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Where the hits REALLY came from. Two books that tell the truth.

A

Avid Listener

Guest
Despite all the protestations about the "hits" being what the people wanted, there are several books out there that anyone who cares about the music business, and how it interfaces with the radio business, should read. They'll open a few eyes, and demonstrate that radio programmers aren't the dedication public servants only looking out for playing the "hits" the audience wants to hear.

First, there's this book. Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business

The link is to Amazon, where you can read the reviews and even buy yourself a copy.

Some excerpts from that website (my emphasis added):

From Publishers Weekly
English rock group Pink Floyd was one of the hottest bands in 1980, with an LP shooting up the charts and a concert tour that sold out within hours. But the group was unable to get airplay for its latest single, at least not without engaging the services of a nascent breed of freelance promoters whose practices ushered in a new era of payola. These promotors, dubbed "indies," used illegal methods and had suspected mob connections. That the recording industry not only tolerated but embraced the indies is indicative of the questionable tactics now employed in this high-stakes arena, charges Dannen in a sharply critical study.
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From another review:

The topic here is unwholesome practices within the music industry, but the most passionate subtopic of Dannen's research is the system of independent promotion through which singles are "added" to radio station playlists and then moved through the charts.
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Then, there's this book, Me, the Mob, and the Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James & The Shondells

Going all the way back to the true story of how Frank Sinatra's mob connections got his contract with a major big-band terminated (as fictionalized in "The Godfather"), the mob has always had a strong connection to live music, recorded music, and all other businesses that interact with the recorded music industry.

Yeah, back in the 60's/70's/80's Classic Hits era, the decisions about what songs got played on the air and turned into hits and which songs didn't get played on the air was strictly on the up-and-up, based on honest executives using scientific testing methods and no other influences. And if you believe that, you can ride your unicorn to work every day.
 
You might want to also read this blog:

How To Get Your Song On Commercial Radio, from TuneCore Blog.

This excerpt summarizes much of the article (with my own emphasis added):

This other way involves most everything you’ve ever thought it involves – primarily money (lots of it) and the old boys club of relationships. A major label (and that’s an important distinction) signs an artist, spends a bunch of money to make a record, and then must get that artist’s music on the radio in order to have any chance of success.

When you’re faced with a “must do” scenario, you do what you must. In this case, the labels first try to find some early supporters: program directors willing to “test” the song — give it limited play, and see if there’s a response from the stations’ listeners. If there is, great. If there isn’t…well, great. In either case, if the label decides they have to get the song on the radio, whether the “test” went well or not, they’re going to do what they have to do. And for what it’s worth, getting a “test” spin is no easy task in and of itself. Favors are given to those who have greased palms for years to provide the three and a half minutes of airtime at 2:30AM on a Thursday night to test a song.

Getting a song “added” to a station’s playlist to get a certain number of plays per week involves a rather byzantine process that brings in various parties, called independent promoters (“indies”). These “indies” are first paid by the label. It’s important to note that the money the indies receive isn’t necessarily compensation paid directly to them for getting Program Directors to get a song played. Rather, they work more like an intermediary to pass the label’s money to the radio station. These indies, with the money paid to them from the labels, pay the radio station money for various listener give-aways, bumper stickers and so on. To top it off, these very same indies are often also paid a second time by the stations themselves as a consultant to advise the stations on what songs they should play.
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Avid Listener said:
You might want to also read this blog:


This excerpt summarizes much of the article (with my own emphasis added):
Click to expand...

That article is so far from the broad truth as to be laughable.

First, even if there have been isolated payola incidents over the years (less than a dozen indictments since 1959), most stations in the US actually pay to get music and never see a promo person, either from a label or an indie.

The independent promoters never paid for airplay. For a period of years in the the 90's and into the 00's they were paid for "adds" by the record companies. To get credit for the adds, the promoters wanted stations to report to the trades (R&R, Billboard, FMQB, etc) via their organization. Independent promotion companies would each try to get important stations to report through them, giving the station incentives such as prizing to be the "reporting promoter". Stations added songs for whatever programming reason they had, and then gave their add and move reports to the promotion company who issued the reports to the trades (oversimplified explanation).

Independent promoters never consulted stations on a paid basis about anything...

An occasional station employee would illegally take something of value for adding a song. But all the major groups and most of the smaller ones had staff members sign affidavits that they never, ever took money for playing songs and that they understood that doing so was a crime and also subject for dismissal.

