Radio
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On Sunday (Jan. 21), longtime and beloved Chicago radio host Lin Brehmer died at 68 after battling prostate cancer.
Brehmer’s WXRT colleague and friend Terri Hemmert shared the news in a statement that read: “We must inform you that we all lost our best friend. Lin Brehmer fought cancer as long as he could. He passed early this morning, peacefully, with his wife (Sara) and son (Wilson) by his side.”
Brehmer announced he would take a leave of absence last July for treatment. He returned to the air in late November.
Adopting the tagline, “Your best friend in the whole world” during his time at WXRT, the sentiment was true for many, including Chicago legends like Wilco, Steve Albini, Billy Corgan, John Cusack and more. It wasn’t Brehmer’s only catchphrase. He often reminded listeners: “Take nothing for granted. It’s great to be alive.”
Brehmer started as a host at the Chicago rock station in 1991 after moving to the city in 1984 to be the music director, a position he held for six years. After a brief gig in Minneapolis, he returned to Chicago and WXRT — this time as the morning host. There he launched his legendary segment Lin’s Bin, through which he would excitedly and thoroughly answer listener questions while musing on life, music and pop culture. In 2020, he moved to middays.
A New York native, Brehmer started his career in Albany before relocating to and falling for the city of Chicago — from the Cubs baseball team to the food, whether it be an Italian beef sandwich or pizza. To honor the late Brehmer, the marquee at Wrigley Field (home of the Cubs) displayed his name.
WXRT celebrated Brehmer’s life with a special block of programming on Monday. Alongside stories from Hemmert and other hosts, plus special memories and send-offs from artists and bands like Corgan, The Record Company and more, the programming played a range of music that was meaningful to his life and career. It also aired Brehmer’s final sign-off for the station.
In it, he recounted being asked if he would change anything about his path. In short, the answer was an affirmative — and colorful — “no way.”
See the social media tributes to Brehmer below.
RIP to Chicago legend Lin Brehmer who sadly just passed away – he was the voice of WXRT – the best music station in Chicago – the kindest man you could ever meet – a lifelong cubs fanatic – and one of coolest warmest guy you could ever meet – He was truly Chicago’s finest –— John Cusack (@johncusack) January 23, 2023
The Cubs mourn the passing of legendary Chicago radio personality and lifelong Cubs fan Lin Brehmer.We send our condolences to his family and friends. pic.twitter.com/2SiHRmacxY— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) January 22, 2023
Lin, what a beautiful soul. Pure walking magic, an encyclopedia of music, and friend to all. Thank you, you will be so missed. Our condolences to all who knew Lin and the whole city of Chicago. 💙 @93XRT @LinBrehmer https://t.co/TDbKAZXFmf— The Record Company (@therecordcomp) January 22, 2023
Lin Brehmer was the voice of Chicago. His voice was unique and a perfect way to start the day. An ambassador for the city’s music scene and a dear friend, I announced the Uptown music district concept on his show.I’ll miss hearing his voice on XRT. May his memory be a blessing.— Rahm Emanuel (@RahmEmanuel) January 22, 2023
SiriusXM has brought on Suzi Watford, the former chief marketing officer for Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal, to oversee the satellite radio giant’s streaming subscription business, the company said on Tuesday.
Watford will join SiriusXM in the newly created role of chief growth officer and report to Joe Verbrugge, SiriusXM’s chief commercial officer. Her position will also include oversight of corporate marketing, data and research across SiriusXM and Pandora.
“Suzi has repeatedly demonstrated her ability to build and lead talented teams to evolve and grow profitable consumer subscription businesses, and we are thrilled to have her join us,” Verbrugge said in a statement.
Watford has spent the majority of her career at Murdoch-controlled media companies like News Corp.’s News U.K., in addition to the WSJ and Dow Jones. She most recently served as the chief marketing and membership officer for Dow Jones, overseeing marketing and subscription strategies across WSJ, Barron’s and MarketWatch.
Watford will be based in New York City.
“I’m looking forward to joining the talented team at SiriusXM at this stage in the company’s journey and playing a role as we look to attract and retain new growth audiences,” Watford said.
SiriusXM last reported having 32.2 million self-paying subscribers and 34.2 million total users at the end of September. During the same quarter, Pandora lost a net of 52,000 self-pay subscribers, leaving the music streaming service with a total of 6.29 million subscribers. The company will report its Q4 2022 earnings on Feb. 2.
