Re: The Official New Album Thread - Discussion Only
Actually it's the other way round. The song is not successful because people request it on the radio, it is successful because radio play it all the time. And in order to play it (promote it) all the time you must pay the radio. In other words if you have big budget to pay the promo, the success is almost guaranteed. Eventually people who listen to the radio are so used to hear the songs that they start to like them (or get irritated).
Some great songs are not played on the radio most of the time becaus ethere is a lack of budget to promote it. By the way, radios are not charity, they won't play songs for free. The same way goes with commercials (big budget, big success: coca cola, pepsi cola, etc, but have you ever heard of cockta? Probably not, because their budget for promotion is limited, yet cockta is also a good soda drink.)
I'm no expert but I don't believe that this is the way it works for all stations. Perhaps it does from some small regional stations but certainly not the big boys. In the UK, BBC radio 2 is the most listened to station and Radio 1 is right up there. Most major stations can't be bought like you describe, at least not to the extent you describe.
For example, the BBC radio stations (and many others) have a playlist determined by the internal panel who meet every week to listen to the new releases and then put them on a graded playlist:
A = most spins
B = medium spins
C = low spins.
Or of course they may not playlist them at all, in which case a song will either be completely ignored or get very very few spins over the course of that week.
It is possible for record companies to pay for advertising or specific features that may feature their song, but when you hear a song played twice an hour every hour, that is not because the record company have paid for it. It is because it is on the playlist, as decided by the panel. In the example of the BBC radio stations, they just wouldn't be allowed to be bought like you suggest. Of course it could be different in your country.
A record company can increase the chances of their songs being playlisted by creating the right buzz around that artist through advertising in magazines, on TV, on the underground, billboards, and by organising appearances by their artist. If they get the right buzz and the public are interested, then the radio stations will play their song.
Every time a song is played on UK radio a royalty payment is due and can be collected via a number of avenues (usually by the PPL or PPS in the UK). Most radio stations pay a blanket fee to cover the songs they play, while others pay on a more one-to-one basis but they are all paying to play the songs they play, not the other way around.
It is a fact that a song can be added to a playlist after the station has received many requests, even if they had previously not been playlisted at all. If it was playlisted on the C-list one week, it is possible it can move to the A-list.
Similarly, if a song was put on the A-list one week and it receives a poor reception from the listeners it can be dropped the following week. A station would be stupid to ignore the opinion of it's listeners because after all, if the listeners don't like what they hear they will stop listening and the station would go out of business.
Also, I do realise that radios are not a charity. In the UK, BBC radio stations are paid for by the license fee, which is paid by anyone in the UK who owns a TV. The BBC uses a portion of this fee to pay for its online and radio services. Commercial radio stations make the vast majority of their money through advertising revenue and sponsorship.
