Wednesday, September 24, 2014

CMJ ISSUE 1363 WEEK 38

Happy Autumn everyone! Now is when the fun starts! We are a short four weeks away from CMJ and I feel like we are on the verge of having peak reporters out there. I thought we would bust through that 300 reporter level this week but came in at 291. Next week I think.  

Ty Segall comes in at #1 yet again with 71% of all stations reporting.  The #2 record is still Spoon and in comparison they only have 49% of the stations.   So It might be a few weeks until someone takes over.  Death From Above 1979 moved up to #4 from #12 in their second week and that looks pretty impressive until you realize they only have 44% of the stations.

Karen O had a nice move as well  up to #8 in her second week and has %40 of stations
last weeks top add Drums comes in at #17 but only has 27% of the stations.

Notice the huge drop off.  Not that # of stations is the only predictor for success as New Pornographers has 36% and that is less than the any other record in the top 10 but the quality of stations is better and pushes the record higher.

While looking up the # of stations for every record would be way to time consuming I thought it would be fun to take an overall look at every 10th record so lets take a look we will look at all the top five as well.

1--71%
2--49%
3--36%
4--44%
5--45%
10--38%
20--27%
30--17%
40--18%
50--12%
60--09%
70--08%
80--13%
90--07%
100--06%
110--06%
120--04%
130--06%
140--03%
150--03%
160--03%
170--05%
180--03%
190--02%
200--03%

One thing that stood out to me were that there were pretty clear jumps.
200-140 were all pretty much the same. Then we saw a jump in the 130-100 range.  Another jump in the 90-60 range.   The big break of stations comes at the top 30 range. These records seem to be on another level than those below that mark.   I expected there to be more a difference between each group of ten though and it did surprise me that you could be 200 or 140 with pretty much the same amount of stations.

This weeks ADDS race was a fun one as there were multiple records by multiple companies that were actually good. This seemed to confuse the stations though and so many of them were stressed about how many good records they had.  Well hopefully it remains this way the rest of the year.  King Tuff ran away with the ADDS though with only 100 stations NOT adding the record and coming in at #82 on the charts. I said before I thought Ty Segall might keep #1 until the CMJ festival but if anyone is going to knock him off it will be King Tuff. Just a matter of when and not if.

There were some other big name records that should hang out in the top 10-5 range over the next few weeks and it will be interesting to look back in six weeks to see if the ADD position was a preview of how well the record did.   If I had to predict I bet some of the lower added records do better than some of the higher added ones. Just based upon my conversations with stations more people were excited about Whirr and Mr. Twin Sister than they were about most of those above them.  

Should be interesting to watch.   Let's continue the conversation on Twitter. 

Thursday, September 18, 2014

CMJ ISSUE 1362 WEEK 37

Better late than never, both the motto of CMJ and myself this week.  CMJ had a weird server issue this week that delayed charts until around 1am Wed Morning. Hopefully this is the only hiccup for this reporting season. There tends to be one every few months so hopefully they got that our of their system.

I asked you guys who you thought would be #1 most added last week and as far as I can see no one picked the Drums.  They came in with 114 adds.  A good amount considering the problems with CMJ this week.

Of course Ty Segall remains #1.  We have four more reporting weeks until CMJ can he hold on that long? It would be pretty impressive considering the time of year.   Lets look at the contenders on the chart.  Avi Buffalo made a big move from #20 to #8 my guess is that they make the top five but I am not sure on much after that. Same with Tennis making a nice move from #29 to #2.  Those are both from 2 weeks ago. Last weeks adds made some nice moves as well.  Banks comes in at #11 this week having debuted at #125 in the ADD week.  Death From Above is the top debut at #12 and Karen O last weeks #1 most added comes in at #18.

Congrats to everyone that was Nominated for a CMJ AWARD this year!  In a few weeks I will pick who I will vote for at CMJ.

