Photo: Jim Sutter

I love this artist so much it’s ridiculous. This moody slice of audio perfection showcases one of his most expressive vocal performances to date. The lyric portrays a sinner who is loved unconditionally despite his shortcomings. Records like this are why he is the future of country music.

Church recently released a live album on April 9, although it does not contain his most recent No. 1 single it does provide a mixture of other hits continuing to walk the line between rowdy and redemptive. A vinyl of the live album and two bonus tracks were released exclusively on Record Store Day (April 20).

Last week two separate presentations explored why today’s media consumer is so different from just a few years ago. Arbitron, the radio audience measuring company, and Edison Media Research, one of the leading research and polling companies in America, co-presented a study they conducted in February of this year on Thursday. That same day, the Media Kitchen’s Digital Media Venture Capital Conference was taking place in New York City.
Both presentations declared consumers are carrying around many devices that give them instant access to whatever they want. In New York the concentration was more on video than audio but Arbitron/Edison dealt with video too and I’ll get to that because it zeros in on P1 radio listeners. As much as radio is under attack with other music sources, it still leads the way with usage as does television. However, Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget says TV is being squeezed in the multi-screen world. He says, “Second screen is the big opportunity as 80 percent of the young TV viewers (18-24) are using their smartphones and tablets while watching TV.” He is right on. The other night I was watching something I had Tivoed (I actually have a Tivo, not just a DVR), while I had the Tigers’ games shown on my laptop and I was also playing Texas Hold ‘Em on my tablet. Hey, I am up to $7M on the Poker site.  I just wish it was real money.
It has been estimated that 13 percent of all e-commerce is mobile, and 17 percent of all eBay is mobile. The Arbitron/Edison study reported 67 percent of all the respondents live in homes with Internet access and Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi is important because it gives those in the household the ability to hook up multiple devices. In fact, almost a quarter of the homes have five or more devices connected to Wi-Fi. That allows for goofballs like me sucking up the entire Internet in my neighborhood each evening.
Because we care mostly about country music fans, it should noted country radio P1s (those who say they listen primarily to a specific country music station) scored under the national average here. Only 63 percent of the CRF (Country Radio Fans) have Internet/Wi-Fi and only 19 percent are connecting five or more devices. A third of all AM/FM listeners tuned into online radio last week, but that number is only slightly over a quarter of the CRF. The numbers for Pandora, iHeartRadio, Spotify and podcasting are all lower for CRF than for the general public.
I mentioned earlier video is playing a big role in radio listeners music experience but less so for CRF. Thirty-seven percent of all radio P1s have watched YouTube in the last week but only 28 percent of the CRF. The good news for those of us who make a living in radio, is that we still dominate the car. The overwhelming majority of these people surveyed (who were all identified as radio listeners) use radio in the car. In fact, CRF outperform the general public in this area with 91 percent of CRF reporting AF/FM radio usage in-car.
The best part of the Arbitron/Edison study was asking the radio listeners about the importance of staying up-to-date on music. Almost half (45 percent) said it was “very/somewhat important” to learn about and keep up to date with new music. Country fans came in at 41 percent, way behind Rock Music fans who have suffered with really crappy new music for years now. A vast majority (83 percent) of these respondents (identified as radio users) said they would be “Very/Somewhat disappointed” if the AM/FM radio station they listen to most was no longer on the air. I am a little concerned about the 17 percent, who are fans and would not care, even somewhat, that their favorite stations went away. I am guessing these folks come from the aforementioned Rock group who might not notice it for weeks.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MusicRow.)
 
 
 

Can’t we all be friends? As much as record and radio people talk each week about music, their respective families and whatever is going on out in the real world, there still seems like a fence that separates our interests.
I have often said I would have a hard time being a record promo person putting up with radio folks who promise and fail to deliver. Who ask for “stuff” in a non-quid pro quo world and who have favor slots for what always seems like the “other guy.” I know that being on the radio side has its challenges as there is only so much room on the radio and we are often made to feel like we’re either ingrates or idiots for not “hearing” a record that is being pitched that particular week. I also know as a radio programmer I get frustrated when I do hear a song, take a chance on it early and then have to wait 10-12 weeks before the label’s marketing plan for it and other songs on the chart gets its turn. I’m not sure who to blame.
Then there is the Music First deal. I love their positioning statement. “We are artists, musicians, civil rights leaders, organizations and community leaders who believe in fair pay for our work.” Apparently when Congress was not moved by just the singers, a more wide range of constituents was necessary to continue this push toward finding a new source of paying for past errors in judgment. Both in picking acts who failed to sell and in not seeing the trend away from physical copies of music early enough.
That’s actually for another time. I want to play nice today. Yet another study finds radio is the artist’s best friend. Maybe not some of the older performers who were shorted, not by radio airplay, but by their employers and partners. But today’s artists and those still learning a C chord in their bedrooms should realize radio is a great friend. I did an air shift Monday (April 22) on WKKW.  I am not a disc jockey any more. Well I guess I actually am. I love being on the air. I haven’t done a daily air shift since before iTunes took over the landscape. When there is an opening, I get to jump in when I want to. I wanted to on Monday.
I love Country Music. I love the performers and have been blessed to meet some of them and have conversations with them. I know this is not a big deal to many of you reading this, but because I have had access to some of the performers and because I care about their success, I talk about their accomplishments, their tours, their CDs and how many of them give back to the communities on the air.
I talked about Darius Rucker holding a benefit concert for St. Jude in June, and Zac Brown Band coming to Pittsburgh in July and playing Stagecoach this weekend in Indio, Calif. I talked about Thompson Square’s new CD and how Pioneer is a great CD for the The Band Perry. I talked about how their concert, outside of Boston, went off Friday night despite the tragedy 30 miles away and how the kids stepped up for the fans.
A recent study of over 1,000 people from the NPD group found 54 percent of them said radio announcements would spur them to buy more music. I want my radio stations to lead the way with information about the artists and how much the relationship between country radio, country artists and the fans is paramount to all of us. Less than one in five listeners look to online recommendations and less than that number to Facebook for new music choices.
I strongly believe we have to talk about the music and the artists and make them come to life. The hard core fans will search out this information but the casual listener needs to have someone show them the way. Radio is the way. I hope programmers step up and allow their disc jockeys to tell the listener about the music. I did it and I never stopped the music once where the clock didn’t call for it because of commercials.
The No. 1 CD of the week should not debut with 100,000 sales. We have to help get it back to 300,000 or 400,000 sales. Radio can help.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MusicRow.)