CMJ ISSUE 1325 WEEK 48 ( LAST REPORTING WEEK OF THE YEAR )

Well we made it! The end of the year! The last weeks of a year are a little weird but it feels good to be heading into a break. This time next week I will be heading out to Australia !!!!

Arcade Fire officially became the longest running #1 of the year with this their 5th week!
They will need 2 more to tie the Black Keys for longest #1 from last year.
With 3 more weeks to start the year they will tie the last Arcade Fire record that was at #1 for 8 weeks.

According to my records that go back to 2005, Arcade Fires last record is the longest running #1 record. I do wonder if anyone else has ever been #1 longer?  Something worth looking into later for sure.

This year we had 23 different #1 records compared to 21 last year. So looks to be about average.

We averaged 269 stations reporting a week, with a high of 330 and a low of 165( the first week is always the lowest the next lowest was 209 in the middle of summer) The average #1 record had 154 stations charting it.  The highest reported #1 is shockingly Arcade fire a few weeks ago with 233 stations reporting. The lowest was the first week of the year with Bat for Lashes having 86 stations. After that the next lowest was Hunx and his punx with 106 stations in the summer.

Let's compare that to last year!

We had an average of 275 stations a week, with a high of 332 and a low of 199 ( again the first week of the year so lets look at the next lowest ( the next week) 217) We did get as low as 219 in the summer but Last year seemed to have a more consistent group of stations than what we had this year and the highs were pretty much the same. The highest reported #1 of last year was Black Keys with 241 stations and the lowest charter did not happen in the first week of the year it was Passion Pit with 124 stations.

Lets look at ADDS now too. The record that got the most adds was Thee Oh Sees with 176 adds! The lowest #1 most added record was Robert Pollard with 71 adds. The average most added record had 111 adds. 16 of the #1 most added records made it to #1 on the top 200.

My guess for the end of the year chart is going to be Vampire Weekend at #1. They held #1 for only 3 weeks, Daft punk and Arcade Fire have both had more and a bunch of others had about the same. But Vampire weekend has been on the charts now for 29 weeks!  There is no runaway like last year and Black keys so it could be a handful of records.

I am not going to do a traditional list of records instead I have decided to look at my last fm page and see what I really listened to this year

My favorite song of the year was Tegan and Sara--I Couldn't be your Friend. Not a huge shock there. My second favorite was the Queen song we used to choreograph our wedding dance( video coming one day I promise
3--The Dismemberment Plan--Daddy Was A Really Good dancer
4--Alkaline Trio--I want to be a Warhol
5--Dr Dog-- Too Weak to Ramble
6--Neko Case--Man
7--Capital Cities--Safe and Sound
8--Man Man--Head on
9--Son of Stan--Never liked the way you left home
( There are a lot of ties so I picked my favorite from the ties)

No big shocks here, mostly records that we worked. The Number one (new) song I listened to that I did not work was They Might Be Giants--You're on Fire ( I loved this song)

My top artists according to Last fm for 2013

1--The Breeders ( I guess i really loved that reissue)
2--The Dismemberment Plan
3--Man Man
4--Tegan and Sara
5--Blink 182
6--Alkaline Trio
7--Islands
8--Yeah Yeah Yeahs
9--Dr. Dog
10--Bad REligion

Lets look at the first new Artist I did not work I played the most -- Looks like that is also They Might Be giants.

Oh it looks like Last.fm has a Albums chart i was unaware of ...
So here are my top "new" albums fro 2103

1--Man Man--On Oni Pond
2--Tegan and Sara--Heartthrob
3--Islands--Ski Mask
4--Bad Religion--True North
5--Boxer Rebellion--Promises
6--The Dismemberment Plan--Uncanney Valley
7--Capital Cities--In A Tidal Wave of Mystery
8--Neko Case--The worse things get...
9--They Might Be Giants--Nanobots
10--Dr Dog--B Room

So there you have it.   2013 is in the books. I look forward to talking to you all in the new year. If you want to follow me on the rest of the internet please check me out on the Twitter  @theanimalarrg 
On Facebook on the above mentioned LAST FM 

CMJ RECAP ISSUE 1324 WEEK 47

Two weeks left! This time of year is so weird. Just look at some of the records going for adds.
#1 most added is a singles collection from Thee Oh Sees. #2, Jake Bugg, has been out at radio for a long time and #3, Elvis Costello and the Roots,  is a Remix record.  But thats what we get this time of year.  Leftovers. And lots of them.

On the top 200 Arcade Fire has #1 locked down still and MIGHT be challenged next week, but I doubt it.  More than likely the number of people doing charts will drop by about 50 and most of those that do report will just report the same thing they reported last week.

I will do a wrap up for the end of the year and look forward to doing this again next year. If you have any suggestions on how I can make this better, more interesting let me know!

thanks

douglas

CMJ ISSUE 1323 WEEK 46

Happy Thanksgiving week everyone!

