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People’s desire to discover and consume new music isn’t going away, so bands will continue to break regardless of what radio does. And the tools to promote and market new acts have multiplied recently and are now more important than ever.

I.B. BAD ON ALT RADIO SHRINKAGE, JACK, SHUFFLE CHASERS AND THE NEED FOR A NEW PARADIGM

As the Format's Struggles Continue, the Labels Must Find New Ways to Break Bands
Observers observing the decline and evolution of the traditional Alternative Rock radio format, which has seen increasing numbers of stations flip to Spanish language or the Jack (or other male given-name) oldies format, or simply tweak their programming to a more oldies-based music mix. Those watching this happen say that with this sudden, iPod Shuffle-chasing fad, as with others that have gone before (Disco, anyone?), the pattern is clear: Ratings are down, and rattled corporate managers are making bizarre decisions as a result. Bizarre, these people say, because it is and always has been the stations that play the right mix of current hits that draw the best ratings.

Be that as it may, ongoing changes at Alternative radio have spurred some in the label community to face the challenge of changing, too. These people in the business of breaking acts, in this case Alternative Rock acts, point out that people’s desire to discover and consume new music isn’t going away, so bands will continue to break regardless of what radio does. And the tools to promote and market new acts have multiplied recently and are now more important than ever: Outlets including the burgeoning MTV2 (as well as MTVU), AOL Music, Yahoo! Music, Fuse and even iTunes itself must now be part of the promotion/marketing mix, as well as other legitimate download services such as Napster and new-music driven sites such as Pitchforkmedia.com. Even rock dance clubs are becoming an important source of new-music discovery for young consumers.

But integrating all these elements with a traditional radio, sales, touring and publicity push requires coordination: Each must be properly weighed and timed in order to maximize exposure and benefit to the artist. That leads to one question, according to those studying this scenario: Who at a given label will be the one to make sure the promotion, marketing, new media, video and publicity teams are all in synch? Will it be a promotion-based leader, as with Charlie Walk and his current cross-departmental success with Columbia’s Frankie J? Most think the oversight and decision-making should start with the label president, though some point out that depending on where a president comes from (promotion or A&R, for example), he or she may not have enough command of all the different pieces to put the puzzle together. Regardless of who leads the charge, however, those in the know stress that every element must be put to work, even P2P monitoring sources such as Big Champagne, which continue to predict hits with surprising accuracy. More on this as the changes roll on.

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