As Pop culture goes, so goes Contemporary Hit Radio. But there are times when CHR lags behind the trend regarding Pop content perceived to be misaligned with the current programming paradigm of the day. Therein lies the dilemma. There is no script for Pop radio right now. There truly isn’t a go-to genre the format is leaning on. Through several discussions with programmers a consensus opinion has quietly formed about the young-end Radio Disney phenomena enveloping this year. It should be more of an instrumental part of Pop radio’s content. With hot properties like High School Musical, Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, Jonas Bros. and Ashley Tisdale dominating box office, concert venues and CD sales, it has become increasingly more evident that Pop radio should own a larger stake in this market.
Hollywood Records has experienced the ebbs and flows of dealing with this elusive market as it presents itself to Pop radio. In the past there has been a disconnect with young-end artists of this ilk and CHR, regardless of massive marketplace success. Hollywood’s SVP/Promotion Justin Fontaine has negotiated the challenges of getting young-end oriented artists exposed to commercial radio, as well as reaped the benefits of further success when CHR does supports a project. It’s a mind-set game as well as a marketing game, and in 2007, Hollywood Records has experienced considerable progress in convincing CHR to partner with these hot properties.
What have been the biggest rewards this year as a label?
We’ve had our best year ever and are profitable at a time when the industry continues to struggle. A large part of our success is due to our Disney-branded/tween-oriented artists. We had significant breakthrough success at Top 40 this year with Hilary Duff, Aly & AJ and the Jonas Bros., which is currently on 95 Pop stations with a certified gold record, and who will be filling arenas next year.
How has this success correlated with Top 40 radio’s acceptance of these artists?
We’ve been doing this for awhile now, beginning with Hilary Duff 4-5 years ago starting to break the ice. Top 40 radio has changed a lot in that period of time and although we still face perception obstacles along the way, there’s been a noticeable difference in the acceptance thresholds of these artists. Top 40 radio is getting more and more involved and sharing in the success of these artists and starting to take advantage of the huge audiences these artists have.
What are the biggest frustration issues you continue to experience?
Some programmers want to lump all of our Radio Disney artists into one box and put it off into the I-can’t-touch-this corner. The reality is all of these artists have different demographic appeals and different fan bases. There are similarities, but they all come from a different place and radio needs to be aware that the audience for the Jonas Bros. is significantly different than the audience for Corbin Bleu from High School Musical. In the last year, the success we’ve had indicates that Top 40 radio is opening their doors and is very aware of how big some of these artists really are and they’re willing to give them a chance.
Another source of frustration is that callout research a lot of times is not kind to many of the younger end artists. When I have a single selling Top 5 and an album selling Top 20 in a market and the station is getting #1 phones, I don’t really care about callout. That’s all the callout I need and it’s all the callout radio should need.
Who has led the way at Top 40 radio?
You can start with the biggest and most successful Top 40 station in America, Z100. Tom Poleman, Sharon Dastur and Romeo seem to really get this concept. Maybe it’s because the PPM has debuted in New York and they realize the audience they want to capture is broader than it was a year ago. Nonetheless, they see the potential of these artists. You don’t have to look any further than the fact that they are already playing a Miley Cyrus track (not even a single yet) thirty times a week because she is going to have one of the biggest selling albums of the year.
Other stations that come to mind are: KHKS/Dallas, KBKS/Seattle, KZZP/Phoenix, KRQQ/Tuscan, and WXSS/Milwaukee where Brian Kelly has been very forward thinking on a lot of our projects and actually had a huge callout hit with Aly & AJ’s “Potential Breakup Song.”
With no real significant go-to genre for Pop radio today, couldn’t what we’re seeing with the (collective) huge success of these artists be construed as a movement?
Radio like any business needs to grow its consumer base, and the fact that a lot of these artists have sizable audiences and can bring those audiences to Pop radio is a logical proposition. When more than one of these artists and events are consistently happening at the format with this kind of impact, it really should be perceived as a movement. If Pop radio doesn’t take advantage of this, it’s a mistake. Top 40 radio needs to develop their next audience. We have many artists that can help them do that. I hope they see that and take advantage of it.
There is a lot of disposable income coming out of these households. These artists are directly related to that DI. Wouldn’t it be prudent for CHR to get a piece of that pie while the genre is currently so hot?
Absolutely! But the disconnect comes because radio is encouraged to target 18-54 year-olds (in the broadest sense) and tends to ignore anyone under 18. I believe the PPM will change that and we’re starting to see it in a couple of markets. Anybody paying attention to advertising trends knows that tweens control a lot of the household spending from cars their parents buy to anything from cell phones to cereal. I challenge anyone in radio to go to one of the Miley Cyrus/Jonas Bros. concerts that are currently selling out arenas and not realize how much money is on the table from this demographic.
The fight for early adopters has been an uphill struggle for radio. Won’t this content on CHR help indoctrinate and nurture young-end listeners and help foster medium loyalty at an early age?
If radio ignores that 13-15 year-old by not giving them what they want that audience won’t be around to sample that station three or four years from now when they might be in a more lucrative demo as far as the advertising community goes. I understand that Top 40 radio believes they already have that audience and in some cases that’s correct. There are tweens listening to Top 40 radio. However, radio is challenged in the same way labels are, to keep and grow their audience and the way to accomplish this is by broadening your demo appeal (younger). This is not all about playing our artists or tween artists. It’s about accepting hits regardless of where they come from and having a more open mind about the fit for their format.
