REPUBLIC'S RADIO RAMPAGE

“Show me the hottest company," says Republic chief Monte Lipman, "and I’ll show you a promotion staff that’s knocking the cover off the ball. There are certain applications in this business that haven’t changed in over 50 years, and this is one of ’em."

Team Republic is conducting one of the most dominant radio-promotion campaigns in recent memory. The promotion staff under Generalissimo Lipman and EVP Charlie Walk—along with SVP Promotion Gary Spangler—has been ruling multiple formats despite an extraordinary volume of records.

These include not only releases on the straight Republic label but also ones co-branded with Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine and the JV Republic Nashville, David Massey’s Island, Jason Flom’s Lava and Slim & Baby’s Cash Money.

Lipman notes that he and Walk, who had "parallel" careers before joining forces, bring a unique understanding to their promotion efforts, as that world is where they started out. "Charlie and the team he’s built—Gary Spangler and [SVP Rock Formats] Ron Cerrito—operate with a sense of urgency that’s second to none," he says.

"The team is firing on all cylinders and pushing the pedal to the floor going into the home stretch," says Walk.

Radio, Walk notes, "is the only thing left in this user-generated world that isn’t user-generated—that actually tells you what to like. We’re able to get scale that way and layer singles into singles, which makes brands."

When Massey’s titles were added to the Republic promo lane in April, some industry watchers wondered whether the sheer number of tracks being worked would stymie the promotion team—either by dispersing their energies or by creating logjams at radio. But the results below underscore that their machine is more than rising to the challenge, and Republic is reaping benefits in both marketshare and chart share.

"I don’t believe we have enough records," Lipman insists. "We’re wound tight. We don’t just wanna win the game; we want to win the championship." Walk adds that the team meets separately with radio for Republic and Island projects: "We set the tone that these are two separate brands and we promote them as such."

Let’s consider some of Republic’s current radio successes.

Meanwhile, Colbie Caillat’s “Try” is Top 15 at Hot AC. “Yellow Flicker Beat,” Lava/Republic superstar Lorde’s new Hunger Games ST single, earned #1 Most Added honors at Alternative with 53 stations its debut. Up next is Ariana’s duet with The Weeknd, “Love Me Harder.”

“It’s no accident that the new Ariana track features The Weeknd,” Walk says. “That’s strategic, because he’s about to blow up with his own record.”

Just add it to the list—there’s always room for more hits.