STRONG SIGNALS: U.K. RADIO ROUNDTABLE

Damian Christian, who has been working in radio for over 35 years, during which time he’s stopped at BBC Radio 1, RCA Records, MCA and Warner Music U.K.’s Atlantic Records. The latter is where he’s spent the past 25 years, and now serves as managing director and president of promotions. There, he works with artists such as Ed Sheeran, Anne-Marie, Fred again.., Tion Wayne, Charli xcx and lots more.

Liv Carson, who runs independent plugging company They Do, which works with a host of acts including Alfie Templeman, Caroline Polachek and Holly Humberstone. She previously pulled a stint at Warner Brothers Records as national radio promotions manager and has spent over 10 years working in radio.

Steph Wilkinson, director of radio and streaming strategy at Sony Music U.K.’s Columbia Records. She’s worked on campaigns for Calvin Harris, Central Cee, Rag’n’Bone Man, Adele, Foo Fighters and Vampire Weekend. After starting her career at East West Records, Wilkinson later moved on to Atlantic, indie-promo company Hungry and Woods and Domino Records.

Suzy Walby, senior director of media for Universal Music U.K.’s Audience & Media Division. She’s worked at Universal for 17 years, starting at Island Records in 2006, and has spent the past 14 years with EMI. Acts Walby has worked with during her time at the label include Amy Winehouse, Florence & The Machine, Sugababes, Taylor Swift, Elton John, Katy Perry, Shawn Mendes, Niall Horan and Jennifer Lopez.

How important is radio to an artist campaign in 2024?

Damian Christian: When you’re trying to break a long-term artist, not just a single, radio comes into play more than some of the other services because it’s a bit more personal. Whether it’s being interviewed on the stations, doing a live performance, or doing one of the radio shows across one of the groups, it offers listeners the chance to learn about the artist and their journey. Hopefully, radio is going to see the act from the early stages and invest their time in the whole campaign: three, four songs and then the album. Radio is still very, very important in building careers and acts.

Liv Carson: It’s still a very integral part of artist campaigns. The landscape has changed a lot since I started working in radio. Streaming and social media have ramped up and you see that in label meetings. But I think it’s a bit of a duty of care for the music industry to keep radio relevant. It’s not something that I want to see slipping down meeting agendas. We work with a lot of independent artists, a lot of bands, and that kind of music in particular is something that streaming perhaps isn’t focusing on, but radio really does. If you’re an artist starting out and you can get a DJ on board who has a lot of respect with their listeners, like Steve Lamacq [of BBC Radio 6 Music] or Jack Saunders [who presents the new-music show on BBC Radio 1], that can be incredibly important for your career.

Steph Wilkinson: Radio is still so important, especially given the 100% human-curated element of it. These are brands and DJs that audiences really trust and whose backing of a track or artist can be game-changing. I’d argue in many ways it’s more important than ever. When touring costs are through the roof and it takes more than ever to break through, radio provides a much-needed platform. It’s also about much more than purely the traditional medium of radio now—stations have evolved quickly to have huge social reach, and we make the most of that around artist promo moments.

Suzy Walby: It is very important! Radio is a huge influence for festival bookers, DSP editorial playlists, international territories, to name just a few. When British radio supports an artist or a song, it’s a statement globally. For developing artists, it’s a way to get their music heard and enable listeners to discover them. For more established acts, it’s an opening to the masses. The latest RAJARs reported the biggest radio listening figures in eight years.

How have you seen the music business’s relationship with radio evolve during your time in the industry?

Damian: Not so long ago it was so important to get a record on the radio early to try and break the record. Now, radio often comes in when the record is about to become a hit and then elongates its success story. The pressure in the ’90s to get records on the radio was absolutely immense. Now, the pressure is still on but it kind of comes from within. Also, the people I deal with now in radio are far more engaged. They’re more interested in music and in going to see gigs. In the late ’80s, early ’90s, it was just a job that people did.

Liv: Pluggers and labels are starting to take artists to radio very early now, trying to get radio to be the one to build them, first and foremost. A while ago, people would wait for a band or an artist to build up their audience first. That’s definitely changed in the last few years. Yard Act is a good example of that. We took them on before they’d even done a show. It was around the time when the pandemic hit, and radio is so important for an artist like that. When they did play their first live show, there were lots of 6 Music listeners there.

Steph: Budgets are tighter, both on the label and radio side, and costs are higher, so when bringing international artists over for live radio events, they have to be worth it. As a result, there are more 360-degree offerings on the broadcast side, with online reach, often a televised moment, plus a commitment to support the artist. We’ve had to be more cautious with who we do those with and if the artist is in cycle or not. Another change in recent years is that Covid meant all promo became remote and the ability to do that now remains. You can still have strong launches in the U.K. when an artist is abroad.