Arcade fire is #1 by such a margin that I wont have to discuss a new #1 until Feb it feels like.

Have a great one!


douglas

Wedding Recap! CMJ ISSUE 1322 WEEK 45 RECAP

Hello Friends! I hope you guys had a fantastic week! Looks like I picked the right week to get married as these charts are pretty easy to talk about right now but we will get to that in a second.

First up I wanted to share with you the playlist I made for everyone that attended my wedding. I have a few extras if you want a hard copy just let me know.  Here is the playlist :




You can also view photos on Facebook,  Instagram   and Twitter by  searching the hashtag #amydougwed

You can also check out our official website here http://www.amy-and-doug.com


It was a blast and a half, we even had a party crasher at the afterparty! We had to call the police and he ran through the vineyards until he was caught. Pretty exciting though.  


Now on to the charts.

Arcade Fire.

I told you before this record would dominate.  That might be an understatement.

This week Arcade fire has 70% of all stations reporting.  Thats a Huge number. There are less than 100 stations NOT reporting Arcade Fire. There has not been a record this powerful since the last Black Keys and I think in the next few weeks we shall see Arcade Fire destroy that record.

So does the #2 record have a shot? Head and the Heart? Eh maybe next year? Next year with any record that wants to go #1 since there are only three more reporting weeks left in the year.  So how far back is Head and the Heart?  They have 40% of reporting stations and they could have an awesome week next week and get up to 60% and they would still be WAY behind.   So this is really just a battle for stations to get top 5's and top 10's. Nothing wrong with that when Arcade Fire is #1. Really not much you can do.  

So what does this mean for us as promoters? Well I can't speak for everyone but for me it does allow me to take a less aggressive stance when talking to stations about records. I am still trying to get as many stations as possible but I am able to take my time a bit more with each station and focus on records that have been overlooked by some stations.   Also right about now the number of records being added each week should be dropping a lot. That means less records to push the old records off the charts giving us a longer timeline in pushing records. In the peak of Fall and Spring we have a rigid amount of time we can keep going with a record before other records come in and push them out.  Now in-between we can spend more time trying to get more stations over longer periods with out much pushback.

One of my favorite projects was the first Neko Case record on Anti.  We went for adds late in the year and the #1 band at the time was firmly locked in. We were stuck in the top 5 for about 4 weeks to end the year. Then the new year came we were still stuck there but we were not losing any stations and because there were no other big records coming along we were able to hold our position and eventually the #1 record lost enough and we maintained enough that we were able to snag a #1 record.  So If I were pushing any of the big records that have recently come out such as Blood Orange or this past weeks #1 add Shearwater I would for sure be eyeing the start of 2014 for a move to #1.

Thanks again for reading and sorry for the lack of depth the past few weeks..I have been busy.

Lets talk about things on the Facebook or the Twitters.

Arcade Fire weekly Recap. Week 44

Well this is going to be short and sweet as I have a wedding to get to( Mine)   But Arcade Fire is #1 and really should be #1 until the end of the year.  And #1 most added is Blood Orange.

Follow along the Wedding excitement  #amydougwed on www.twitter.com

I will return soon! Until then have a great one!

Douglas

CMJ RECAP : CMJ ISSUE 1320 WEEK 43

I seriously did not think we had a chance at keeping #1 for a second week. But here I stand very happily proven wrong with DR DOG as the #1 record in college radio for the 2nd week in a row. Also for the second week in a row we had the same number of stations report..

How did this happen? We all knew that the Arcade Fire  had been sent out late but I thought If any band could overcome this and go from ADD week to #1 It would be them. They did pretty well and came in at #3 but are seriously lacking in higher core stations in comparison to both Dr. Dog and Of Montreal ( #2) . I know I said this last week but I have no doubt that they will overcome this and get to #1.  Its funny when I am considering #3 after the ADD week a disappointment.


ADDS were pretty weak this week with the #1 most added record only gaining 87 ADDS ( M.I.A)
With 2 EP's in the top 5 for most ADDED you know there are no big records at radio for the week.  Even without a juggernaut like Arcade Fire I don't think any of these would have a legit #1 shot.


I wanted to share with you some conversations I had this week at college radio about the new Arcade Fire record. It is, without a doubt, the most talked about record at the format. Every station I asked said something about it, mostly positive.  As you know I am not working the record so it is a bit easier for me to talk freely about it. I think the record is fine but my favorite from them is Neon Bible. I did not like the suburbs at all but I found myself defending Arcade Fire quite a few times this week.

One of the conversations I had started with the Music Director telling me they loved the new Arcade Fire record but they would most likely be passing on it.  I thought that was a very interesting statement. Why pass on something that you love? They said that they were just too popular.
It is an interesting reason to pass on something right? Too many people like them so we won't play them.  My next question was well if you do not play the record are there other stations in the area that are going to play them?  No. They said.  So your station, being one that likes the band, is going to pass on the band because your listeners can't get them anywhere else but they are too popular. It really makes no sense to me.

