On April 28, FMC released “Same Old Song: An Analysis of Radio Playlists in a Post-FCC Consent Decree World”, an exhaustive, data-driven study that analyzes radio playlists to determine whether the policy interventions resulting from 2003-2007 payola investigations had any effect on the amount of independent music played on terrestrial radio.
http://www.futureofmusic.org/research/playlisttrackingstudy.cfm
First of all, it’s important to know why we conducted this study at this particular point in time. Back in 2007, Federal Communications Commission issued consent decrees against the nation’s four largest radio station group owners – Clear Channel, CBS Radio, Citadel and Entercom – as a response to collected evidence and widespread allegations about payola influencing what gets played on the radio. In addition to paying fines totaling $12.5 million, the station group owners also worked with the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) to draft eight “Rules of Engagement” and an “indie set-aside,” in which these four group owners voluntarily agreed to collectively air 4,200 hours of local, regional and unsigned artists, and artists affiliated with independent labels. We thought that it would be a good idea to study some hard data to determine if there’s any more indie music being played on the radio following those policy interventions.
Using playlist data licensed from Mediaguide, we examined four years of airplay – 2005-2008 – from national playlists and from seven specific music formats: Adult Contemporary, Urban AC, Active Rock, Country, Contemporary Hit Radio Pop, Adult Album Alternative Commercial and Triple A Noncommercial. FMC calculated the “airplay share” for five different categories of record labels to determine whether the ratio of major label to non-major label airplay has changed over the past four years.
Our analysis indicated almost no change in station playlist composition in the four years we looked at. Specifically, the national playlist data showed little measurable change in airplay share from 2005-2008, with major label songs consistently securing 78 to 82 percent of airplay. There was a slight increase in airplay for indies on a few formats (Country and AAA Non-Commercial, in particular) but otherwise the data from year to year stayed pretty much the same.
Our study also shows that many formats leave only small portions of their playlist for new material, with current songs sprinkled in among well-worn hits. And looking specifically at airplay for new releases, we found that new major label songs typically receive a higher proportion of spins than new indie label songs. Finally, we looked at the indie labels themselves, and found that only a handful have enough resources and clout to garner airplay consistently.
The report also makes several policy recommendations that might prove useful to the FCC’s oversight of the airwaves and improve the radio landscape for both listeners and the broader music industry. Check out the report for the details and press coverage:
http://www.futureofmusic.org/research/playlisttrackingstudy.cfm
Listen to FMC’s Kristin Thomson discuss the findings on Counterspin Radio:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3780