OT Rolling Stones and Radio Play

[bugsymalone]

I saw this article and thought it was interesting and sort of applicable to some of our discussions here.

I think if these guys can't get airplay, NO one can.

It is from the Fox News website.



Rolling Stones Fight for Radio Play, Hire Expert

It’s not easy being the world’s greatest rock and roll band. The Rolling Stones, currently on tour and selling tickets for $450 a pop, are having so much trouble getting their new single played on the radio that they’ve even hired a specialist to help them.

“Rough Justice,” a song with just enough salacious bite in the lyrics to get someone’s attention, would have benefited from being banned. Unfortunately, its double entendres haven’t sparked enough interest one way or another. The result is an uphill battle to get played on stations that are crowded with younger acts — many of whom owe their existence to the Stones.

As of last week, “Rough Justice” did not register on the mainstream airplay charts on the Billboard Radio Monitor at all.

On that chart, the No. 1 single, “Listen to Your Heart,” a sterile remake of a pretty bad 1989 Roxette single, had 7,666 “spins” or plays. The No. 2 single, Mariah Carey’s blockbuster “We Belong Together,” was not far behind with 7,507.

By contrast, “Rough Justice” had been played a total of 407 times at all the stations that were playing it all. And that number wasn’t very high. The upside is that it’s 33 times more than the week before, but that isn’t saying much.

“Rough Justice” is also having trouble picking up radio markets. So far only one station in New York, WAXQ 104.3, has it.

There’s also one station each in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Atlanta.

After that, the list gets a little dire: all the cities are secondary markets, like Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Albany and Toledo. All told, “Rough Justice” could only be found on 32 radio stations across the United States.

WHJY in Providence currently holds the cumulative record, having spun the Stones single 192 times in total through Aug. 28.

For that alone, the Stones should put in a personal appearance at the station to thank their brave program director, Scott Laudani. When I spoke to him yesterday, Laudani — who’s got great taste in music and is currently hyping an RCA singer-songwriter he loves named Ray LeMontagne — was surprised to hear that he was the Stones’ biggest advocate.

“When the album came in, we played the whole thing. It took an hour and a half,” he said. “But that’s how I grew up listening to radio. But some bands have earned that exposure.”

He told me he thinks “Rough Justice” will prevail eventually. “New music has to be spoon-fed to the listeners,” he said.

Bob Buchmann, from Q104.3, told me none of this makes any sense to him. “It baffles me,” he said. “There’s no reason I’m the only one playing the record.”

To try and reverse the situation, the Stones — whose still-to-be-released album is on struggling Virgin Records — are said to have hired former Sony International exec Rick Dobbis to “work” the stations. (“A Bigger Bang” was officially released on Tuesday.)

Dobbis is said to have come on for “a lot of money,” says a source, “maybe as much as a half million dollars.”

But even Dobbis has so far had little luck making “Rough Justice” click with stations that are heavy into “lite hip-hop” sounds such as Mariah, Gwen Stefani and the Black Eyed Peas.

Of course, the Stones’ radio problems do stem from their age and where exactly to put them.

When they were in their heyday, radio stations played a variety of music including rock 'n' roll.

Now, thanks to Clear Channel, radio is so fractured into genres that there’s almost no place for an “oldies” act with new material.

Billboard’s Radio Monitor puts “Rough Justice” into a narrow category called “Heritage Rock,” where the Stones compete with Staind, Nickelback, Audioslave, Green Day and even Bon Jovi.

Let’s put it this way: none of the Stones’ contemporaries are on Heritage Rock. No Beatles, Kinks, Who, Hollies, no Aretha, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, Supremes, Temptations, Simon & Garfunkel.

They are out there on their own, competing against bands whose members could be their kids, or in some cases, grandchildren.

What will happen? Virgin would be best advised to get another single out fast, maybe a ballad like “Biggest Mistake” or “Streets of Love.”

Do a remix of “Oh No, Not You Again” or “Look What the Cat Dragged In” with Jermaine Dupri at the controls. (Isn’t that why he was made president of Virgin’s Urban division?)

And get a video made with someone young and hip, like a Leonardo DiCaprio or the cast of "Entourage," to make the wrinkly old Stones have some appeal to kids who’ve probably never heard of them in the first place.

Otherwise, “A Bigger Bang” may turn into a whimper, and that would be terrible.


Bugsy