This article was originally published on THR.com.
Last January, Larry Rosin, founder of the radio consultancy Edison Research, tapped out the rhetorical equivalent of an SOS. “It is not an exaggeration to say that contemporary music is in a crisis at American radio,” he wrote. Pop radio stations have floundered in the ratings in the last decade, Rosin noted, while all things classic — “gold,” in radio terms — are on the rise. “American music radio is rapidly becoming a kingdom of gold,” he added. “One mostly hears the hits of yesteryear.”
But one segment of the airwaves appears to be bucking this trend: A handful of public radio stations dedicated to playing new music have enjoyed notable ratings bumps in recent years — especially KUTX in Austin, KEXP in Seattle, KCMP in Minneapolis, and, to a lesser degree, WXPN in Philadelphia. During this “crisis” for new music on the airwaves, these stations have excelled at finding, and holding on to, listeners excited by the prospect of discovering a track from an artist they’ve never heard of.
“As consolidated commercial radio conglomerates have sacrificed localism and diverse playlists in the interest of severely slashing jobs in recent years, it is no surprise that music listeners are turning to high-quality and diverse public radio alternatives,” says Rachel Stilwell, a music and media attorney who represents music industry coalitions before the Federal Communications Commission.
KUTX has led the pack in the last two years. For several months last summer, KUTX was the second highest-ranked music station in Austin, according to Nielsen ratings, lagging behind only KBPA (“Adult Hits”). This ratings prominence is a recent development. Across 10 months in 2019, KUTX’s average rating was around 1.8, meaning that 1.8% of the city’s listening population tuned in. Across 10 months in 2022, that number jumped to 5.7, leapfrogging Austin’s primary pop and country stations.
KUTX “hit a stratosphere nobody has ever hit before in this format,” says Mike Henry, a four-decade-plus radio veteran and the founder of radio consultancy Paragon Media.
Several of KUTX’s peers also soared. As 2022 came to a close in Seattle, the only music stations outranking KEXP play Adult Contemporary and oldies. (KEXP’s average rating grew from around 1.05 in 2019 to roughly 3.6 in 2022.) The 2019 average rating for KCMP Minneapolis was around 2.8; in 2022 that grew to roughly 4.2. WXPN in Philadelphia has also seen a small bump in ratings.
While many new music radio formats are seeing declines in their share of listeners, “we’re seeing non-comm radio audiences hold — and in some situations grow,” says David Safar, managing director for KCMP. And during an average week last year, all of the top 10 songs on KCMP, KUTX, KEXP, and WXPN were from 2022.
Commercial radio’s growing aversion to new artists and stubborn insistence on playing a few songs as if they’re the last tracks left on earth was documented as early as 2007, if not before. Representatives for the three biggest radio chains did not respond to questions about new music’s role in their programming. But promotions executives point out that these stations are dependent on advertising, and conventional radio wisdom dictates that listeners are more likely to fiddle the dial if they hear something foreign to them. As a result, promotions executives say many commercial stations may keep just 15 new songs (“currents”) in rotation today, with extra focus on a handful of priority tunes.
On top of that, commercial radio has never been more untethered from its listeners. In 2017, the FCC eliminated the “main studio rule,” meaning radio companies were no longer required to maintain any presence in local markets where they had stations. Many chose to rely even more on DJs voice-tracking a show in one city and then broadcasting it hundreds of miles away. (Reps for the three biggest chains also did not respond to questions about their support for local music.)
These shifts “opened the door for new people to discover public radio,” which has been patiently waiting in the wings, says Henry of Paragon Media. “It has big playlists with variety put together by local DJs. It still plays a lot of new music.”
Public radio stations are non-profits; instead of depending solely on advertisers, they lean on the largesse of their listeners, who often provide more than half of their budgets. This forces these outlets to take the tastes of those listeners into account — ignore them, and they’re likely to be stingy with donations. Matt Reilly, program director at KUTX, says his station plays a song 20 to 25 times a week at most; otherwise, “we hear about it pretty quickly.”
Less repetition automatically means there’s room for more variation. What’s more, these stations take pride in stepping up to support unknown acts: “We add new songs that aren’t being played by any other radio station anywhere, let alone in our market,” Safar says. At a time when radio promotion increasingly seems like a Catch-22 — stations won’t play music that’s not popular, but it’s hard for artists to get popular if no one will play their songs — non-commercial outlets are “the only form of exposure where the sonics mean more than the metrics,” according to one veteran promotions executive.