Lets talk about whatever you want to on Twitter 

Thursday, September 11, 2014

CMJ ISSUE1362 PREVIEW AND A LATE WEEK 36 RECAP FOR ISSUE 1361

With the big CMJ Nomination post I did yesterday I thought about not doing one of these.  Then I had a long conversation about Ty Segall yesterday and thought we could talk a little a bit about what happened and perhaps spend more time on what might happen in the upcoming weeks.

It was no surprise that Ty Segall took over #1 this week. Spoon is still killing it out there and it could be one of those things in the upcoming weeks where people are happy with #3.  At the very least I think people are going to be happy with #2 for a while. I was looking over the upcoming adds on CMJ and could not really find anything that would bump out Ty before the CMJ Music Festival Break.  We will get more into that in a bit.

This New Pornographers record is doing great too. Good to see them back up in the top 5. Not sure if the last 2 records went that high but they were no where near as good as this one in my opinion. Normally I would say perhaps if Matador hired indies the record would go #1 but with Ty there I don't think even an indie would help.  They might of benefited on the adds side with Interpol but I am sure that record will be fine.

The top debut of the week comes from Avi Buffalo, last weeks #1 most added record with a good showing at #20. There are a lot of Sub Pop records on the chart right now 6 actually 3 of them cracked the top 10 with J Mascis at #3 being the highest. I was trying to think of the last Sub Pop #1 as I tend to associate their records with #1's but I think it has been a while. Dum Dum Girls did it earlier this year I now see, I guess it is a credit to Sub Pop that I have in my head they should have more number one records.

I am a bit surprised with the Tennis album coming in at #29 considering the success they have had in the past. The record is pretty good too. Curious to why that star has faded.

Karen O came in at #1 most added this week pretty easily. I really thought Ryan Adams or Death from Above 1979 would of been up there a lot closer to the top but I guess those 2 are older names and might not be as "cool" as they once were? That is only a guess but sometimes as a promoter I can put too much credence into how a record did before in projecting how it will do in the future.  What was once something for everyone can quickly fall and new things are always coming and joining the party.

So let's take a look at what we can expect this next week. The top 200 is easy Ty Segall will be #1. As I mentioned before the question is for how long. What could possibly come in and take that spot. I have no idea.

For this weeks Adds lets take a look at what CMJ says is going for adds :

Showing adds from 09/12/14 to 09/16/14:

BandRecordingLabelAdd DateActive?
2 BEARS"Not This Time B/w Get Out And Angel (Touch Me)" [Single]Southern Fried09/16/14Yes
ALEX MERCADO TRIOSymbiosisFornarte Latino09/16/14Yes
AMY FAIRCHILDAmy FairchildSo Far09/16/14Yes
ANE BRUN AND LINNEA OLSSON"Halo" [Single]Balloon Ranger09/16/14Yes
ARCHIE POWELL AND THE EXPORTSBack In BlackSelf-Released09/16/14Yes
ASTEROIDS GALAXY TOURBring Us TogetherRough Trade / Hot Bus09/16/14Yes
ASTRONAUTS, ETC.SadieHit City USA09/16/14Yes
AUCTION PROJECTSlinkDavid Bixler09/16/14Yes
BRENDA XUFor The WinterSelf-Released09/16/14Yes
BRONCHOJust Enough Hip To Be WomanDine Alone09/16/14Yes
CHRIS WALDEN BIG BANDFull-On!Origin09/16/14Yes
COBALT CRANESDays In The SunLolipop09/16/14Yes
CONTORTIONISTLanguageeOne09/16/14Yes
DEAD LOVERSSupernormal SuperstarRANDM09/16/14Yes
DELS"RGB" [Single]Big Dada09/16/14Yes
ELECTRIC YOUTHInnerworldSecretly Canadian09/16/14Yes
ELIZABETH SHEPHERDThe SignalLinus09/16/14Yes
FLOW TRIBEAlligator WhiteSKM09/16/14Yes
GARDEN CITY MOVEMENTEntertainment/Bengali CinemaBLDG509/16/14Yes
GENEVIEVE BELLEMARELive And DieVerve09/16/14Yes
GOATCommuneSUB POP09/16/14Yes
GRAMMARGrammarSelf-Released09/16/14Yes
GRMLNSoon AwayCarpark09/16/14Yes
GROWLERSChinese FountainEverloving09/16/14Yes
HAFEZ MODIRZADEHIn Convergence LiberationPi09/16/14Yes
HELLSPEAKThe Slaughter Rule Of AgonyWinterfall09/16/14Yes
HIGH ENDSSuper ClassDine Alone09/16/14Yes
HOSTAGE CALMDie On StageRun For Cover09/16/14Yes
JANE SHERMANSThe Jane ShermansGo Go Love09/16/14Yes
JUAN MACLEANIn A DreamDFA09/16/14Yes
KASPER BJORKEAfter ForeverHFN09/16/14Yes
KODAK TO GRAPH"IAMANTHEM" [Single]Self-Released09/16/14Yes
LEWIS AND CLARKETriumvirateLa Société Expéditionnaire09/16/14Yes
LIPBONE REDDINGEsmeraldaLR09/16/14Yes
LONELY KAMELShit CityNapalm09/16/14Yes
LOOSE BUTTONSDamage GalleryMoon Crawl09/16/14Yes
LOWELLWe Loved Her DearlyArts And Crafts09/16/14Yes
MENACE AND LORDSun, Moon And StarsBetter09/16/14Yes
MIKE DOUGHTYStellar MotelSnack Bar09/16/14Yes
MOON HOOCHThis Is Cave MusicPalmetto / Hornblow09/16/14Yes
NETORARE FAN CLUB"Go To Sleep" [Single]Mint 40009/16/14Yes
OBEY THE BRAVESalvationEpitaph09/16/14Yes
PATRICK BATTSTONE AND RICHARD POOLEThe Last TaxiBattstone09/16/14Yes
VARIOUS ARTISTSPsychedelic PlanetSix Degrees09/16/14Yes
PURLING HISSWeridonDrag City09/16/14Yes
RUN THE JEWELS (KILLER MIKE AND EL-P)"Blockbuster Night Pt 1" [Single]Mass Appeal09/16/14Yes
SALLIE FORD"Coulda Been" [Single]Vanguard09/16/14Yes
SEPULTURALles Tambuors Du Bronx Metal Veins Alive At Rock In RioEagle Rock09/16/14Yes
SHE KEEPS BEESEight HousesFuture Gods09/16/14Yes
SILVAOcean ViewSix Degrees09/16/14Yes
SLIMKID3 AND DJ NU-MARKSlimkid3 And DJ Nu-MarkDelicious Vinyl09/16/14Yes
SOFT SHADOWSReverb Is For LoversSelf-Released09/16/14Yes
STEELISM615 To FrameSingle Lock09/16/14Yes
XERATHIIICandlelight09/16/14Yes

This week there are just over 50 records going for adds. Of course there are some records not listed that will be going for adds that we will find out about later. First off nothing out of this list looks like it will challenge Ty Segall for #1.  I see a Sub Pop record so I am sure that should do well.  I would love for you guys to take guesses at what the top 20 would be. If anyone wants to take a swing at it I will post them.   Send them to my email doug at piratepirate dot com .

Thanks for reading!


Oh and since it is Thursday here is my Throwback Thursday photo from instagram   It is me on the air back in the day on WVGS ( no longer a CMJ reporter sadly... don't let it happen to you! )



Tuesday, September 09, 2014

CMJ NOMINATIONS SPECTACULAR

College Radio Awards Nominations 2014

Station Awards

Welcome to they years CMJ NOMINATIONS ! Last year I did this after the nominations closed. I decided to do it earlier so that if you did not know who to nominate then this might help you. There are so many good stations right now that it made my decisions hard.  

You can take a look at last years nominations here: http://douginthehouse.blogspot.com/2013_09_01_archive.html

Lets start from the bottom and work our way to Station of the year.... 

Most Creative Programming

So many good stations to pick from. But I wanted to go with someone who's chart changed on a weekly basis. I narrowed it down to KDVS  , KALX In the end I went with KDVS because I know less of their records on a regular basis. 