Suzy: So much. When I started 18 years ago, I’d spend two weeks traveling around regional radio stations across the U.K. With the consolidation of networks and programmers, that doesn’t happen anymore. As a label, you’re speaking to [fewer] teams who cover larger audiences. Although very important, an A-list [playlist spot] on one large radio station isn’t enough in isolation to break an artist anymore. So a large part of the job now is timing radio effectively to boost what’s organically happening with an artist or a record.

How much of an influence do you see streaming being on radio playlist decisions?

Damian: Streaming and radio go hand in hand. Recently, one of the big DJs heard one of our records on streaming services and ended up playing it from hearing it there first. Equally, some of the streaming guys hear something on the radio, decide it sounds good and add it to one of their playlists. They both help each other, indirectly or directly. If you go to some of your radio contacts and you’ve got some massive streaming numbers, of course they’re going to be very excited, because we all love hit records and radio loves hit records. They equally like songs that sound good on the radio, and not every record is going to be a hit these days because it’s so hard to have hits.

Liv: In recent years, there has been quite a lot of influence from streaming data in playlisting. But what you certainly don’t get with streaming, and what you do with radio, is the whole artist story, where you start from the beginning and the station can really take ownership of it, build that story and get to know the artist. People tune in for the first time to hear a track for [Radio 1’s] Hottest Record, and you get the interview with it, you get the whole vibe of the artist and the story around the track. The same goes for live sessions.

Steph: For the more hits-driven stations, it’s definitely a factor and our job as a team is to try and line things up as best we can. We don’t want to be coming off a radio playlist just as we are starting to grow or peak at streaming. It’s an ecosystem where different platforms can feed each other. When everything is aligned, it can be really powerful. There are also recent examples of catalog artists having a resurgence online, then onto streaming and building there, then onto radio, introducing older artists to new audiences. What I love though is there are networks who will playlist unique music, regardless of whether it is streaming or not, and that airplay can then help drive streaming. My team is super-passionate and quite unique in the U.K. in that we pitch streaming partners alongside radio. This is something we have grown over the last eight years and love being involved with.

Suzy: It’s a real-time data point demonstrating trends and consumption. It’s a big part of playlist decisions. It’s a marker to build confidence in radio programmers who want to back an artist or a record but need confidence that their support will pay off. However, I would say it’s not a dealbreaker. I’m grateful in our current chart climate that many radio teams still make decisions based on other markers such as passion, artist potential, live following, etc.

How much risk-taking do you see being made when it comes to radio playlist decisions?

Damian: Sometimes they’ll go really early with things. They went early with “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims. Radio was playing that before it looked like it was going to be a thing, around six months before we had our big moment. I don’t think risk is the right word, but that was an example of hearing an artist and a record they believed in before we had the chart success. For other records, they will wait to see where they are going to end up in the chart.

Liv: There are definitely certain stations that will take more of a risk on early artists. There are arguments on both sides, and perhaps it might be too early sometimes for certain artists. But it creates such excitement for an institution to get behind stuff that early. You need to back artists up a little bit more, given how competitive it is and how much music there is out there, which is also hopefully where we come in as independent pluggers. We get sent a lot of music, and we’re always making sure we’re taking on the stuff we feel really passionate about and know is going to move in the right direction.

Steph: In the U.K., we are beyond lucky to have the diversity of stations that we do, which is unmatched anywhere in the world. We have so many places for different genres, and you see a lot of artists playlisted at the likes of BBC Radio 1Xtra, Radio 1, Radio 2, 6 Music and other BBC stations that you won’t see playlisted anywhere else. They also ensure that U.K. artists are prioritized, particularly into an album release, which is invaluable. Initiatives like the Brit List at Radio 1 have been fantastic for us—to know you have that support, locked in over, say, a year-long period, enable us to go for it at the right time, adjust marketing spend accordingly and line up other opportunities. You also have the likes of KISS backing new artists from the start and sticking with you for a campaign, as well as avenues like Capital XTRA’s homegrown track of the week and the support the station gives newer artists, Hits’ Trending Track and Absolute’s Sunday evening show with Danielle Perry.

Suzy: Not as much as I would personally like. Fewer stations champion newer artists, which can be challenging as we see what a positive effect it has when they do.

There have been some well-documented cuts made to the BBC’s new talent-support program, Introducing, over the last year. Have you felt the impact of those?

Damian: It hasn’t affected us, really. If you’re talking about the BBC specifically, you’ve got Jack Saunders, who has come out of the blocks in the new job. The specialist shows on Radio 1 are super-helpful for new acts as well.

Liv: It’s very sad to see, because there’s a lot of great stories that have come from those Introducing shows. It’s such an important step in the door for young artists. The heads of Introducing are doing a great job of trying to make sure new artists are heard, but it’s definitely made it a bit harder for brand-new artists to come through.

Steph: It was a sad time that felt like it galvanized the industry to speak up in support of any avenues that help new artists. I will say they have done an incredible job at BBC Introducing of ensuring artists are still cutting through. The team are all phenomenal and their passion is unrivaled. I don’t know how they keep on top of all the artists uploading and continue to fight for opportunities for them, but they do. Nothing beats seeing that journey from the first play on a local show to a first session to a first festival stage, through to a Live Lounge, A List records and then a main-stage Big Weekend moment. Using Declan McKenna as an example, they have been a constant in his career, and we are eternally grateful for their support.