Public radio’s fundraising model also helps ensure they remain defiantly local: Where better to find talent and solicit financial support than in your own backyard? There’s only one rule for DJs at KEXP in Seattle, according to Kevin Cole, the station’s senior director of programming: “We play at least one local artist an hour.” KCMP has played the Minneapolis power-pop duo DURRY more than 380 times this year, for example, dwarfing the spin-counts from the only three other stations that have played the group.
Henry likens public radio’s recent success to that of a long-running band finally experiencing a breakout moment more than a decade into their career. “So many of these stations have been doing what they’ve been doing for a long time without getting notoriety beyond critical acclaim,” he says. “It’s cool to see high ratings and get that external validation.”
Ray Cordeiro, who interviewed music acts including the Beatles during a six-decade career on Hong Kong radio that earned him the title of the world’s longest-working disc jockey, has died, his former employer announced. He was 98.
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Cordeiro died Friday (Jan. 13), according to Radio Television Hong Kong, where he worked until 2021. It gave no cause of death.
Cordeiro, who was born in Hong Kong in 1924 of Portuguese descent, was recognized by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s longest-working DJ.
He joined Hong Kong’s public broadcaster in 1960 after working as a prison warden and bank clerk. His “All the Way With Ray” show of easy listening music was on RTHK Radio 3 for 51 years until his retirement.
“The audience followed me, grew up with me, and they’re all over the world now,” Cordeiro told The Associated Press in 2021 after his retirement. “They still listened to me on the internet.”
Cordeiro interviewed the Beatles, then the world’s biggest music act, in 1964 following a study course in London with the British Broadcasting Corp. He said John Lennon recounted their early days in Hamburg, Germany, where they lived in relative poverty and played in clubs.
Cordeiro said all four members of the Beatles autographed a magazine cover for him.
“It’s probably worth a fortune,” he said.
The broadcast of the Beatles interview on Hong Kong radio made Cordeiro a celebrity. He also interviewed other stars and met Elton John and Tony Bennett.
Billboard will shift its airplay chart tracking week for all radio formats to Friday-through-Thursday beginning with Luminate-based charts dated Dec. 31. The schedule will switch from the Monday-through-Sunday tracking week previously used for all individual formats.
The all-format Radio Songs chart, which contributes to the all-genre, multi-metric Billboard Hot 100, already uses a Friday-through-Thursday tracking week, having segued to that schedule in July 2021.
Moving charts to a Friday-through-Thursday tracking period will align airplay with the streaming and sales tracking week, and allow for visible building chart tracking, within Luminate’s Music Connect platform, which operates under that song consumption timeline.
The dates for making the airplay chart tracking week change for all formats are as follows:
Charts finalized Monday, Dec. 19 and updated on Billboard.com Tuesday, Dec. 20 (dated Dec. 24) used data from Monday, Dec. 12 through Sunday, Dec. 18 (marking the last charts reflecting a Monday-through-Sunday tracking week).
Charts finalized Friday, Dec. 23 and to be updated on Billboard.com Wednesday, Dec. 28 (dated Dec. 31) will use data from Friday, Dec. 16 through Thursday, Dec. 22 (marking the first charts reflecting a Friday-through-Thursday tracking week).
The Friday-through-Thursday tracking week will continue to be used for airplay charts finalized Friday, Dec. 30 and to be updated on Billboard.com Wednesday, Jan. 4 (dated Jan. 7), using data from Friday, Dec. 23 through Thursday, Dec. 29, and for each week thereafter.
As previously reported, data and insights company Luminate, which provides data for Billboard’s charts, has partnered with airplay monitoring service Mediabase, and the latter’s radio tracking data began fueling Billboard surveys reflecting airplay activity dated Nov. 12. (Click here for more information, via Luminate, about the BDS/Mediabase transition, for Luminate subscribers with access to Luminate’s Music Connect platform.)
Along with Radio Songs, Billboard’s United States-based airplay charts encompass: Pop Airplay (Mainstream Top 40); Adult Pop Airplay (Adult Top 40); Adult Contemporary; Country Airplay; Rock & Alternative Airplay; Alternative Airplay; Adult Alternative Airplay (Triple A); Mainstream Rock Airplay; R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay; Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay; Adult R&B Airplay; Rap Airplay; Rhythmic Airplay; Latin Airplay; Regional Mexican Airplay; Latin Pop Airplay; Latin Rhythm Airplay; Tropical Airplay; Christian Airplay; Christian AC Airplay; Gospel Airplay; Dance/Mix Show Airplay; Smooth Jazz Airplay; and the seasonal Holiday Airplay chart.
