CMJ RECAP ISSUE 1358 WEEK 33

It is the calm before the storm. 

The charts are pretty simple at this point as nothing is really close to challenging Spoon. I don't think anything else will jump up there for the next few weeks and suspect there just to be a rotation of records in the top five like we saw a few weeks ago when Jack White was #1.  

The new Ty Segall record goes for adds next week though and it could be 2 hours rap rock and it would still go #1. So 2 weeks maybe? It should coincide with a bunch of people coming back from summer as well. 

I was really excited about this announcement from CMJ this week: 

Hard to believe it, but it's that time, folks: Nominations for the College Radio Awards open next week! You can nominate in any category, but, this year, stations will be allowed to vote for both radio and industry awards, while industry can only vote for radio.

 We will go through my nominations a few weeks after the categories are announced.  Are you coming to CMJ this year? I would be interested in knowing why you are not if you are not. 

Saw this tweet this week I wanted to talk about: 

came across a playlist with SEVENTEEN records on it from the same promo company. #collegeradio

17 records from one company means perhaps that company is working too many records.  Or maybe it means that that company has partial ownership stake in the station and gets to control the playlist. Or maybe they intern for that company.  

There have always been playlists like this and of course there are conspiracies that go along with it.  One of my favorites was that one promotion company actually has login information for a bunch of stations.  The rumor goes that when they are close to going #1 they would use one of these stations to report a bunch of their records in hopes of going #1.  Of course these reports come from stations that rarely report and never pick up the phone so there is no way to confirm or deny. 

We have heard that some promo companies threaten stations with removal of service if they don't chart their records, that happens and in some cases it is warranted. But often times I have heard of some companies threatening removal of service if they are not playing upwards of 10+ records. That seems a bit much in my book.  Also stations can get everything digitally now so I am not sure how much of an effect that has. 

Or all of those could just be rumors and maybe the promoter just has really good records for that particular station. More than likely though it happens with smaller stations that are easily influenced.  It would take me a while to go through all 200 stations that reported this past week to find examples or even to find the station charting 17 of one company.  So lets take a look at a few random stations and see what we find.  First lets take a look at a smaller station. 

1. WHITE FENCE For The Recently Found Innocent-

2. RAVEONETTES Pe'ahi

3. ALVVAYS Alvvays

4. WILDEST DREAMS Wildest Dreams

5. JOEL JEROME Psychedelic Thriftstore Folk

6. MUFFS Whoop Dee Doo

7. BLACK BANANAS Electric Brick Wall

8. PS I LOVE YOU For Those Who Stay

9. EDJ EDJ

10. JENNY LEWIS Voyager

11. SPOON They Want My Soul

12. HOW TO DRESS WELL What Is This Heart?

13. MONOMYTH Saturnalia Regalia!

14. TWIN PEAKS Wild Onion

15. TOTAL CONTROL Typical System

16. CELEBRATION Albumin

17. MIGHTY STEF Iveagh Flats

18. LATIMER HOUSE "Birdcage Walk"/"Until Then" [Single]

19. BECK Song Reader

20. PUSS N BOOTS No Fools, No Fun

21. AARON BEHRENS AND THE MIDNIGHT STROLL Aaron Behrens And The Midnight Stroll

22. WYTCHES Annabel Dream Reader

23. LITTLE RACER Modern Accent

24. CLOSURE IN MOSCOW Pink Lemonade

25. COLD AND LOVELY Ellis Bell [EP]

26. DEAP VALLY Sistrionix

27. OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW Remedy

28. ACID Liminal

29. HONEYBLOOD Honeyblood

30. TIJUANA PANTHERS Wayne Interest I was not able to find every promoter for this stations chart but of what I was able to find were 8 records from one promoter and then 5 from another. The don't seem to be promoted or are just from companies I could not find.  This is from a smaller station. So not to the extreme that we found from that tweet but still 8 out of 30 is a lot of records. This next one is from a middle of the road station not a huge one but not a small one either 1. SHABAZZ PALACES Lese Majesty 2. SPOON They Want My Soul 3. JENNY LEWIS Voyager 4. WYTCHES Annabel Dream Reader 5. MUFFS Whoop Dee Doo 6. GOT A GIRL I Love You But I Must Drive Off This Cliff Now 7. RAVEONETTES Pe'ahi 8. BECK Song Reader 9. HOLLOW BOYS Believe In Nothing 10. STRAND OF OAKS Heal 11. ROSEBUDS Sand + Silence 12. WHITE FENCE For The Recently Found Innocent 13. PS I LOVE YOU For Those Who Stay 14. ALVVAYS Alvvays 15. MORRISSEY World Peace Is None Of Your Business 16. JPNSGRLS Circulation 17. SPIDER BAGS Frozen Letter 18. FADED PAPER FIGURES Relics 19. BISHOP ALLEN Lights Out 20. JOYCE MANOR Never Hungover Again 21. FREEMAN Freeman 22. BENJAMIN BOOKER Benjamin Booker 23. TWIN PEAKS Wild Onion 24. TRAMPLED BY TURTLES Wild Animals 25. SUMMER CAMP Beyond Clueless 26. SCARVES Empty Houses 27. SLOW CLUB Complete Surrender 28. ARMY NAVY The Wilderness Inside 29. LEMAITRE Singularity [EP] 30. FOXING The Albatross On this station you see a bit more of a mix with the most records by one promoter being 5. So to me this shows this station is not overly impacted by what the promoters say and he/she is doing what they think is best for the station. So lets take a look at a larger stations playlist and see how that looks in comparison 1. CAYETANA Nervous Like Me 2. AMANDA X Amnesia 3. CELEBRATION Albumin 4. DAN MELCHIOR UND DAS MENACE Hunger 5. BLACK ANGELS Clear Lake Forest 6. DAVID KILGOUR AND THE HEAVY EIGHTS End Times Undone 7. DEATH HAS NO DOMINION Death Has No Dominion 8. GHETTO GHOULS Ghetto Ghouls 9. JOYCE MANOR Never Hungover Again 10. MONOMYTH Saturnalia Regalia! 11. PARQUET COURTS Sunbathing Animal 12. REIGNING SOUND Shattered 13. HONEYBLOOD Honeyblood 14. GERONIMO Cheap Trick 15. SAINTSENECA Dark Arc 16. STRAND OF OAKS Heal 17. PEOPLE'S TEMPLE Musical Garden 18. OUMAR KONATE Addoh 19. REDREDRED Pattern Completion 20. DILATED PEOPLES Directors Of Photography 21. PERFECT PUSSY Say Yes To Love 22. LANDLADY Upright Behavior 23. KAHOOTS Take To The Fields 24. KUTOSIS Dream It Away 25. ALVVAYS Alvvays 26. KITE PARTY Come On Wandering 27. ENO-HYDE High Life 28. BRIGITTE FONTAINE Brigitte Fontaine 29. CHILDBIRTH It's A Girl! 30. NICOLE MITCHELL'S BLACK EARTH ENSEMBLE Intergalactic Beings This seems pretty typical for a bigger station. A mix of older records they want to keep playing and some new stuff sprinkled in.  No one company really dominates this playlist and I would be shocked if this station actually talks to promoters on a regular basis. So its fun to look at the different playlists from different weights of stations, from what we looked at I would say that the smaller station seemed to be the one influenced the most.  What do you think? Lets talk about it on twitter