Chris Ross "Mostly Sober"

When we were advocating to Save mvyradio, you might have been thinking "Will the station be able to survive?" and "Will I still be able to hear them?" and "Will they have to change their format?"

A question that perhaps didn't cross your mind was, "Will they still be getting service from the record labels?"

It's an interesting, sometime strange arrangement we have in the world of Radio and Records.  And if you're not in it, you may not know how it works.

Here's how it works.

Record companies sign artists and release records.  Their promotions departments (or hired freelancers, called independent promoters) promote the record to radio stations.  Meaning, I get phone calls every week from promoters saying, "We sent you the record.  Have you heard the record?  Do you like the record?  Will you be playing the record?"  Ultimately, their goal is to get mvyradio to put the record in regular rotation on the radio station, because regular airplay (generally speaking) leads to sales, which allows the artists to get paid, and the label to make enough money to sign new artists and release new records.

How do they quantify success?

Here's where industry trade magazines come it.

Each week, I am expected to send a list of what songs we played, and how many times we played each song to Billboard/R&R and Triple A Radio/Mediabase and FMQB, all trade magazines.  The list includes all the current songs we play (not all the older tracks).  For instance, last week, mvyradio played Grace Potter's "Stars" 15 times.

That 15 is added to all the the other spins that Grace got, on all the other radio stations that report.  The song with the most spins, is the Number One song of the week.  Right?

Having a high charting song lets the label know that the promoter is doing a good job, lets the band know that the label is doing a good job, and lets radio know that a band is succeeding elsewhere (and might prompt the station to increase airplay).

So having radio airplay be an accountable thing, is vital to the whole Radio and Record ecosystem.

What happens if you don't report to the trades?

Well, all those times you spin "Stars" aren't counted by anyone.  The bands and the labels have no proof that you are supporting them.  And the promoters lack incentive to even send you records, because there is no proof that you play them.

Stop reporting, and the records stop coming to your mailbox.

Way back when, when I hosted an Alternative specialty show, I'd try to get service from the record labels.  I wanted to be on their mailing list and be shipped their regular releases.  But I was often just blown off.  The nice ones would say, "I can't put you on my list, but if there is something you really want, send me a request and if I have an extra I will send it to you."  Imagine not being able to get a copy of "Nevermind" in 1994?

To get on these lists, you have to be a real radio station, with a real reach and impact.

Going off the FM dial was putting mvyradio's status in jeopardy.

Two pieces of good news happened:

First, we were able to work out a deal that keeps us on 96.5FM in Newport.  So for the sticklers, we ARE on a real FM radio station.

Second, attitudes (inside and outside the industry) are changing. 

If we had left the FM dial a few years ago, many Record folks would have treated the fact that we were a stream-only station the same way they treated my Alternative Specialty show:  not significant enough to be on the radar.  It wouldn't have matter to them mvyradio's online listening audience is much bigger than many of the terrestrial FM stations that do report.  We would have been off the reports, off the mailing lists and kicked down to a second-class status.

But today, industry minds are finally coming around to the fact that some of the old measurement systems really don't accurately represent the world today.

Perhaps the most notable shift in all of the business occurred a couple of weeks ago, when Billboard Magazine announced that they would add Youtube data to how they calculated their Hot 100 charts, which historically was based on radio airplay and sales of the record.

It makes sense.  The new math allowed the song "Harlem Shake" to leap to the Number One spot on the singles chart, propelled by the viral nature of videos featuring the song.  More and more people are hearing, discovering and sharing songs in this way.

Keeping mvyradio on the charts, due to its long reach and influence, I know makes sense to a lot of folks in my business.

In fact, Marc Ratner, a former Major Label guy who know runs his own operation, spoke on our behalf to the folks at Billboard.  He talked about how everyone may still call them "records" even though they might be CDs or MP3 or a stream or whatever.  It's still music, the delivery system is just a little different.  mvyradio should stay as a reporter.

mvyradio is still radio, it's just delivered a bit differently.

And that brings me to this Chris Ross song.

Ross is a singer-songwriter from Maine, and a client of Ratner's.  I got a kick out of "Mostly Sober" the very first time I heard it, enjoying the humor, liking his voice and rolling with the lyrical twists and turns that remind me of a Beck song.

After deciding "We like the song," the next question asked, on the path to adding it to rotation is, "Will the audience care?"

Chris Ross is nowhere on any chart.  He's unknown.  There is no data, from traditional sources, to indicate if we played the tune, music fans would be interested.

So it's all the more striking that his Youtube Channel has about 200,000 views of his self-produced videos.

He's not charting, but someone is listening.  And folks are reacting.

I played "Mostly Sober" at 2:50pm on Wednesday.  By 3pm, an mvyradio listener in New Jersey had written on Ross' Facebook page that she'd just discovered him by listening to mvyradio.   And a few minutes later, Ross had emailed Ratner in Maine, and Ratner forward the message to me.

The modern world!

"Mostly Sober" is no "Harlem Shake."  It's not about to rocket to the top spot on the chart due to Youtube play.

But it's good that we are recognizing that "records" are more than just a plastic disc, and "radio,"---what it is, what it does and what it means to people---isn't limited to a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum.



Hear the song on Youtube.


See a "Harlem Shake" compilation on Youtube.

Youtube Orchestra "Somebody That I Used To Know"

I remember this interview with actor Mark Hamill, who talked about the two roads he could have taken.

