3.18.12 - 3.24.12 Numbers Thread

Nica, same "artist" (and I use that term loosely), just a different song.

I agree that they probably wrote it to see if it would get played! And it is! Made Top 50!! :-/

rihannsupf, logging in just to tell you I agree with all your sentiments regarding radio play, especially on POP that is the topic of contention here.

It is not about the song quality, but more about the artists singing it. Several terrible songs have become smash hits because the pds keep force-feeding them on people and they still do even now.

Thank God Adam has himself alluded to this fact in his recent interviews. He should know more than what some random fans conjure up here as to the reasons why songs get played on the radio. It is simply mostly about politics!

Look at some of the songs charting on POP radio right now and their positions on iTunes. For those of you using iTunes ranking as to what is connecting with the audience, this should tell you those songs are not necessarily connecting based on the radio play they receive. Just take time out and study the POP charts as PULSE MUSIC BOARD is very public and you can follow the charts there.

Or haven't you noticed he has not called for fans to request unlike he did in the first era? He says one of the things he has also learnt that is shocking to him is radio. It is not about how good a song is or what its audience wants to hear, but it is rather about what the directors/pds give a nod to the djs to play.

Remember how Daughtry's songs climbed within a few weeks it hit radio despite the fact it refused to sell i.e. connect with the radio audience? Even POP jumped on it faster than they are doing A's. Based on the way it climbed on the radio charts, it would have smashed if only it was connecting with the intended radio audience. It only stalled because of its poor showing on iTunes and that even did not stop it from cracking HAC Top 10!.

I want to believe POP pds are just now getting the picture about him given how much spins his singles the past 2009 era got and how little it sold despite the spins. I suspect that is one of the reasons why they relunctantly are moving on from him even though they love spinning him, that is, his type of songs is not necessarily what is in vogue now.

Can you also remember how Cook's was jumped on by some of the leading HAC stations including PLJ? It failed to rise further too because it sold poorly!

Radio only continues to spin you if only your song is connecting based on my experience watching the charts. Immediately they sense it is not selling as much as they would want to justify the spins, they eventually let go of it eg Madonna. The fact remains though that they jump on it initially based on the artists singing it and not the quality of the song. Meaning; Rihannsu assessment as the quality of the song not being the primary consideration is perfectly right.

Only the outsiders like FUN and co have to first justify the spins by sales first. You then see radio doing some face saving and catching up in cases like this! For their regulars though, it is always artist names and then sales after.

What of MKIA by Kelly? Is that song better than BTIKM? Even when it stalled because of its poor showing on iTunes despite all the spins, HAC was relentless on it and kept giving it big updates coupled with the average range spins it was also getting on POP. It's sole saving grace was that unlike the first two examples, it never fell out of iTunes 100, hence they was something to justify the continued spinning. I guess that made stations continue to spin it and the song too was being promoted in virtually every place possible.

And I hope no one would remind me of how much it sold in its first week. It did that with MASSIVE radio support and was already charting both on POP and HAC when it went for sales, (hence justifying what I am agreeing on with Rihannsu and Adam here). The audience impression was huge enough to impact sales and its continued prescence on the radio ensured it did not crash out of iTunes.

I have always known before Adam made mention of this that it is politics anyway. Otherwise, how else would you explain all pds jumping on a particular song from a named artist out of the gate? Which research have they carried out to ascertain the song would be liked by the audience and how could they possibly know it wld so connet with the intended audience? Or how was the decision to spin it simutaneously (sp) been agreed on if the decision was not taken by some directors that have given the go ahead for its station to spin it by its group of radio stations?

If this above theory is wrong, how then would anyone of you challenging it explain to me how radio jumped on the Xtianah Aguleira's song and some songs on Rihanna rated R, but soon after stopped spinning as soon as thier massive airplay did not correspond to sales. Shouldn't this convince you POP radio play is alway of the order; artist involved first and its connecting with audience second?

Unfortunatély radio is all about spins. People soon find beauty even in what they despise because of the continued listens and they finally get hooked to the song enough to buy it. That is the process a song takes to become a hit. No one buys what they are not exposed to.

So does it pay to write songs for radio's whims, It's like trying to please a spoiled child.

There has to be an alternative to this power hungry,make or break power that radio has, but what is it????????????????????

When you think about all the challenges Adam has to get his songs on radio,it kind of reminds me of how he describes old love affairs that hurt him. He Keeps coming back for more, even though it hurts.
It just shows how determined Adam is to get his voice and his music out there. Makes me want to have two more hands so that I can vote even more . I want so much for Adam to become world famous, & radio be damned.I can only wish...LOL

To top off this radio stuff,Adam has to sell enough cds in order to be able to fund a tour.. Geez..