Too old for radio?
You have to skip down through the Britney ‘news’ before you hit this disturbing article which describes how not just the record companies have gone insane in the music business.
Bruce: Magic Refused Radio Play
Bruce Springsteen should be very happy. He has the No. 1 album, a possible Grammy for Best Album of the Year for “Magic,” an album full of singles and a sold-out concert tour.
Alas, there’s a hitch: Radio will not play “Magic.” In fact, sources tell me that Clear Channel has sent an edict to its classic rock stations not to play tracks from “Magic.” But it’s OK to play old Springsteen tracks such as “Dancing in the Dark,” “Born to Run” and “Born in the USA.”
Just no new songs by Springsteen, even though it’s likely many radio listeners already own the album and would like to hear it mixed in with the junk offered on radio.
Why? One theory, says a longtime rock insider, “is that the audience knows those songs. Of course, they’ll never know these songs if no one plays them.”
Clear Channel seems to have sent a clear message to other radio outlets that at age 58, Springsteen simply is too old to be played on rock stations. This completely absurd notion is one of many ways Clear Channel has done more to destroy the music business than downloading over the last 10 years. It’s certainly what’s helped create satellite radio, where Springsteen is a staple and even has his own channel on Sirius.
It’s not just Springsteen. There is no sign at major radio stations of new albums by John Fogerty or Annie Lennox, either. The same stations that should be playing Santana’s new singles with Chad Kroeger or Tina Turner are avoiding them, too.
[Duplicate post. - ed.]
You really are dense, Mr. Wong. In most markets, Clear Channel has been loosing ears, even when there is no FM alternatives. In other words, CC could care less what sells, but it does seem that they certainly have something to sell; a dark dystopian reality, one part Britney Spears, a bit of 1984 and Brave New World, and a tiny dash of the Handmaden’s Tale for flavor. But I’m not buying, and frankly it looks like many people are tuning out.
Clear Channel; the best thing that ever happened for Apple’s bottom line. Why do you think the iPod has no standard FM radio? Their primary market is the American one, and who would want to listen to that crap.
Let’s extend the local radio mandate to newspapers, and say that they have to be locally owned as well.
Besides, neither talk radio nor the FM dial have been very conservative for a while. Since when was making light of torture, advocating constant war and spending more money than Lyndon Johnson ‘conservative’? The fact is that our ruling elite (to some extent on both sides, but particularly the GOP) are currently extreme radicals, treading under all our traditions, standards, and even the rule of law to gather power. ‘Conservative’ might now mean supporting treatment of prisoners and a foreign policy undistinguishable from that of the Soviets, and ‘Liberal’ might now mean anyone who disagrees with the current course, but I don’t support this stupid redefinition.
What a load of carp!
Cloudychannel wants to ban Springsteen’s new album because unlike most of the drivel out there, it makes people THINK!!!
Cloudychannel does NOT want people to think. They merely want to rule the airwaves. They have struck deals with even a public radio affiliate here in the Northeast, to try to gain more listenership.
Omega Man is right on. Tom Petty has been fighting with the music business for his ENTIRE CAREER. That song, “The Last DJ” goes a long way in illustrating what is going on in the music business today, and has been for quite some time.
Li, the “right wing” only looks extreme because you think Michael Moore is central. BTW, I regard Bush as a statest conservative, and that’s no praise from me.
The country is headed down because of the nihilistic pessimism being taught in the schools and on the radio, the “hate AmeriKKKa” stupidity, people pushing “weary, worldly cynicism” in place of actually knowing stuff, “you can’t do anything because you are a (whatever minority)” the /left/ is pushing, the criminal tax rate (and Bush’s spending is setting up higher taxes once he is out of office) and the minimum wage discouraging achievement from both ends of the scale, the class war the /left/ is trying to start, the boar teat useless education the universities are giving (and how are student’s going to pay off the loans?), and, of course, political corruption.
Plain and simple, Clear Channel SUCKS!!!! They now own seven stations in my area and have completely killed decent radio.
Angel Wong >> That’s actually quite simple, you air what can be sold. Period.
I suspect you’ve never worked in media. It’s not that simple at all.
Give me some mediocre music and give me a lot of air time to play it — and it will generate sales.
witness: American Idol.
Phillet >>Li, the “right wing” only looks extreme because you think Michael Moore is central.
Moore is not central and the New York Times and NPR are not leftist — or even particularly liberal.
It seems like many Americans make no attempt at an honest assessment of American political spectrum.
Moore is fairly far on the left but he’s hardly a bomb thrower either.
Clear Channel, best I can tell, is not exactly a far right organization either. They CREATED the 90% dominance of far right radio because they thought they could make a buck out of it — to hell with the good of America.
And, of course, that’s a conservative value system. But it’s not the same as far right.
#28
“Give me some mediocre music and give me a lot of air time to play it — and it will generate sales.”
Sounds to me like the perfect marketing scam.
I think Tommy Chong said it in Next Movie “Springsteen is ruining rock n’ roll, he’s f*ing it all up man…”
Well, this news inspired me to buy Springsteen’s “Magic” CD, which will be put on my iPod soon.
#12 has it right. I probably won’t be listening to Clear Channel stations if I can help it. They dominate many music markets, which makes them dangerous.
I like Tom Petty too…always have. The Last DJ pretty well nailed the problem with radio today.
One of the reasons talk radio flourishes is because so many music stations are repetitive and sucky.
People still buy CD’s?
Sirius has a Springsteen channel now. Plays nothing but. Also I have heard him on the other Sirius channels. Terrestrial radio the NAB and dinosaurs all have something on common,
#29 My point exactly. ‘Conservative’ has come to mean slavish devotion to the crypto-fascists, and ‘Liberal’ has come to mean everything else. Moore might be a big fat lefty, who is frankly far too sure of himself for his own good, but that does not make massive overspending and torture ‘conservative’ positions, merely by dichotomy. Frankly, most of the people who’s leadership I find lacking are neither liberal or conservative by the old rules, but rather they are people who are simply nuts; people who lack any understanding of strategy, fiscal responsibility or even basic human decency. If the GOP wants to tie themselves to the apocalyptos and police-state fetishists, that’s just fine I guess, but they should get used to failure at the polls, because that is simply not what America stands for. In other words, a bunch of nuts shouldn’t be too surprised if they end up roasted.
Obviously Clear Channel is offended that Springsteen supported John Kerry in the last presidential election, making the election so close that they had to modify electronic voting machines to give Bush the win.
Ain’t gonna happen this time….Springsteen is an un-person (to quote Orwell) in the eyes of the Conservative wackos.