The origin of the indie goes back to the 50's when little labels could not have a national promotion staff, so they paid independent promotion people in each part of the nation to plug their songs to radio. This was a time-honored tradition that went back to the late 1800's when sheet music was promoted that way by small publishers.

Stations long, long ago dropped the concept of testing a song with a very light rotation. When they add a song, they play it enough to make it or not. They followed up, starting in the 70's, with call out. Now we look at MScores to track new songs and we pull them... as we have done for decades... if they don't get the response we feel appropriate. Record promoters have no part in that... although lots of them traditionally moaned and groaned when we pulled a song and said, "it didn't test".

The independent promotion folks are pretty much gone now, although a few are left doing the small label thing. The economy of the recession and, before that, the shift to digital downloads, cut record company revenues and the industry went through extreme consolidation and is not particularly profitable. Now they are trying to get money from radio, not giving money to stations or station staff.

And the tricks that the record ducks had in the past, like asking a station to do a "paper add" (reporting an add that was not on the air) are gone, killed a decade and a half ago by electronic song play logging by companies like BDS and MediaBase.

The article comes from a music business perspective, and is an exposé that exaggerates isolated incidents and plays up such happenings as if they were industry wide.

In my 55 years in the business, the only time I was offered a "bribe" I grabbed the record duck by the neck and threw him out of the station down a flight of stairs (yeah, the station was #1 and it stayed #1 because we played to the listeners, not the record companies). Most of us over the years have been very careful not even to accept an expensive lunch from record folks.

There is a Spanish saying, "paper holds whatever you put on it." That book parlays incidents into widespread practices, and is just not true to the extent and scope it claims.
 
Avid Listener said:
Yeah, back in the 60's/70's/80's Classic Hits era, the decisions about what songs got played on the air and turned into hits and which songs didn't get played on the air was strictly on the up-and-up, based on honest executives using scientific testing methods and no other influences. And if you believe that, you can ride your unicorn to work every day.
Click to expand...

I think our main discussion about playing what the people want to hear and doing research has to do mainly with what gets played on the radio NOW, not in the 60s. I've stated in this thread that there were what we call "turntable hits" in the 70s. In other words, songs that may have received airplay and chart position, but had no real lasting impact on the listeners back then, and don't get classic hits airplay today. These are songs that "Oldies" calls "lost hits." I call them duds. Those songs have no place in Classic Hits radio today.

I agree that the music business can be unscrupulous and worse. But radio isn't in the music business. The main gatekeepers to the music are the record labels themselves, because they decide who they sign and who they don't. People who work in local radio don't have anything to do with that, and most music decisions have been removed from low level employees. These days, the pressure is on delivering audience and advertising. Anything else distracts these stations from their primary business, and anyone who profits personally from music decisions is found out quickly and fired.

I read "Hit Men" myself, and what wasn't included in the excerpt posted above is that all the people who took part in the criminal activities were caught and put in jail. Did bad things happen? Yes. Were people punished? Yes. Our job today is to sift through the songs and ensure we're now playing songs that deliver audience. And that's what we're doing.
 
TheBigA said:
I think our main discussion about playing what the people want to hear and doing research has to do mainly with what gets played on the radio NOW, not in the 60s. I've stated in this thread that there were what we call "turntable hits" in the 70s. In other words, songs that may have received airplay and chart position, but had no real lasting impact on the listeners back then, and don't get classic hits airplay today. These are songs that "Oldies" calls "lost hits." I call them duds. Those songs have no place in Classic Hits radio today.
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I've worked with several of the "original" Drake RKO PDs (still do for one of them) and there were definitely occasions where stations added a song for balance and played it because they thought it improved the sound... even if the songs did not sell well.

An example would be in a period where there were too many up tempo songs, and a nice ballad or two would be added to give variety. Or, in summertime, if there were not enough "summer songs" an a song or two that raised the tempo would be spun.

Of course, being the best and the brightest of the time, they knew that the Billboard sales lists or local sales polling only reflected the actions of a small percentage of the audience and they took those liberties with the total audience in mind.

Then the little stations in Bakersfield and Modesto and such would play the same songs, not knowing why they were on KHJ or KFRC... and messed it up!
 
Avid Listener said:
Yeah, back in the 60's/70's/80's Classic Hits era, the decisions about what songs got played on the air and turned into hits and which songs didn't get played on the air was strictly on the up-and-up, based on honest executives using scientific testing methods and no other influences. And if you believe that, you can ride your unicorn to work every day.
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In that 60's to 80's era of Top 40... just as now... there is no testing method, scientific or otherwise, that can predict the success of a song. Stations can't and don't research unplayed songs. Once callout was developed around the mid-70's, we'd test new adds after several weeks and then track them for several more weeks.

