Mainstream Radio – Digging its Own Grave

I don’t claim to know a whole lot about the music industry in general or the radio industry as it relates to record label sales.  What I do know as a consumer and someone who studies technology trends and Internet strategy is that the way radio stations allow
record labels to influence (mandate) their play lists sucks.  I don’t mean that it sucks just a little bit, I am saying that across every genre that I have tried listening to, which includes rock, classic rock, R&B, country, pop, blues, reggae and jazz,  they all do just about the same thing, which is that they all pretty much suck. 

Maybe this has to do with the fact that I live in the greater Milwaukee area, which seems to be perpetually about 10 – 12 years behind the rest of the nation.  It is also possible that I’m simply listening at the wrong time of day or that I’ve gotten so used to the personal selection of 600 songs in my iTunes library that I’m flat out spoiled. Or maybe I’m just a pretentious a-hole and the radio industry is beyond my understanding of consumer promotions and local ad sales strategy.  None of this changes the fact that this industry is holding on to outdated mass marketing principles and within 5 years (my prediction) their share of the advertising buyers market for localized content will be lost to Internet advertising the same way newspaper, TV and magazine ad sales have done and will continue to do. 

So, what should they do to ensure their survival? 

The most important thing I would suggest is to recognize that there are only 5 major record labels (Universal Music Group, EMI, BMG, Warner & Sony) for a reason and much of that stems from today’s broad availability of studio quality recording equipment and lots of Internet based options for artists to have their music distributed without the obligation of a recording contract. Record label relationships will always be important, but radio stations don’t need them the way they used to in order to provide content (music) that their listening audience will stick to.   

Mainstream radio stations need open up their play lists to the thousands of recording artists who are producing and distributing studio quality music independent of the big 5.  Else, they are staring down the short barrel of a mass exodus of listeners away from their outdated record label driven format over to satellite and Internet radio.