Suzy: Too early to tell right now but not currently, no. BBC Introducing is a vital part for developing British talent, which is why it’s produced many huge acts we know and love. I hope that where it remains, it continues to give new artists a platform and a trajectory into daytime Radio 1 and beyond.

Would you change anything about the way British radio operates? Are there any improvements that you think could be made?

Damian: They could play even more of my records! We’re very proud of being the #1 airplay label for 10 straight years. So if it changed, maybe we wouldn’t get quite as much as we get. I wouldn’t change it too much. I think it works really well, and the RAJAR figures are a testament to that.

Liv: The volume of music that major labels and maybe some independent labels are working with is making it harder, in general, to get through. I think there’s more to be done for brand-new artists. I certainly don’t want radio to forget how they can build artists and make their careers. It feels a little like they’re starting to worry about going straight for the huge numbers, the big streaming artists and the TikTok one-hit wonders. It would also be great to see more female representatives in quite a male-dominated industry.

Steph: I’d like there to be more conversation about what stations might be able to contribute when it comes to ticketed events to make the playing field more level, particularly for newer artists and independent labels. The exposure we get is very compelling, but stations are also getting brilliant content from our artists, so perhaps that relationship could be more symbiotic. More steps from stations in terms of awareness of the environmental impact of things, like promo and events, would be great. It’s been encouraging to see things like plastic bottles banned from many radio events and the artist green memo that Radio 2 sent out for their Radio Two in the Park event in September. We should all continue striving towards things we can do to help on all sides.

Suzy: More opportunities for British artists to appear on radio shows beyond the playlists. With the exception of large-scale promo or events, there are very few promo opportunities nowadays, which can result in a disconnect between artists, the radio station and their listeners.

What’s the best thing about British radio?

Damian: British radio is loyal to artists; they genuinely want to develop them and help us do that. They will take risks on things. They are always looking for the next new thing, as we all are. Equally, with returning acts, they will be very supportive of acts that have worked for their stations. You know where you’re at—as long as the artist makes a certain record and it’s right for the station, you’re going to get support.

Liv: Getting the personalities of the artists across. When we’ve got Hottest Record or first plays anywhere, the excitement around that, getting the fans really pumped up to hear it for the first time and putting context around it, is not really comparable to anything else. The interaction between the artist, the radio and the listener can feel really quite special.

Steph: So many things! Our counterparts in other countries, as well as managers and artists, always comment on how lucky we are to have the stations we do, and I totally agree with that. We have world-class stations, producers, music teams and DJs, run by people who care about elevating and supporting artists. I love how you can have an artist like Rag’n’Bone Man, 10 years into his career, still sitting on so many different stations, from Radio 1 to Radio 2, to Hits, Magic and beyond, as well as some of his music still being supported at community stations. One of the best things is the breadth of genres supported across British radio and how willing the audience is to lean in. You have places like 6 Music, who, just over a decade ago, were threatened with closure and are now on record listeners and supporting such an eclectic mix of artists. Then you have Capital Dance, a relatively new station that’s grown to 1 million weekly listeners in a year and become the biggest dance station in Europe.

Suzy: So much. The communities built amongst the listeners, the live interaction. Falling in love with Lewis Capaldi whilst he’s playing ridiculous but genius features such as “Innuendo Bingo” [a game on BBC Radio 1]. British radio is good company whether you’re on a car drive, cooking in your kitchen or listening whilst on the way to work.

How do you see the relationship between the U.K. music business and radio evolving in future? Do you see any changes or developments on the horizon?

Damian: I would think it’s more of the same. There’s always conversations about putting airplay into the chart, and that would be a potential game changer if it happened. It would add to the chart position of your songs, which I think would be helpful. “Why shouldn’t it be in there?” is what some people say.

Liv: There have been a lot of changes recently at major U.K. stations, the BBC especially, and I think the focus on U.K. music should definitely still be a priority. Radio gives authenticity and there’s a lot of developments going on in the world with AI and things like that, which can be fairly dangerous for artists. Radio needs to stand at the forefront of all of that.

Steph: Continued transparency and partnership are key. Hopefully, more opportunities for new artists—this is going to be crucial to the continued success of British music. We need to be having more regular breakthroughs as an industry. A commitment from radio will help that to happen so we still have U.K. festival headliners in the future and a thriving industry. The relationship between us and radio is in a really good place, though. There are so many brilliant, passionate people at radio and new talent coming through. Here’s to many more years of radio remaining crucial to our campaigns.

Suzy: Radio is offering so much more than the three-minute-30-second play on air now. It has a huge digital footprint across socials, YouTube and online. The more the stations pull all these offerings together, the more attractive and impactful it is for the artist, therefore strengthening the relationship between radio and listeners with artists and their superfans.