What can you impart about the Disney marketing model that radio needs to understand better (for its own good)?
Disney is one of the most recognized and successful brands in the world. They have been successfully doing that by keeping parameters on their brand, and the bottom line from the top on down is quality content. The reason that High School Musical II will probably be the biggest selling album of the year is because they delivered a quality product. There’s a lot of talk today about 360 marketing and four-walling, and having ubiquity with projects. Disney does that better than any other company. Radio Disney, the Disney channel, Pixar and the movie division are all instrumental parts of creating these artists and audiences for these artists that are overwhelming.
Radio Disney makes money. They don’t have fifty-three radio stations across the country because it’s not profitable. They have successfully identified their audience and do a very good job of keeping their stations fresh and consistent. The same branding opportunities are available to Top 40 radio. I believe the tweens and younger audiences are being underserved by terrestrial radio in general. Top 40 radio needs to look at each artist whether from Hollywood Records, Disney Records or Interscope Records, on a case by case basis and let the information flow dictate whether it’s going to be an artist that fits their station, because they all come from a unique place. If not, the listeners will go elsewhere to find what they are looking for.
What do see as the biggest misconception of this genre on radio’s part?
Radio thinks it’s a one dimensional game. These artists all come from unique places. They need to realize that along with the kids come the moms. Go to a Jonas Bros. show and watch young women get in their cars and drive after the tour bus and you’ll see what I’m talking about. I’ve been to concerts where the moms become fans. We also do our own in-house research that tells us specifically who our fans are, what their ages are and we see a much wider picture than a lot of what Top 40 radio believes.
The Hollywood Records model is about ubiquitous content exposure with marketing and distribution across multiple platforms. This is the rally cry today among all labels. How much of a role model do you feel your label is for the industry?
People are definitely taking notice of what we’re doing. I’m starting to see top executives from other labels at Hannah Montana/Jonas Bros. shows. I’m sure they’re taking notes. I’m certain other labels are taking a look at what we’re doing because we’re selling a lot of records. I believe we are going to see other labels getting into the youth-oriented movement. We’re seeing WB doing it with Ashley Tisdale one of the stars of High School Musical. The dollars this genre represents are obvious and very attractive, so I do think others will try to get involved.
Obviously the goal of any project is chart success. Today more than ever the sales charts and CHR airplay charts don’t seem to correlate as closely as they should. Does your label spend more time sales vs. airplay watching?
We’re still every aware of both and want to succeed in both areas. Having a hit at Top 40 radio adds a huge dimension to any artist’s career regardless of how successful they are on any other platform and how successful they are at selling records. However, some of our artists can get Top 40 exposure in a limited way and still sell a lot of records. In that case, Top 40 becomes a component much like the web or TV or Radio Disney.
When you have an artist like Aly & AJ for instance, you have dozens of marketing tie-ins, sponsorships, and a combination of factors like Radio Disney, Disney Channel, a successful tour base and a fairly large audience propelling the project. In this case, Top 40 chart position becomes less of a significant factor. I rather have a record that peaks at #20 on the CHR chart and sells half a million records, as opposed to a song that goes Top 5 and only sells 100,000 copies. Unfortunately there are many examples of that this year.
Is your strategy more about maximizing artist branding partnerships with radio as opposed to running records up the airplay charts?
Yes, and we’re doing a lot of that with the internet. Clear Channel has some huge internet initiatives and we have been able to bring our artists to their web sites to help them successfully drive listener traffic and in some cases in huge numbers. I believe bringing artists into markets is more important than ever and we spend a lot of effort and money to that end. We do this to brand the artist with the station and just as critically to help radio realize the audience potential of these artists. Most recently we did an event with KDWB/Minneapolis and the Jonas Bros. we’re they performed at The Mall of America, and there were literally legions of fans camping out overnight so they could get close to the stage and get a wrist band to buy an autograph copy of their CD.
Does it really get down to some programmers getting it, while others don’t?
During this year, I’m pleasantly surprised that I’m finding more programmers who get it. It was great to see STAR in Atlanta, typically more of an Adult Top 40, embrace an artist like the Jonas Bros. early. I believe a large segment of Top 40 programmers are very aware that many of our Disney-branded artists have huge audiences and have hits for their stations. The challenge for my promotion staff is not only fighting the initial wall of resistance, but dealing with the notion that the more Rhythmic leaning stations have a problem with any song on Radio Disney. However, the fact is Radio Disney plays everything from Rihanna to Sean Kingston to High School Musical and Miley Cyrus, many artists who are compatible with both the Rhythm and Top 40 formats alike.
Shouldn’t the PPM world change the corporate thinking with measurement starting so young?
The PPM is going to be great for all labels although it will be a few years before it gets into all markets and then another year or so for the process to sort itself out and make sense. But it has already started to open up the eyes and ears of radio to know there’s going to be a wider audience they want to cume, and in order to do so they are going to have to be more things to more people.The bottom line is radio wants more audience and some of our artists can bring passionate and loyal masses to them. The early adopters like Z100 recognize that and embrace them. I think I’ve heard they are number one with a huge cume in this first PPM period. I’m sure there are others who would like to be in that position.
** QB Content by Fred Deane **