(Station)

KDVS 

Best Taste In Music

(Person)

 I think to be a Music Director you do not really need good taste in music. I just have to have an open mind and to know if something is "good" It is very subjective but even if you don't like something I think a lot of the time you can figure out what is good for that genre. With that said I would think the person with the best taste in Music should be someone that has an open mind about most records. 

We saw pitches for this award earlier from WHUS, WVFS and WKDU as you can read in the earlier posts. I would also like to say that WITR also has great taste in music. The former director from KVCU would of been my nomination but he has since graduated I am going to go with one of the new MDS from KCSB as he seems to be able to talk in detail about any genre I throw at him. 

Jake Weeks--KCSB 

Best Student-Run, Internet-Only Station

Over the years there has been a rise of these stations at CMJ and I think more and more these are a better reflection of what people like at college radio. I am not really counting stations that have had their airwaves taken away though. I was going to nominate 3wk or Bagel radio but I guess they are not student run. So I went with the once mighty KUSF as a reminder of http://savekusf.org

KUSF 

Rookie Of The Year

There are a LOT of stations still coming back with brand new MD's so it is kind of a shame that they will not get the chance to be nominated. I had a hard time deciding on what makes an MD a rookie.  Less than a year I guess was my final ruling.  I have to think that the Rookie of the year might be tied with Biggest Improvement. I decided to split the two up but know that both stations/ MD were up for the nomination  

(Person)

Zak from KRUX 

Best Use Of Limited Resources

Have you been paying attention? Most stations have limited resources, how many stations have lost their signal lately? At least one big station a year for a while now. Still WRAS still has way more recourses than a LOT Of stations so I tried to stick with smaller stations on this one. But was ultimately swayed by the email pitch they sent out. WKNC 

(Station)

WKNC 


Biggest Improvement

 I think for the first three years of this award KLSU won. Its kind of a backhanded complement right? Hey you were awful now you are less awful! I think KRUX has improved a lot as well but really feel WVFS has changed a lot over the course of the last two MD's and for the better. They also have a really nice new website 

WVFS 

Biggest Community Resource

(Station)

I think this is a big one and kind of ties in with Station of the year. If you are big in your community then plays on your station will mean more than a play at a station that does nothing to be involved with the community. But in my quest not to nominate the same station more than once I will pick someone different for each nomination.  I went with WTSR because of how much more they are doing on all fronts over the past few months. Madison was in the running for MD of the year as well. And think she should be considered. 

WTSR 


Biggest Champion Of The Local Scene

Can you believe there are some stations that don't set aside time for local artists? Seems pretty silly to me and seems like that would be nice easy way of connecting with your community.  

KUOM 


Will Never Sell Out

(Person)

 Sure you won't.... sure you won't. Actually I don't think she will as she has been doing it for a while but this year I went with Alice from KVMR 

Alice KVMR 


Specialty Music Director Of The Year

I do not know.  I did not get any submissions for this so I have no idea. Someone from CJLO or one of those canadian stations usually win so since I only talk to one Canadian station I nominated him. 

David --CILU 


Music Director Of The Year

This was a hard one as I am trying to split up the Station of the year and the MD of the year voting and there are so many good MD's out there.  WDWN, WITR, WKNC, WTSR, WUOG, WVFS, KDHX, KALX, KTCU, KUOM, and actually anyone listed above were in consideration for this nomination but I went with ... 


Michelle from WDBM 


Station Of The Year

Last year I went with KDHX as I think they are one of the best stations out there. They still are of course but in an effort to spread the love around I have tried not to renominate in the same category as last year. So this year I am going with KALX 

    I also must do Industry awards. I think there are a lot of good companies out there that should be recognized and this is my opportunity to do so. 

Industry Awards


      Promoter Of The Year
      Last year I went with Tenni and she continues to do a great job. If you are not going to Nominate ME ( and really you should) I feel the promoter I hear the most about on my calls recently Is Christine from Distiller so I would go with her. But really go with me 



      Promotion Company Of The Year

      I would obviously love for you to nominate us. I think we work some really good projects and don't overwhelm you with too many releases at once. BUT... if you were not going to nominate us I would suggest my next favorite company A Man, A Plan, A Canal  (Company)

      Pirate! 