New adds are always part gut feel, and part the strength of the artist or the individual song. Only in relatively rare incidences were outside influences responsible. And the fact remains that a bad song, played over and over is not a hit... and playing bad songs consistently brings down ratings and gets the PD fired.
 
And no song back in the 60's/70's/80's ever got the initial airplay that made it a hit because someone's palm got greased.

Right.

Still riding that unicorn?
 
Avid Listener said:
And no song back in the 60's/70's/80's ever got the initial airplay that made it a hit because someone's palm got greased.

Right.

Still riding that unicorn?
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The fact that there were many investigations and less than a dozen indictments over the last 55 years should tell you that there was far less of that kind of behaviour than some authors or journalists who never set foot in a radio station would have you believe.

As I said, outside the rated markets, stations had to pay to get music. They never saw a record promoter and never even got a couple of concert tickets.

In the large markets, the fierce competition made it hard for a programmer to play "paid for" songs and keep their jobs. Some obviously were influenced by money, drugs, sex, trips and stuff, but if we look at the history of "suspicious behaviour" we see that the stations that did a lot of strange adds had new PDs soon after.

The use of publications like Gavin (starting in late '57) and other "tip sheets" exposed the adds and moves of every station in the current-based formats to scrutiny. Of course there were incidents and rumors and accusations, and more were likely true than could be documented for prosecution.

And keep in mind that it was the record industry that was the creator and the perpetuator of the bribery called payola. But it was radio that realized that you could not make a hit out of a stiff and that playing bad songs for pay hurt the station, so there was a natural "cleansing effect" from the reality of ratings.

It happened, yes. But it was nowhere nearly as prevalent as you think... or as those music industry books portray.
 
TheBigA said:
I think our main discussion about playing what the people want to hear and doing research has to do mainly with what gets played on the radio NOW, not in the 60s. I've stated in this thread that there were what we call "turntable hits" in the 70s. In other words, songs that may have received airplay and chart position, but had no real lasting impact on the listeners back then, and don't get classic hits airplay today. These are songs that "Oldies" calls "lost hits." I call them duds. Those songs have no place in Classic Hits radio today.
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Why are you instigating another debate??? Like I said, ANY song is playable today, it just has to be played at the right time, and yes, that also included the 90% of songs that hit top 20 from 1968 to 1985 that are ignored today, otherwise known as LOST HITS. Many small markets play them already. It's only the big cities that purposely ignore them.

Only YOU call them duds. People who enjoy music and classics like most of them.

End of story!
 
oldies76 said:
... LOST HITS. Many small markets play them already. It's only the big cities that purposely ignore them.
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The bigger city stations have the budget and ability to find out what listeners really like. The smaller market stations, rather than copying the playlists of nearby major market stations, make up lists using the Whitburn books. And that is why the ones in rated small markets have such poor cume ratings when compared to the bigger market stations.
 
Avid Listener said:
Me, the Mob, and the Music: One Helluva Ride with Tommy James & The Shondells
Click to expand...

So let me ask this question. Since the Hit Men book deals with Roulette Records, and the abuses that record company made in the 60s, should all of their songs, including the hits by Tommy James, be banned from airplay today?
 
TheBigA said:
So let me ask this question. Since the Hit Men book deals with Roulette Records, and the abuses that record company made in the 60s, should all of their songs, including the hits by Tommy James, be banned from airplay today?
Click to expand...

And the issue of payola pales compared to all the things that allegedly went on in the record industry in that era. We can start with the way that charts were manipulated by giving free product in exchange for trade and station reports, relaxed return policies so that "stiffs" would seem to be selling, and discounts on promotional product.

Then we can move on to the contracts with the artists. Start with Bang 545 and find out how much was paid in royalties on that one...
 
DavidEduardo said:
The bigger city stations have the budget and ability to find out what listeners really like. The smaller market stations, rather than copying the playlists of nearby major market stations, make up lists using the Whitburn books. And that is why the ones in rated small markets have such poor cume ratings when compared to the bigger market stations.
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But to the small markets, this is acceptable, right? If they thought it was risky playing the so-called stiffs, they wouldn't, but they do in some cases. I don't think they worry to much about comparing themselves to big city monsters like KRTH or a WCBS. I'd bet their satisfied who they are and what they are doing for presentations and probably not be as concerned about the ratings, as bigger city stations would. A station like Superhits 106 from Dubuque, Iowa (which plays nothing but #1's on Thursdays) is a good example.
 
oldies76 said:
Let's see....I've tuned out that song about 5 times, just this month! Once, maybe twice a year is fine.
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The answer, though, is that Mr. Morrison got no royalties for the song. He accepted a buyout when the song was recorded and got nothing more. Another record company "Ethics on Parade" example.
 
oldies76 said:
But to the small markets, this is acceptable, right?
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No, it's not acceptable if you want to reach the most people so your clients get results and continue to advertise with you.