All Billboard charts, viewable here, regularly update on Billboard.com each Tuesday.
Country Radio Hall of Fame member Charlie Monk, known affectionately within the Nashville music industry as “The Mayor of Music Row,” died at his home in Nashville on Monday (Dec. 19). He was 84.
During his 60-plus-year career, Monk impacted the careers of numerous artists, including Randy Travis, Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire, George Strait, Tim McGraw, Miranda Lambert and Faith Hill. Monk was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame in 2019.
Born Charles Franklin Monk on Oct. 29, 1938, in Geneva, Alabama, his career in entertainment began in high school in the 1950s, when he started sweeping floors at his hometown radio station WGEA. He quickly landed a weekend on-air shift as a disc jockey.
He went on to serve in the U.S. Army but was quickly drawn back to radio. He became a DJ on WTBF radio while attending Troy State University, followed by a stint on WKRG radio and television in Mobile, Alabama. He became program director and afternoon personality at WACT in Tuscaloosa, before returning to Mobile as a program director at WUNI. Monk would lead the station to become the top-ranking station in the market.
During his time at WUNI, he appeared as a guest announcer on WSM’s Grand Ole Opry. In 1968, he moved to Nashville and WMTS radio in Murfreesboro, where his free-form music and talk show for the station became the first daily radio broadcast from Nashville’s Music Row.
In 1969, he was a founder of Country Radio Seminar, an annual multi-day educational event which has offered networking and career growth opportunities for the music industry professionals for more than 50 years while also serving as a top showcase event for new and emerging artists.
Monk produced and hosted the annual New Faces Show for 40 years and in the process, helped launch the careers of artists including McEntire, Travis, Alabama, Brooks & Dunn, McGraw, Hill, Toby Keith, Jason Aldean, Vince Gill, Lambert, Strait and many others.
Monk also joined the staff of performing rights organization ASCAP in 1970 and began learning every aspect of the music business, while at the same time establishing relationships across the city’s country and gospel music industries.
In 1977, Monk became the Nashville chief of CBS Songs, which swiftly became one of Nashville’s top three publishers. He formed his own music publishing company, Monk Family Music Group, in 1983. He took a leave of absence in 1988 to spearhead the return of Acuff-Rose Music to the upper echelons of the industry, becoming the first publisher to win both ASCAP and BMI “Most Performed Song of the Year” in the same year.
In 1983, Monk signed a singer-songwriter by the name of Randy Traywick—now known as Country Music Hall of Fame member Randy Travis. Other songwriters and artist-writers Monk signed include Marcus Hummon, Holly Dunn, Jim McBride, Keith Stegall, Aaron Tippin, Chris Waters and Chesney.
Songs Monk published have been recorded by Travis, Tippin, Lonestar, McEntire, LeAnn Rimes, Tracy Lawrence, The Mavericks, Cheap Trick, Kenny Rogers, Sandi Patti, GlenCampbell, Otis Redding, Louise Mandrell, Trick Pony, Ike & Tina Turner, Led Zeppelin, and John Michael Montgomery. Monk also saw his own written song recorded by artists including Jerry Reed, Eddy Arnold, Pat Boone, Mandrell, Jimmy Dean, Charley Pride, Angelo Badalamenti, Travis and Charlie Chase.
After a more than three-decade absence, Monk returned to radio in 2004 to help launch SiriusXM in Nashville, hosting the morning show on Willie’s Roadhouse, as well as a weekend music and interview show on SiriusXM’s Prime Country until 2022. Monk also served on numerous music organizations. He was an alumnus and board member of Leadership Music, a lifetime director of the Country Radio Broadcasters, and a member of the Country Music Association, Academy of Country Music, and the Gospel Music Association. He also served as vice president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, vice president of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, vice president of the Gospel Music Association and local president of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
Monk’s honors include induction into the Country Radio Hall of Fame, The Alabama Music Hall of Fame, the University of Alabama College of Communication and Information SciencesHall of Fame and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tennessee Radio Hall of Fame. He received awards from the Alabama House and Senate, Country Radio Broadcasters, Inc.,SESAC (1998 Publisher of the Year), BMI (Publisher for “Most Performed Song”) ASCAP (Publisher for “Most Performed Song”) and Nashville Songwriters Association International. Heearned a CLIO Award for commercial voice work, an Addy Award and awards and honors from the Mobile Press Register, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and theNashville Association of Talent Directors. In 2021, Monk became only the ninth recipient of the CMA’s Joe Talbot Award for “outstanding leadership and contributions to the preservation and advancement of Country Music’s values and traditions.”