      Outstanding Leadership In College Radio
       I think this one just means you have been a round for a while.  

      Best Online Resources

      we were the first company to really go hard after digital. 
      Pirate! 
      Best Taste In Music

      Canada has forgotten more bands than I have known. Nominate him   

      Please Hire Me When I Graduate

      (Company)

      Go where the money is. Twitter. Get a job at Twitter. 

      Best Artist Roster

      (Company)
      Pirate! 
      Well thank you for reading. You have until Friday at 4pm Eastern to nominate someone! Get your nominations in! http://www.cmj.com/column/on-air/2014-cmj-college-radio-award-nominations-now-open/

Monday, September 08, 2014

Nominate WKDU?

This comes from WKDU making their pitch for a few awards:

Hi, my name is Shannen and I know all the words to Fergie's "Fergalicious" (2006) and that is just one reason why you should nominate me for the Best Taste in Music award. <987.gif>

Hi we're WKDU and we don't have a lot of funding. However, we raised a bunch in our merch sales this year - some examples here and here- and that's one reason you should vote for us for Best Use of Limited Resources!

Nominate WUOG!?

Got this in from WUOG!  Check them out and consider them for the CMJ AWARDS! 

Hey everybody! So for the past few years, we haven't been able to attend CMJ. We really wanted to go but some people with more power than us did not think it was worth the money to send us there. Now all those people have either left or been fired and we convinced the poor schmucks who replaced them to let us come to CMJ this October! If you want to nominate us for any awards, that'd be cool. We've provided some basic info about ourselves for you to keep in mind when filling out your ballots this year.

Brett Bennett (pictured here piercing her boyfriend's ear)
Major: History
Year: Junior
Position: WUOG Music Director (1st year)
Likes: Baseball, All girl no-wave bands from the late 70s, the War of 1812
Dislikes: Wrestling, waking up before 10am, the Spanish-American War
Specializes in: Post-Punk, Psych-Rock, Brit-Pop
Pays the bills by: using time travel to collect artifacts that would be worth a lot of money in the present. That's the plan anyway. Until then- beg my mother for money.

Nathan Kerce (pictured here going ham on a charcuterie plate)
Major: Advertising + Music Business
Year: Senior+
Position: WUOG Music Director (2nd year)
Likes: Wrestling, Snow Globes, Drake's social media presence
Dislikes: Onions, removing band-aids, being called "Nate Dogg."
Specializes in: Hip-Hop, Pop-Punk, Emo.
Pays the bills by: handling top adds/top 30, hunting down late CD with fiery vengeance.
See you guys at CMJ next month!
- Nathan & Brett

Wednesday, September 03, 2014

A few more CMJ Nomination pushes!

From WDWN Pushing for Biggest Community resource

2014 CMJ College Radio Award Nominations Now Open

If you could please find it in your heart to vote for WDWN in the category:
-Biggest Community Resource-


and from WTBU 

We are back to music directing dis yr. We'll let u know soon about our office hours, but in the meantime, pls pls pls nominate WTBU for all the applicable categories (and us for MD of the year).


HIT US BACK,
Ingrid & $ofia


Really would love to see more creativity and passion into why they should be nominated but I did say I would share. 


CMJ AWARD NOMINATIONS-- WVFS

This email comes from WVFS in Florida.



Hi all,

So as everyone probably knows, CMJ's 2014 College Radio Award nominations are up now. I've never been much for campaigning -- you should vote for who you think deserves something, not who campaigns the hardest! -- but I'd like to send a reminder about what WVFS has gotten accomplished these past few months, in the hopes that we'll be considered for Biggest Improvement.

