MusicScribe BLOG

1 | GospelMusicFan

October 31st, 2007 at 6:50 am

You have a good point.
We have to realize that the Singing News is not a overnight or even a weekly newspapers.
There is a saying “if it not broken, leave alone.”
There is, also, a thought proces that says “if you can’t fix it, take it to the junk yard.”

2 | Singing News to revamp airplay chart | www.southerngospelblog.com

October 31st, 2007 at 7:40 am

[...] Yesterday, Doug Harrison at Averyfineline broke the story that Singing News is revamping its airplay chart. They are cutting their list of reporting stations from over 200 to 75, and making a point of apportioning slots on the reporting stations list to locales where there is a heavy Southern Gospel presence. David Bruce Murray comments on the story here. [...]

3 | Wes

October 31st, 2007 at 8:03 am

David, David, David…you are starting to make sense, and you KNOW we just can’t have that around here! :-)

4 | SN Chart Changes « Burke’s Brainwork

October 31st, 2007 at 9:06 am

[...] do they even have a SG chart, and if not, what would it take to get one?  I also think DBM’s take about the lag time between charts vs. Fan Awards voting is very relevant [...]

5 | Tim

October 31st, 2007 at 12:23 pm

Good points David. I hope that this is just the first step that SN takes in revamping the chart. I agree that if top tier groups would push 4 songs up the chart a year we would have less room for lackluster music on the chart.

Your point about selling more product is right on the money. I had that discussion with a top artist after they decided to push a song for the 6th month. At what point do you go for an increase in sales -v- chart position. (Can you eat chart position or use it to fuel your bus?)

I also think that NOT publishing the 41-80 songs would be a plus as well.

6 | Trent

October 31st, 2007 at 9:07 pm

“If the Talley Trio, Dove Brothers, Hoppers, Gaither Vocal Band, etc. were able to work four or five singles up and down the chart in a twelve month period as opposed to two or three, there would be considerably less room for lackluster music on the charts.”

Where does that scenario leave the up-and-coming group that has quality songs going out to radio? It just about sqeezes them off the playing field.

7 | Randy

October 31st, 2007 at 9:59 pm

Why was Rick Hendrix not included in these hearings? He has been the dominating factor in the past 10 years. Even with mediocre groups like Heirline. Seems he was sliced and diced by his peers.Just my opinion

8 | tim

October 31st, 2007 at 10:31 pm

Trent – There is always room for quality songs from up and coming groups if by quality you mean they can be played between the Dove Brothersm Crabb family Gold City, etc and sound just as good. However remember, radio doesn’t owe newcomers airtime.

9 | lilinsider

November 1st, 2007 at 11:06 am

Just a little clarification. The airplay chart is only 2 months from the promotional month to the publishing month. In other words promoters are promoting songs now, November, that will appear on the January chart which comes out at the end of December. Also, if you have had some years experience with promotions you know that the stations out there cover the spectrum in the type of SG they play, i.e. more contemporary stations vs. mostly quartet stations. The promoters mission is to know which stations play which type of music and bring the programmers attention to a particular single that fits their format. Believe it or not, promoters and programmers are subject to their listeners request quite often, it is the basis by which they can justify the popularity of the song. These requests usually indicate the kind of airplay a single receives. There are exceptions in that some stations DJs play what they like but the emphasis is to encourage DJs to chart based on airplay. It takes a lot of time for a song to get noticed, get played by a DJ, catch on with the general listener, get requests and so forth and that is just for a single station. A song has to have that happen at several stations in order to collect enough points to appear on the chart. This takes 3, 4 even 5 or more months depending on the group. It can take 2-3 months just for one of the top groups to appear in the chart. Then it has to make the climb to it’s peak. If you wanted to shift to a multi-release per year process then you could go to a system where companies send you an entire project and DJs just play what they want. This is how it works on the Bluegrass charts and boy do they have problems.

10 | Trent

November 1st, 2007 at 5:30 pm

“….radio doesn’t owe newcomers airtime”.

Tim, while I certainly agree with that statement, I do think radio programmers owe newcomers a listen off the air as they cull through songs. If the song merits play, then get they should get it into the rotation. David’s suggestion of top tier groups releasing 4-5 songs per year will almost guarantee the demise of the new group doing much significant charting. That would be a shame for the genre.

11 | Tim

November 2nd, 2007 at 11:04 am

lilinsider – “It takes a lot of time for a song to get noticed, get played by a DJ, catch on with the general listener, get requests and so forth and that is just for a single station. A song has to have that happen at several stations in order to collect enough points to appear on the chart. This takes 3, 4 even 5 or more months depending on the group. It can take 2-3 months just for one of the top groups to appear in the chart.”

This is a problem with SGM. To many stations take to long to realize that a song from Greater Vision, Gold City, Karen Peck and the likes demands/deserves a hot rotation right out of the box. The audience accepts this and looks forward to the new songs – it is exciting!!!(Even for an older crowd) If you have to think about adding a song from a top tier group to adecent rotation “right out of the box”, hang up your headphones and go home. You are in the wrong business.

Familiarity can be achieved with recurrents while these hot new songs “grow” on people. With top groups the audience is becoming familiar with a song, as opposed to a song and a group. They already know and love the group so the process of becoming familiar with the music is expedited. “Oh its a new song from the McKameys….” A new group with a new song could take more time as the audience has to learn about the group AND the song (That’s a nice song, who is that?).

A song from a top tier group should be able to peak in four months – five max. Groups that push a song for more than 6 months should consider if they would see an increase in sales by releasing a new song. I would think that sales taste better than chart position. Go into the grocery store and tell the clerk “I’m number 56 on the chart” and see how much beef that’ll buy you. :)

Trent – It’s hard to listen to all of the new music that crosses my desk every month. As a result newbies get the 15 second window. You need to hook me in 15 seconds or your out. This sounds harsh but it is what the casually radio listener does. If they don’t like what they hear, they hit the next button and are on to the next song.

12 | KY Boy

March 2nd, 2008 at 6:36 am

This is why SG music is losing it’s steam. The big groups have the market cornered and know the system. While the newbies as you called them get tired of fighting the system and give up. They put Sam Phillips in jail for what goes on in this industry. You can only run a hustle for so long and then our savior will put you in your place.
Now that I’m off my soap box I would like to remind you guys that the fans run any music genre and after spending 10′s of thousands of dollars promoting Christ through song and paying for alot of the so called Big groups I have come to one conclusion……….
It takes the fans…….