A lifelong lover of University of Alabama football, Monk is survived by his wife of 63 years, Royce Walton Monk; Sons Charles, Jr. (Sukgi) and Collin (Grace); Daughters CapucineMonk and Camila Monk Perry (Scott); sisters in law Peggy Walton-Walker Lord (Larry) and Elsie Walton (Colin Hamilton); Grandchildren Sam (Christina), Nathan, Christabel, McKenna,Theodore, Ella, Walton & Douglas; Great-grandchildren Alexis and Sophia and nieces Clara and Linda and nephews Wayne, Brian and Chip.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to MusiCares, Community Care Fellowship, Calvary United Methodist Church, Rochelle Center or CreatiVets.
Every year, country radio personnel vote on the artists who are most likely to become future country radio mainstays. The top five vote-getters perform during the New Faces of Country Music Show, which serves as the culmination of the annual Country Radio Seminar, putting the newcomers in front of numerous influential country radio industry members.
This year’s includes UMG Nashville singer-songwriter Priscilla Block, who broke through with “Just About Over You,” as well as Big Machine Label Group artist Jackson Dean, who earned a hit with “Don’t Come Lookin’,” and Sony Music Nashville newcomer Nate Smith, who is surging with “Whiskey on You.”
They join BBR Music Group artist and “Country’d Look Good on You” singer Frank Ray, as well as BMG’s Jelly Roll, who has a Billboard top 10 Country Airplay chart hit with “Son of a Sinner” and played a triumphant sold-out hometown arena show in Nashville on Dec. 9.
The 2023 New Faces of Country Music Show will take place March 15, concluding the 2023 Country Radio Seminar slated for March 13-15 at Omni Nashville Hotel.
CRB New Faces Committee Chairman Chuck Aly said via a statement, “The radio and streaming partner constituencies of CRS have spoken and, word is, the future of country music is bright. This year’s New Faces class comprises artists with admirable creative depth and burgeoning commercial impact. Translation: Don’t miss it!”
The first New Faces of Country Music show was held in 1970 and featured Jack Barlow, Jamie Kaye, Karen Kelly, Wayne Kemp, Lynda K. Lance, LaWanda Lindsey, Dee Mullins and Norro Wilson. Since then, a who’s who of country artists have performed on the show early in their careers, including Lefty Frizzell, Eddie Rabbitt, Vern Gosdin and Gene Watson. Reba McEntire, Alabama and Sylvia were among those on the 1980 lineup, while George Strait, Rodney Crowell and Ricky Skaggs performed at the event in 1982. Randy Travis and Marty Stuart were among the 1986 lineup, while Keith Whitley, Dwight Yoakam, Holly Dunn and Lyle Lovett were on the bill a year later.
Tim McGraw met his wife, fellow country singer Faith Hill, during the 1994 New Faces of Country Music Show; that year’s lineup also included Toby Keith, Lari White, Clay Walker and John Berry. Keith Urban and Brad Paisley shared the 2000 lineup, while Miranda Lambert and Eric Church were on the 2007 bill, and Taylor Swift and Luke Bryan were on the same bill in 2008.
The American Music Fairness Act (AMFA), which would require AM/FM stations to pay performance royalties to music creators and copyright holders for radio airplay in the U.S., just cleared a key hurdle in Congress — though the bill is unlikely to pass before the new session of Congress convenes in January.
In a mark-up session on Wednesday (Dec. 7), the House Judiciary Committee (which deals with copyright matters) voted to advance the bill, clearing its way for a full vote on the House floor. To become law, the bill would need to be approved by the full House of Representatives as well as the Senate and then signed into law by President Biden. However, the proposed legislation is unlikely to pass in the current session of Congress, which is drawing to a close at the end of the month, unless it’s tacked onto a must-pass bill during the lame duck period.
