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Music industry troubles caused by radio?

Apparently the music business is in trouble. For the first time since the Beatles, sales are diminishing. Some people think it's because of internet downloading and perhaps that is part of the problem but I think it's more because there's not much new worth listening to. The thing is, I'm sure there are amazing musicians out there who we're just not hearing. They probably fall outside of the narrow range of music that most radio stations choose to play.

I can remember discovering FM in the '70s. It was amazing. Low key, huge variety, minimal commercial content, and whole album sides sometimes. In the '80s, I enjoyed a paricularly cool modern rock station where once again, variety ruled. Then along came the '90s. The bean counters took over and issued an edict that the same 40 songs should be played over and over ad nauseum. Pick a genre and you can almost predict the song that will be played based on the time of day. With less variety, there are fewer opportunities to introduce new artists and a bland, homogenized form of radio pap results.

Maybe I'm just becoming an old fart but I can't think of many bands worth mentioning that actually came on the scene in the '90s. The artists that I find are still worth listening to emerged in the '60s, '70s and '80s and continue to record today.

There might be reason for hope. If XM can offer a more diverse pallate of music, maybe some of the fun of radio could return.
jlambrick

Showing 1 response by ozfly

ozfly
887 posts
 
Hockey, you are so right! The industry is looking for a scapegoat rather than evaluating the real issue -- their unwillingness to take risks and target any but the broad audiences. The success of 70's FM radio was based on a wide variety stations targeting different audiences with a broader mix of music. What the hell happened??? Now, except for the college stations and some public radio stations, it's formula, formula, formula with less than a dozen formats -- and each of those formats being repeated endlessly on other stations and across the country. Radio is no longer much fun! Radio no longer makes me go out and buy CD's because the only songs being played will become overplayed and tiresome soon enough! I bought my first Osibisa album long ago based on hearing African rock on the radio. Anybody hear that lately? Or even modern jazz? Anything so new that it shook you?

Sorry for the rant. IMO, music industry execs are pursuing a short term profit maximization strategy that will lead to long term erosion (sort of a local optima, temporally). Where's the vision? Maybe it is satellite as Tok suggests. Tok, are they playing anything new? Is there variety? If so, maybe that's the answer.
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