By Karen Glauber
We have ourselves a ticket for 2020: Biden/Harris. For the first time since March, my shoulders relaxed with the announcement of Kamala Harris as Biden’s VP pick. “We’ve got this,” was my initial reaction. And then, as always happens when I look at Twitter after my son is finally asleep, I started to panic about the same thing I panicked about in 2016: How do we get the 18-34 demo to care about voting in this election?
I’ve been having conversations with radio programmers about this topic—how can they galvanize their audience to show up to vote on Nov. 3? Billie Eilish is among the (virtual) performers this week at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. This is newsworthy, of course. In past elections, Rock the Vote had a huge presence on radio and MTV and in live venues. Now, especially, radio has the power to influence its audience toward action.
AJR have been using their social media to encourage fans to vote. How can radio/managers/artists come together to promote this life-changing cause? How can radio use its relationship with artists to bring out the 18-34-year-olds on Election Day in record numbers? We must do everything in our power to end this national nightmare. Maybe Biden isn’t your ideal candidate, but your precious idealism or third-party posturing aren’t worth my time. In the immortal words of The Chicks, “I’m not ready to make nice,” and neither should you.
Back in May, I heard a song while watching Mindy Kaling’s Netflix hit Never Have I Ever that Shazam revealed to be Cannons’ “Fire for You.” KKDO’s brilliant Andy Hawk was also watching the show that weekend, and he promptly added “Fire for You” on 5/19, as did SiriusXM’s Chill channel. Fast-forward three months, and the band has been signed to Columbia Records, with the song already at 8.1 million streams! “Fire for You” remains a Shazam and research monster in Sacramento: #1 or #2 call-out and currently #12 Shazam in Sacto and #3 in Folsom, which is KKDO’s P1 market. Lisa Sonkin and Darice Lee are going for adds this week, bolstered by early support from Alt Nation, KROQ, KITS, KUCD, KRXP, Music Choice and WRMR. Andy Hawk had this to say about “Fire for You”: “Instant Reaction, power research. The audience has not been this positive about a song in the early spins since Shaed’s ‘Trampoline.’”
My favorite artist name to say is “beabadoobee.” Seriously—everything about her makes me smile. A 20-year-old from the UK who is signed to Dirty Hit Records in the U.S. and U.K., just released her first single, “Care,” from her upcoming debut album, but you’re already familiar with her voice because her song “Coffee” was used on the Powfu smash “deathbed (coffee for your head),” which is already at 987m global streams! If you’re keeping track, beabadoobee is the 60th-most-streamed artist on Spotify, which is incredible, considering “Care” is her first “radio” single. Jeff Regan at Alt Nation has been a huge supporter, and beabadoobee was set to headline the Alt Nation Advanced Placement Tour in March (sigh). Jeff Morad and Luke at WEQX are also big fans, as are Gabby from WSFS and the KRBZ gang. After Lisa Worden and Harms chose “Care” as ALT 98.7’s “New Music Feature,” Harms did the most wonderful IG Live on Wednesday with her. Bea’s favorite bands are Pavement and Veruca Salt, and “Care” will remind you (in the best possible way) of Belly’s “Feed the Tree.”
The best-selling single on the iTunes Alt Chart is AJR’s “Bang”—more than SIX MONTHS after the song’s release. Perhaps some of you missed the boat here?
After slugging it out at radio for many months, Ashe’s “Moral of the Story” is crossing to Pop in a big way, just as David Jacobs launches her second single, “Save Myself.” Cannons, REZZ, Phoebe Bridgers, Ashe, Tessa Violet, beabadoobee and Billie Eilish are the future of the format because beyond their incredible talent and meaningfulness to your audience, the future is female.