In an opening statement prior to the vote, Judiciary Committee ranking member Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) noted that bipartisan negotiations over the AMFA in recent months “stalled and never reached a resolution,” though he expressed confidence the bill could make it through the next Congress.
“While today’s debate is an important start in this conversation, if the American music Fairness Act has not become law this Congress, negotiations must resume next year,” Jordan said. “We believe there’s a deal to be struck here that is fair to all sides most importantly, fair to taxpayers and consumers.”
The AMFA is just the latest attempt by members of Congress to compel radio stations to pay performance royalties, which is a common practice in other countries but has not historically been required in the U.S. In Nov. 2019, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) introduced a similar bill, the Ask Musicians for Music Act, which would have allowed artists and copyright owners to negotiate performance royalty rates with radio stations in exchange for permission to play their music. That piece of legislation followed a previous bill, the Fair Play Fair Pay Act — also introduced by Blackburn and Nadler — that set out to achieve the same goal.
The AMFA was introduced in the House by Reps. Ted Deutch (D-FL) and Darrell Issa (R-CA) in June 2021, with the legislation announced during a press conference attended by singers Dionne Warwick and Sam Moore and Dropkick Murphys singer/bassist Ken Casey. A companion bill was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) this past September.
Unlike satellite/online radio and streaming services, AM/FM stations pay only songwriter royalties on the music they broadcast. To rectify that, the AMFA legislation would establish fair market value for radio performance royalties in the same way it has been for those other platforms.
The bill was a response to the Local Radio Freedom Act, a non-binding resolution introduced in May 2021 by Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) and Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) that opposes the imposition of a performance royalty, which proponents argue would be financially devastating for broadcasters. A companion resolution was introduced in the Senate by Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and John Barrasso (R-WY). Both resolutions are backed by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), which has long been opposed to enforcing a performance royalty payout on terrestrial radio.
In a statement on Wednesday’s vote, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. called it “an important step,” adding, “I am grateful to Chairman Nadler, Rep. Issa, and members of the committee for supporting the music community’s right to fair pay. It is vital to the health of our industry that creators are compensated for the use of their intellectual property on terrestrial radio, and the Recording Academy will continue to advocate for AMFA until this bill is signed into law.”
The Recording Academy is a key supporter of the AMFA along with organizations including the AFL-CIO, the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), the American Federation of Musicians, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), SAG-AFTRA, SoundExchange and the musicFIRST Coalition. Over the past several weeks, more than 100 artists including Warwick, Common, Harry Belafonte, Jack White, Becky G, Cyndi Lauper and Gloria Estefan have signed their names to a letter urging lawmakers to support the bill.
“To be clear, this fight is far from over,” said musicFIRST chairman and former Democratic congressman Joe Crowley in a statement. “We still have further to go before this important bill can be passed into law and improve the lives of artists across this country, and we know that Big Radio corporations will continue to oppose us every step of the way.”
In his own statement celebrating Wednesday’s vote, SoundExchange president and CEO Michael Huppe called on the full House to pass the bill. “Tens of thousands of music creators – our family, friends, and neighbors – are counting on Congress to do the right thing and help them get paid for their work. We cannot let them down,” he said.
On the other side of the issue, NAB CEO and president Curtis LeGeyt thanked the committee members who voted against advancing the AMFA, along with members of Congress who have supported the Local Radio Freedom Act resolution that stands in opposition to the bill.
“These lawmakers understand that AMFA will harm local broadcasters and audiences around the country, undermine our ability to serve their communities and ultimately fail artists by leading to less music airplay,” said LeGeyt. “Broadcasters urge the recording industry to join us in serious discussions instead of using the few legislative days left in the calendar to pursue divisive legislation that faces broad congressional opposition.”
Whenever I tell someone that recording artists aren’t paid when their songs are played on AM/FM radio, they are surprised. Yet, it’s true: not a single performer has ever been paid a performance royalty by American broadcasters for analog radio.
Unfortunately, that’s only half the story. When U.S. broadcasters, including iHeartMedia, Audacy, Cumulus Media, and others, refuse to pay for AM/FM radio plays, it is a double whammy. First, it denies thousands of hard-working Americans the full ability to make a living from their craft.
Second, this denial is used as an excuse by many countries around the world to withhold payments to U.S. artists when their music is played overseas. European countries typically pay royalties to foreign artists, but some use U.S. broadcasters’ refusal to pay for AM/FM radio plays as an excuse for denying those royalties to American artists. Given that American music is the most popular in the world, this amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars in lost income for American creators – every year.