The point is that stations like CBS FM reach nearly 20% of the market population. The station we were discussing in Jackson, TN, reaches less than 9% despite having less competition. That means they are not doing a very good job. My instinct says it's because they play a bunch of junk nobody wants to hear anymore... except, of course, for the die-hard oldies purists who really want to hear Melanie.

If they thought it was risky playing the so-called stiffs, they wouldn't, but they do in some cases.
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Just like with traffic regulations, ignorance of the law is now excuse. They do what they do because they don't generally know the best programming practices and procedures.

I don't think they worry to much about comparing themselves to big city monsters like KRTH or a WCBS.
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Yeah, why aim to be better than mediocre.

I'd bet their satisfied who they are and what they are doing for presentations and probably not be as concerned about the ratings, as bigger city stations would.
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They have their own ratings... the clients' cash registers. If a station has small audience and bad reach efficiency, they will not get the results that other stations get and clients won't renew or will not pay as much.

A station like Superhits 106 from Dubuque, Iowa (which plays nothing but #1's on Thursdays) is a good example.
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You just made my case.

They do a Nielsen diary promotion ("Thursday") in a non-Nielsen market. Aaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrggggghhhhh.
 
DavidEduardo said:
The point is that stations like CBS FM reach nearly 20% of the market population. The station we were discussing in Jackson, TN, reaches less than 9% despite having less competition. That means they are not doing a very good job. My instinct says it's because they play a bunch of junk nobody wants to hear anymore... except, of course, for the die-hard oldies purists who really want to hear Melanie.
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I don't get your fixation with Melanie. That station played a bunch of cool stuff the Sunday that I was there listening to them. Including material that almost everyone else plays. I even heard a couple of Elvis songs that I no longer hear anywhere else, like "American Trilogy" and "If I Can Dream." But then, Elvis died nearly 40 years ago, and no one remembers him anymore, right? Tell that to the fans who flock to the candlelight vigil every year.
Yeah, why aim to be better than mediocre.
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I get the feeling that you won't like any station that doesn't have the most whitewashed, blandest playlist possible. When I was growing up, you used to have to drive to the big cities to hear the cool tunes, because small-town radio adhered to the strictest top 40 playlist possible. Now it seems that the reverse is true.
They have their own ratings... the clients' cash registers. If a station has small audience and bad reach efficiency, they will not get the results that other stations get and clients won't renew or will not pay as much.
Click to expand...
Apparently, they are doing well enough to have kept this format for several years, so they must be doing something right. Unlike the big city flip-floppers who are hair-triggered, and flip and flop like a fish out of water, because they think that doing so MIGHT get them another .0000000001% of the market. All it does is jinx the frequency AND the call letters. WRQQ is now in Hammond, LA, because come-in-last RUINED those calls here. "WRQQ" came to be associated with really lousy radio here. Hope it does better in Hammond.
 
DavidEduardo said:
My instinct says it's because they play a bunch of junk nobody wants to hear anymore... except, of course, for the die-hard oldies purists who really want to hear Melanie.
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If they are playing them, then someone's listening, even "Brand New Key". If I had a special on 1971, I'd play it.

It's not as bad as you think. Check out Superhits David or Hippie Radio and you'll hear some great tunes, not heard elsewhere. It's not all about the big cities....there's a lot of "Mom and Pops" out there too, trying to make it, without the Wal-Marts of radio trying to take them down.

Exactly why I dislike chain restaurants. The best food is always where the locals eat...same with radio.
 
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firepoint525 said:
I get the feeling that you won't like any station that doesn't have the most whitewashed, blandest playlist possible. When I was growing up, you used to have to drive to the big cities to hear the cool tunes, because small-town radio adhered to the strictest top 40 playlist possible. Now it seems that the reverse is true.
Apparently, they are doing well enough to have kept this format for several years, so they must be doing something right.
Click to expand...

I've always thought the same thing too. He'd be happy with songs burning out 3-5 times a day. (rolling eyes icon)
 
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