From what I understand, this award often goes to younger stations that are just starting up, but DID YOU KNOW that WVFS has a new website? If you've called me in the past few weeks, you do, but just a reminder: it took three years to get that up, and in doing so, we went from this to this. That alone seems like enough in my book, but if it isn't for you, know also that we got a new board for the first time since 1997, and made a jump in our production studio from using a 12-year-old computer with SoundForge and Vegas on it, to an iMac with Logic Pro X. We also started making videos! I'm also happy to say that we've mended what was, for a few years, a tenuous relationship with FSU's on-campus concert venue, and that this Fall we will be hosting our annual Birthday Bash show there with an internationally-known touring act -- Cymbals Eat Guitars! (last year, we were not able to do this, and instead hosted a local show at a smaller off-campus venue)

If you don't think Biggest Improvement is for us, OR you'd like to vote for us in two categories, I would also point out that we'd also make a great choice for Biggest Champion Of The Local Scene. If you've ever asked me what I was listening to, odds are that you've heard of a Tallahassee band you wouldn't have known otherwise. Just two weeks ago, the band that headlined our summer event, Ex-Breathers, became the first Tallahassee act in years to be posted on Pitchfork. If I haven't told you about Ex-Breathers, I've probably told you about southern psych kings Surface To Air Missive, the emo sadboys in Send Away Stranger, FL's finest chiptuners in Melt Channel, or any number of other up-and-coming acts like SALES or Buffalo Buffalo.

Admittedly, that probably wasn't the most recognizable list of names you've seen in one of these pitches, but all things considered, I think that's just another reason to vote WVFS Biggest Champion Of The Local Scene. We aren't a station that has the fortune of being located in New York or Austin or Seattle or Durham -- we don't have those kinds of resources or perception to work with, but we do our damndest to support what we have. We add so much local stuff here, in the past couple of months, I've only found one week when we didn't have anything local in the top 10 of our charts, and this summer we had a different local band play live in our studio every week. Nominating us would be a way to shine a little light on a place that could really use it.

Am I eligible for Rookie Of The Year, since I just started in May? Do I deserve it? I don't know. I won't pretend that I know what most other stations are like, or almost anything about other Music Directors. But I do all the listening at WVFS by myself, and I helped facilitate all of the changes mentioned above. Plus, I always hit you back if I miss a call (but you know this).

Everyone probably thinks they have the "Best Taste In Music," but if you want to know more about mine, my Last.fm is here and I have writing up at One Week One BandBeats Per Minute (formerly One Thirty BPM) and elsewhere. Here are some of my playlists for various genre-oriented shows at WVFS that I have DJed (you should be able to tell which genre by the show names and what's played. If not, information on shows is up at our new website).

WVFS hasn't been nominated for anything in the past few years. Our school is not very cooperative in funding us, to say the least. If you think we deserve it, throw us a nomination so we can have something! If you don't, it won't change how hard we work, but it'd be nice to be recognized for something.

Thanks!

CMJ RECAP ISSUE 1360 WEEK 35

Oh Labor day, it is a great sign when Labor day comes around. It means 2 things. 1) All the kids are coming back soon.  2) The records are about to get better.  In the summer its almost like every company has one "star" record and then a handful of smaller names / newer bands. They could be good sure but they don't get the attention the star records get. When Fall really hits though every company seems to have 2-3 of those records and the ADDS game becomes a bit more intense to say the least.

Labor day though is pretty much a phone in week.  It used to be that a bunch of the companies would work but more and more have taken off to actually enjoy the holiday.  One station this week told me that only one company was in, or one company called them.  So we take the day off.

As I expected from last week Spoon held on to the #1 spot on the charts and Ty Segall charged up to be #2.  There is still a significant gap between the 2 records but its only a matter of time before Ty takes over #1.  I see nothing else out there that can really get in the way of that happening.

This weeks ADDS came down to Tennis and Avi Buffalo. With Avi Buffalo taking #1. The power of Sub Pop most likely pushing them over the top.

As we mentioned last week the CMJ award nominations are OPEN!!! If you look at last week we have a couple compelling reasons to vote for people so check them out. And if you have something you want to be considered for let me know and I will post it here!

I will do a rundown next week of my own nominations.

Thank you for reading lets talk on Twitter. 

MEDIUM ROTATION.

I am excited to announce all future blogs will appear on the relaunched Medium Rotation. www.mediumrotation.com  Find that and more! T...