CAPP Records’ Blog

It doesn’t seem to matter what kind of music you like, there’s a prevailing attitude in the U.S. that “radio sucks.” Times were, we didn’t really have much of a choice but to listen to terrestrial (AM and FM) radio stations. It was either that, or pop-in a cassette (or 8-track!) tape, or later on a CD, and listen to that.

Like a lot of people, I sort of grew-up on radio. But radio, and what’s happened in the past 10 to 15 years in the radio industry (and indeed, the entire music industry) reminds me of the old Bell System, and what’s happened since the forced divestiture of the original AT&T back in the 80s. (If you’re not old enough to remember that, the comparison will be lost on you, but stick with me here.) The only difference is that the fundamental shake-up is fresh, and “the new reality” of radio and music is just now forming.

Back in the day, radio was king. Major record labels were in control. Billboard’s music charts mattered. We listened to what we were spoon fed. Innovative (and back then, local DJs) “discovered” new artists, new songs, and gave us a sneak peek of them sometimes, which is how many careers and new stars were made, and record label deals secured. It was a mostly closed ecosystem, and bands and musicians who wanted to make it big sought the coveted “record label deal” to make it happen.

As we all know, it just doesn’t work that way anymore. The thing is, radio hasn’t really figured that out just yet, and neither have the major record labels. When your very existence is sort of turned on edge, you sorta tend to cling to what’s familiar and safe, so that’s precisely what major radio property owners (like Clear Channel) and major record labels (like Warner, Sony, etc.) are doing too.

But all this has been the subject of thousands of blog entries and magazine articles, and I didn’t really intend this post to go that direction, so let me jump ahead here and talk a bit about why we think online radio is so important to us here at CAPP, as well as to the dance music industry.

First, this is the iPod era. The very simple function we call “shuffle” on our iPods has literally changed the expectations of music consumers. Whether you have a 4 Gig iPod Nano, or an 80 Gig Classic iPod, music lovers users want variety, and they get it with shuffle. Sure, you can make playlists, control things by genre, etc., but shuffle play, coupled with the sheer track capacity of digital music players, has changed how we listen to our music.

But despite the prevalence of digital music players, music consumers still want and need to find out about what’s new, what’s emerging, and who’s released what. That’s really the classic role of radio, but the problem comes when you favor a non-mainstream genre of music like dance. Most radio markets in the United States don’t have dance music radio, and in many radio markets, the same could be said of jazz, classical, and other genres too. Then what?

Well, some of us turned to satellite radio, only to find that just as disappointing. SIRIUS Satellite Radio started with a whopping eight channels devoted to electronic music. Today, there are five (purists would count it as three), and only two of them (The Beat and Area 38) primarily play contemporary dance music. Arguably, The Beat, SIRIUS’ mainstream dance channel, suffers from some of the same programming issues as AM and FM radio, in that the playlists are dominated by Billboard chart tracks and an over-emphasis on major label releases.

That’s where online radio comes in. Online radio stations have been around for years, starting as largely basement operations. Most of them still are, and as such, quality varies wildly. But when you have a few thousand channels to pick from, what does it matter? Some of the best of the bunch float to the top, achieve strong listenership, and end-up doing what AM and FM radio used to do: Helping music consumers find out what’s new and what’s good.

In the United States, online radio is under assault, and I won’t go into the details of all those arguments. Just do a Google search for “save Internet radio” and you can spend hours reading all about it. While the licensing cost issues are real, the reality is that there are a number of great Internet dance radio stations on the air today, and regardless of the eventual licensing fallout, there still will be. And they’re not coming from the AOL’s and Yahoo’s of the world, either.

In an effort to support online radio, CAPP Records has been advertising regularly with some of the leading online stations, including iPartyRadio, and Fusion Radio Chicago. These two stations, among many others, are doing a phenomenal job of what terrestrial and satellite radio are largely failing to do: passionately supporting the dance music industry, and connecting music with an audience hungry for “their tunes.”

Internet radio may have been around for years, but in our view, its ascent and its importance is just beginning. With the ability to listen to Internet radio on-the-go with the venerable iPhone, or even with add-on software (like BerryTunes) for the BlackBerry, it’s no longer tied to your desktop or laptop PC.

But regardless of how or where you listen, support online radio, and take back control over how you’re keep up-to-date on music and music trends.