One way to was do everything in his power to distance himself from "Star Wars."  He could stay away from any and all Sci-Fi roles.  He could avoid the Comic-Cons of the world.  He could walk around like his co-star Harrison Ford, with a shirt like this --->>>

The other way was something he had seen Janet Leigh do.

Leigh, an accomplished actress who appeared in dozens of films (including notable ones like "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Touch Of Evil") is mostly remembered for three harrowing minutes in a shower in the movie "Psycho."

He noted that she could have just stopped giving interviews on the subject of "Psycho" and the shower scene, but instead she embraced it.  She became an expert on it.  She did not fight against her own public image.

Similarly, Hamill embraced the fact that he is seen by most as Luke Skywalker, and will do "Star Wars things" (like show up at Comic-Con or spoof himself on shows like "The Simpsons").

I thought of this when I saw this mega-mix of "Somebody That I Used To Know."

If a million Youtubers are going to cover your song, why not embrace it?

Gotye grafts together portions of dozens of homemade covers to create something as fun and as viral as any of the overly sincere or gimmicky cover versions out there.

If you're going to be known for one song, don't be afraid to embrace it.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Julian Velard "Last Christmas"

Go to Youtube and search for nearly any popular song, and after the first few instances of the official video, and the artist doing a live version or whatever, you start to see "Youtube covers."

It's such a modern-day convention. A person who plays acoustic guitar or piano or whatever, who sets up a camera in their room, and records and uploads a video of themselves doing their favorite song, acoustically.

People have a lot of fun turning big pop hits (like Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" or Britney Spears "Oops I Did It Again") into strummy ballads. And it's propelled a few folks to some mini-online-fame.

But it's only natural that this fun exercise shouldn't just be the province of amateurs. So occasionally you'll find people like Ben Folds busting something out on the web.

One of my favorite sources is Julian Velard, who is a great combination of super talented and super hilarious.

He's made great use of the web, frequently uploading originals and covers and concert snippets and offhanded comments. It's a great release of creativity.

Enjoy this one. I like it because, despite the initial suggestion that it will be super-goofy, I think that deep-down, Julian sincerely loves this Wham classic.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Adele "Rumour Has It"

I, and perhaps you, are of the generation where MTV mattered, musically.

Artists made videos, and we were excited to watch them.

But MTV evolved to a lifestyle channel, and music videos have been largely irrelevant to the channel for so long, that I just don't think videos matter to the current generation.

Videos have started to matter again, though, here in the age of Youtube. Online videos have proven to be a successful way to get an artist's music out there.

So I was curious to check out Youtube's newly updated Music page, which now lists the 100 most popular music videos on Youtube. And you can play them like a "Channel," one video after the other, like you were watching MTV in 1982.

I was curious, because I kinda thought---since music videos aren't really a part of the current generation's pop culture, but are hugely a part of my generation's orientation---that there would be a pretty strong showing of mvyradio-type artists on the list.

How wrong I was. Of the Top 100 videos, the only mvyradio artist on the list of most played videos on Youtube, was Adele.

The list was predominately Pop artists like Jennifer Lopez and Rebecca Black and such.

And I wondered, now that there is this page, will my generation rediscover their passion for the music video, and bring more adult artists to the top 100?


See the video on Youtube.

Tenpole Tudor "Wunderbar"

After yesterday's post brought back faint memories of V66, I decided that I'd conclude this week, trying to test the limits of both my memory and of Youtube.

One of the lines in the V66 video, mentions that the video channel was playing a certain song and in the towns where the video was being seen, people were walking into their local record stores asking to buy it. This was true of early MTV, where they'd play songs that radio in the U.S. had never played.

So I wracked my brain, trying to think of an early, early MTV song, that I might vaguely remember a video for, but had never heard on the radio. Or, in fact, seen on TV since the early 80s.

Then I planned to search for it on YouTube, to see if anyone else remembered it.

I had the wispiest flash of a video, that HAD to be European, with a mad band on some kind of pirate ship, screaming "Wunderbar!" over and over.

Sure enough, typing "Wunderbar music video" in the search bar, led me to this band that I can't say I've ever heard of: Tenpole Tudor.

I read a lot about music. I listen to tons of it. I have, what some might consider, an elephantine memory for bands and songs. So I'm pretty certain that I haven't seen, heard or thought about his song in 28 or so years.

And yet, here it is, on YouTube. Do YOU remember it?

Jimmy Kimmel and Norah Jones "You Tube's 12 Days Of Christmas"

5 Great Christmas Tunes That Aren’t Really In The Christmas Spirit

Norah Jones was recently nominated for a Grammy for her duet with Willie Nelson, for the Christmas cover of "Oh Baby It's Cold Outside." No doubt, it made the Grammy cut, because it is a timeless cover of a timeless classic.

In fact, much of what Norah Jones does is timeless. Her songs often really sound like they could have been released any time between 1920 and 2011.

Maybe that's part of what makes her inclusion in this Jimmy Kimmel bit so funny. It is absolutely the least timeless piece of music Norah Jones has ever recorded.

When digital archeologists uncover the remains of 2009, and they find this clip, they will no doubt say "How quaint! The humans of 2009 viewed their viral videos through what they called a 'web site,' instead of their ocular-implanted microscreens! This 'YouTube' must've seemed very amazing to their puny 2009 brains."

It's unwieldy to sing this year, or any year in the future. But it should make you laugh today.

See the video, here