We moved on from Arcade Fire onto the real issue and that is what should College radio be? There was no real answer as it should be unique for each station.  There are some stations that serve as the pop station in town and that is their service to the community. There are others that play mostly hip hop because they are the only ones that can fill that need. In the end the answer was there is no real easy answer as to what is college radio.

I think it is a fun conversation to have and hope every station has it all the time, instead of just doing what we say or what reviews tell them to do.

That brings me to another station I had a conversation with. They passed on a record of mine, and of course this does happen from time to time but I always ask for a why. They had lots of reasons and they all sounded like good ones until I realized he was just quoting a Pitchfork review for the band. No real point to that just thought it was funny.

We are getting close to the end of the year what are your favorite records? Time to start putting that list together!

Thank you for reading lets talk about this on the twitters or the facebooks.

CMJ RECAP WEEK 42 CMJ ISSUE 1319

Hello friends, I hope all is well out there in radio land.  This week we have a new number one in DR DOG. I must say these are easier to right when I don't have a horse in the race.  But let me tell you how very satisfying getting a #1 record is.  It never gets old.   Every year there are just around 20 or so #1 records out of 50 something weeks of the year.  Getting #1 is hard.  Just look at some of the records that   peaked out at #2 or #3 that are  currently on the charts now: Superchunk,  Franz Ferdinand,  Chvrches, No Age and perhaps next week we might add Of Montreal to that list. But all are great records that had they gone at a different time of year could of been #1 records. Everything has to hit right for a record to go #1.  There has to be hype for sure, it could be the best record in the world but that matters so very little unless others are talking about it. Most of the time it needs to be a band on their second or third record. There are very few bands that go #1 on their first record.   You also need a good company behind the record.  ( well you need 2 of the three for sure )

 I often wonder what the charts would look like if there were no promoters.  You can take a look at those handful of stations that don't talk to anyone and get a glimpse and it is not pretty.  Lots of very VERY old releases. A stagnant CMJ if you will.   I debate whether the charts are better or worse off because of promoters. For the most part I have to say they are better.

So yeah this week feels really good.  We had the goal of #1 and we had this week circled as the week to make it happen ( actually I had last week circled but we came up short)  This week I was worried about Of Montreal a lot and of course you have to look out for the record that is already there, Arctic Monkeys.   I really thought that Arctic Monkeys would drop more than it did this week and would not be a factor the whole time but if you are at #1 why give it up so easily.  I thought Of Montreal would challenge having jumped up to #4 last week but I expected a lot more from Chvrches.  Perhaps they saw they had a long shot at #1 and decided to concentrate on something else, maybe Sleigh Bells as that did jump all the way from 16 to 7.  The jumps this time of year within the top 20 are way more difficult than they were in the summer so I view that as very impressive. For example if you look at The Dismemberment Plan they stayed exactly the same as last week despite gaining over 20 stations! 20 stations should be enough to move but when others around you gain more you end up running in place.


To be honest I expected more from Arcade Fire, as they had barely over half the reporting stations report it as an ADD and only came in at #58.   Pretty disappointing.  ... oh... whats that? Ahhh I see they did not even send out a digital until Monday and no one got it in until Monday at the earliest .. well damn thats pretty good..  I remember making ADD lists back in the summer time and even then my thought was we need to go for adds at least 3 weeks before Arcade Fire if we are to have a chance to go #1.   If we take a look at history the last 2 Arcade Fire records each went #1 the week after they went for adds.  I know there is a "chance" that Of Montreal could sneak in there or that DR DOG could hold on but I don't see that happening.  It could but my money is on Arcade Fire going #1 next week.   The last Arcade Fire record held #1 for 8 weeks I think it holds it for the rest of the year.


One of the issues brought up to me this week is that because the record got sent out late the fact that it got #1 most added makes ADDS somewhat of a joke.  I see the point of course but have never argued that ADDS are not silly. I tell stations all the time if you think ADDS are dumb then don't do ADDS but unless you are a big station that is going to get everything all the time it makes sense to play the game and do adds.  That is a lot of what ADDS are, a game. Is there any doubt that the biggest band at college radio is Arcade fire though? No there is no doubt so them getting #1 makes perfect sense.  The fact they did not send out the record early or "on time" makes no difference, if anything it reinforces that they are HUGE and will dominate no matter what. I mean if My Bloody Valentine can go top 30 without sending a single copy out then i would be willing to bet that Arcade Fire could go #1 without sending a record out.

So what will we discuss the next few weeks as Arcade Fire dominates? I might do a more in depth look at the charts. If Arcade Fire goes as I think it will we might have to start talking about who has the best chance to over take them.   We could also talk about what record are going for #2.  Or we can talk about whatever you want to talk about.  I am always here to talk @theanimalarrg  So lets talk

thank you for reading!

douglas