Think that’s bad? It gets even worse. Some countries (such as France) do collect royalties on behalf of Americans, but that money never gets to the rightful recipients in the United States. Instead, they divert it towards their local artists or to fund local “cultural” programs. SoundExchange and others are currently in French courts trying to remedy this egregious practice.
Fortunately, some progress is being made. In 2020, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that all artists, regardless of nationality, should be paid when their music is played in Europe. They cite a principle called “National Treatment,” in which a country must treat foreigners with the same laws they treat their own citizens. It’s an important principle: imagine if the United States denied a foreign national the right to a fair trial simply because their home country doesn’t provide those protections.
In reaction to the ECJ decision, France and others are seeking to limit its impact so they can keep diverting royalties away from American artists for their own cultural funds. The Fair Trade of Music coalition is fighting to ensure that Europe does the right thing and treats artists equally, regardless of nationality.
This battle to protect American interests in Europe has been fought for a while, but the problem could be solved instantly if Congress passed the American Music Fairness Act, legislation to finally grant recording artists a performance right for AM/FM. The notion of paying artists for radio play already exists in the rest of the world and also exists in the U.S. for streaming services (such as Spotify or Sirius XM). The fact that the House Judiciary Committee is expected to consider the legislation on Wednesday is a sign that it’s gaining momentum as Congress completes its work. The legislation lays out a fair approach: it requires billion-dollar corporations to pay their fair share for music. It also protects small broadcasters and college radio stations that would have to pay (at most) only $500 a year (less than $2 per day). The smallest of broadcasters are capped at $10 a year.
Corporate broadcasters argue that a “mutually beneficial relationship” exists between AM/FM radio and music creators. Yet their actions belie that claim, as they spend millions to fight this legislation and avoid sharing the billions of dollars they make in advertising from music. In the past year, the NAB and iHeartMedia have spent over $11 million in lobbying alone. Broadcasters are even using their own federally-granted airwaves to run ads opposing the legislation while ignoring calls to give artists equal time to run their own ads. I guess it’s too dangerous for listeners to hear both sides of the story.
It’s important for Congress to act now. The House Judiciary Committee is considering the bill this week. With the passage of the American Music Fairness Act, artists would finally get paid for their music being played on AM/FM radio in the U.S., and it would remove the excuse for other countries to withhold their royalties from Americans. By recognizing the value of their work here at home, the United States can unlock hundreds of millions of overseas dollars for artists.
Most importantly, it’s simply the right thing to do.
Michael Huppe is president and CEO of SoundExchange.
Critics who complain that all country music sounds the same should check out the artist rosters at the genre’s most successful labels, teeming with what appears to be a broader range of artists than at any time in history.
Warner Music Nashville (WMN) recently signed Giovannie & The Hired Guns, a rock band with country and Tejano shadings; and Madeline Edwards, whose blend of country storytelling with pop and R&B sonics is an engaging test of stylistic boundaries. Big Machine’s 19-year-old Kidd G fuses twang and hip-hop with a rebel flare. And Universal Music Group’s Boy Named Banjo and The War and Treaty weave bluegrass/Americana and soul/gospel elements, respectively, into their own left-of-center takes on country.
The proliferation of boundary-pushing artists for the future represents a distinct philosophical change for Nashville labels who historically have played it safe, routinely stocking their rosters with acts that fit established norms. In one of the most-derided examples, country followed its golden era of the early 1990s with “hat acts,” overloading the system with male country artists whose sound and imaging were clear attempts to copy the successes of Garth Brooks, George Strait and Alan Jackson.
“We tend to chase the path of least resistance,” Universal Music Group Nashville (UMGN) president Cindy Mabe says. “A lot of times there’s money that follows that, but what happens is you end up alienating audiences that don’t want to hear just that. There has to be more than one thing happening, [with] appeal for more than one audience. That’s how we grow.”
This expansive approach to rosters is part of an uphill climb for country music, which was considered a Southern-based niche genre for rural white audiences in its infancy. Over time, the size and location of that audience has changed — it remains a dominant force in farming communities across the United States, though its largest fan cluster is likely in the suburbs.
A ream of cultural, technological and organizational changes have required the business to rethink its parameters, widening the potential definition of the format as well as the makeup of its target audience.
