. What … Continue reading Callout Summer School: The Five Most Popular Song Scores
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Part four of a four-part series on music consumption trends There are clear signs of a split in musical tastes that radio consulting legend Guy Zapoleon coined The Extremes, a predictable phase during which listeners’ tastes move away from broadly-appealing mainstream Pop songs towards the extremes of R&B, Rock and Country that don’t appeal to … Continue reading Should You Program 2019 Like It’s 1989?
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Part three of a four-part series on music consumption trends In our last post, we explained why so many pure Hip Hop songs that are massive hits on streaming aren’t big hits for mass appeal radio audiences. Today, we tackle the opposite scenario. During the past two years, Country’s share of the songs listeners heard … Continue reading Why Country is Missing from Streaming
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Part two of a four-part series on music consumption trends In our last post, we spotlighted how many of the biggest pure Hip Hop titles on streaming services are absent from radio. If these songs are among the most-played songs when listeners are in control of their music, why don’t they test well with mainstream … Continue reading Three reasons Hip Hop soars on Spotify but tanks in your music tests
Read more »Part one of a four-part series on music consumption trends After 2016, our nation has become a divided land: People are in different camps, where the world looks totally different than it does in other camps. We’re not talking politics. We’re talking music. The styles of music people play most on Spotify, buy most on … Continue reading Our (Musically) Divided Nation
Read more » In this webinar, you’ll learn: How soon smart speakers may outnumber AM/FM radios in your listeners’ homes. Why focusing your smart speaker strategy only on Alexa is a mistake. Which listeners your station should target with its streaming strategy What radio’s unbeatable weapon is for battling Spotify.
Read more »In 2017, we identified three groups of listeners who were increasingly turning away from radio and towards on-demand services to find out about the latest music releases, namely: Teenagers Listeners who regularly use on-demand services such as Spotify Listeners who have Apple CarPlay or Android Audio in their car. We warned that radio would completely … Continue reading The Spotify-Slaying Weapon Radio isn’t using
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Part four of a five-part blog series, “The Alexa Effect: How Radio Can Thrive in a Connected World” Somewhere between your first impassioned teenage crush and the mundane joys of adult relationships, you realized it. Your love life is ultimately a lot more fulfilling when your beloved is actually into you. You might think pursuing … Continue reading Radio, She’s Just Not That into You.
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