“Things that might have been considered left of center, even just two years ago, would be considered more mainstream now,” says WMN senior director of A&R Stephanie Davenport, “because I think our fan base’s horizons have broadened quite a bit.”
Indeed, new and recently developed acts across rosters include trap-country figure Blanco Brown (Broken Bow), pop/R&B-flavored Tiera Kennedy (Valory), bilingual duo Kat & Alex (Sony Music Nashville), piano-based/pop-influenced Ingrid Andress (WMN), multigenre singer/songwriter BRELAND (Atlantic/WMN), moody and elegant music-maker Sam Williams (Mercury Nashville), rock-shaded Elvie Shane (Wheelhouse) and rock-/hip-hop-threaded Lily Rose (Big Loud).
Plenty of developments influenced that level of musical fence-busting:
• Country’s wide-ranging sound: The current chart accommodates Carrie Underwood’s arena-rockish “Hate My Heart,” Kane Brown’s slow-jammin’ “Thank God” and Parker McCollum’s solid country “Handle on You,” so there’s precedent for roster variety. “There’s been a lot of diversity of sound on country radio, and the things that you hear back-to-back-to-back are more varied than you’d hear on top 40,” says WMN senior director of A&R Rohan Kohli. “So I think the signings are a reflection of the diversity that we’ve been hearing for a while.”
• The proliferation of radio chains: When country stations were locally owned, management tended to be more provincial about the genre. Now that chains frequently have programmers overseeing four or more formats, radio is more receptive to artists such as Jelly Roll or Dan + Shay working beyond their home base. “A big hit for one of those executives is something they’re going to be aware of,” says Big Machine Label Group president/CEO Scott Borchetta. “You don’t have to go and reeducate everybody because it’s the same people.”
• DIY technology: With budding artists able to learn music-making at home and promote themselves on social media, a la UMGN’s Priscilla Block, they arrive in the business with built-in knowledge that makes them less apt to bend to accepted norms than previous generations. “We don’t try to fit any of our artists into a box,” Kohli says. “We tell them to go make the music, and we’ll follow it.”
• Digital consumption: Streaming sites have given the consumer easy access to music on country’s margins, allowing fans to find outside-the-box artists such as Corey Kent or Bailey Zimmerman, while they’re still indie acts, forcing labels to be more nimble in reacting to the marketplace.
• Precedent-setting change artists: A wide range of acts — from Willie Nelson to Chris Stapleton to Florida Georgia Line — have made the mainstream bend to their style instead of conforming to the format’s preexisting sound. The genre has been rewarded for pushing the limit in the past: Sound-alikes, as in the hat-act era or the bro-country era, have actually hurt the format, and the business is more committed to widening the playing field instead of just staying inside of it.
• Better inner-division cooperation: Music can still get lost, but the Nashville offices of major labels and publishers are generally working better with coastal pop divisions. That means greater potential for nontraditional acts, which also makes them less risky to sign.
• Expanding demographics: Music Row is more interested than ever in expanding its core audience, intent on attracting more young fans and minorities, especially Blacks and Latinos. In particular, the increase in Black artists — most of whom blend country and R&B influences — means more acts are stretching the sound of the genre.
• Faster trends: In the entire 1980s, country had two trends: the Urban Cowboy movement and New Traditionalism. The last 10 years have seen bro-country, Motown country, boyfriend country, ’90s retro country and, now, the lightly produced, gruff Yellowstone country (think Warren Zeiders and Zach Bryan). The format changes quicker than ever, and labels have to be prepared to shift with it. “If you don’t diversify in some regard, you’re going to have to scrap a whole roster really quickly,” Mabe says. “You have to have a vision of where you’re going.”
• The next big thing: While ’90s-style country and Yellowstone country are current, labels are already looking to the future, unpredictable as it is. “We always are fighting to stay on the edge of what’s next,” Borchetta says. “You want to be early, you want to figure out if there’s more to it than just a TikTok moment. You’re always looking for the next one that has all the right parts and pieces or could grow the right parts and pieces.”
Ultimately, those new artists are stepping into a genre that already has consistent hitmakers with Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert and Keith Urban. Thus, predicting the format’s future direction is only part of the challenge; the new acts also have to be capable of making a difference when matched against the genre’s established voices.
“New artists are competing against artists who’ve had many, many No. 1s,” Davenport says. “It’s not enough to have a good story. You have to have the best story as new artists.”
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