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

CMJ RECAP ISSUE 1318 --Week 41

Can you believe there are only 7 more ADD weeks after the one we just had.  Kind of crazy right?  Everyone will be rushing to get their records out before the end of the year although at this point I would rather just wait until closer to the end of the year. With Arcade Fire going for adds next week could we have our first ever record to debut at #1 on the ADD week??? ( no we won't but it is fun to think about )  Speaking of, how many weeks will it take to get there and how many will it stay there?  I think it goes to #1 the week after ADDS and stays there for 6 weeks so until the end of the year.  I hope I am wrong for the sake of my records but who isn't going to play this record?

We have a lot we can talk about today.

Lets start with the CMJ music festival.  While some ( Consequence of Sound  ) thought the festival was on the downturn and not worth much I thought it was great.  It is a festival with many goals and depending on who you are it may or may not of satisfied those goals. If you are a New yorker looking to just checkout new bands I don't think it is really worth it as "bigger" bands come in the week before or the week after.  If you are looking to connect with the people that make college radio run across the country then well it was a huge success. Three or four years ago was one of the worst CMJ's I can remember. Very few MD's everyone kind of saying is this worth it?  Then something happened CMJ started giving Badges to subscribers of the magazine and sure enough more people from schools came. This year I met more new music directors than I have had in a long time. An awards ceremony that was once mostly empty was packed. It felt really good ( we will talk more about that in a bit)  So yeah overall I disagree with the statement that the festival is in its decline.  

The same might not be said for CMJ overall.  On the Wed of CMJ we were all a BUZZ of the news that CMJ was being sued for A million dollars.  Story here over at Pitchfork  I wont pretend to know what this means for the future of college radio. I have been here for a while and seen CMJ at some pretty weak moments that I thought for sure would end its long run as the trade magazine for college radio.  Through every one they have somehow made it through. This one seems worse.  There was a lot of talk about what we would do next year when CMJ did not exist.  Half Jokingly half serious we really have no idea what could happen.  The overall attitude was that something else would step up.  For the most part college radio is a tight knit group and we all want to see college radio succeed and all think it is an important part in the growth of a band and I think most would want to see that continue.  There are alternatives out there and we have talked about them here before but the problem with them is they lack a legitimacy that CMJ, for whatever reason, continues to have.   So I have no answers but I think this could be bad. Only time will tell.

I hesitate to talk about the CMJ awards even though many of you have asked me what I am going to say about them. I remember when I won the first 4 CMJ promoter of the year awards. It felt real good to win the first few and then it felt silly. I felt bad for winning.   I wanted to give others a chance and so I told my stations please do not nominate me but to nominate someone else.  I have not won since and I am fine with that.  I have heard a lot of things about this years CMJ awards from a lot of people and some people were pissed even some stations expressed to me their disappointment that it looks rigged.  Rigged is a strong word and I don't think it is rigged I think The Syn did a great job making sure they won every category.   I am not going to complain or be bitter though but rather hope that in the future there is a level playing field.

So we had our first charts in 2 weeks this week and the numbers were pretty much the same as two weeks ago. Thats a great sign I think for the next few weeks to come.  Another week above 300 reporters is a great thing to have.  Arctic Monkeys took the #1 spot for the 2nd week but charging up to #2 was DR DOG jumping over CHVRCHES.  The big move though has to be Of Montreal coming in at #4!!! Granted last week would of been its add week but man that is aggressive.   We also see some nice moves from Yuck, Best Coast, Haim, Fuzz, and Dismemberment Plan. All of these records have a goal to get to #1 and by my calculations they have a week to do it!

This weeks #1 most added was Cass McCombs powered behind a few indies working it to both AAA and College took the #1 spot by 2 adds over the Head and the Heart with Cults coming in third. All having over 100 adds. Seeing a lot of weeks with a bunch of records having over 100 adds. Lots of big records, and many more to come over the next few weeks.  

Thank you for reading. Lets talk more about all of this on the twitter hit me up @theanimalarrg

Go RED SOX!!!

CMJ ISSUE 1317 RECAP WEEK 40

Thank you friends for stopping by this weeks CMJ recap.  Having grabbed #1 last week with Neko Case we were faced with a 2 part challenge.

1) keeping Neko Case #1 and 2) Putting Dr. Dog in a position to get #1.
There was a lot of debate about the best way to go about it.  I felt pretty strongly that there was very little possibility in getting Dr. Dog ( last week #13) all the way to #1 considering Arctic Monkeys were going to continue pushing for #1 and we were still a good 60+ stations behind.  I thought we had a chance to keep Neko #1 but we had to be sure we did not sacrifice Dr. Dog to do so.   Also the week after getting #1 I feel you cant put the same amount of pressure on stations that you did the previous week.   I mean you can but it all begins to fall apart if EVERY WEEK IS THE BIGGEST WEEK EVER FOR EVERY RECORD  YOU EVER WORK. (same way some promoters think every record they work is the best record ever )  I just don't think thats a smart way to do it.  So I pick my battles.

Early on we had the same gap we had last week between Neko and Arctic Monkeys but every time I checked the gap was wider than the previous week. By the end of the day Monday I started really trying to lay the groundwork for a big Dr. Dog push that will come in the next few weeks.  In the end though Arctic Monkeys ( congrats to them since I am sure they thought they should of had it last week ) took the #1 spot. Neko Case fell to #2 and setting up the next few weeks Chvrches and Dr. Dog took #3 and #4.  

What happens now is a good question especially with a week off due to CMJ. Some stations will combine two weeks of charts. Others will put out a chart next week and a different one the week after and some will just freeze their charts because they are too hungover from being in NYC all week.   So I go into the weird 2 week period pretending there is a chart next week and my goal is to get Dr. Dog into the top 3.  When I have convinced myself I have then going for #1 in 2 weeks seems pretty easy.


As for ADDS this week...  I did not see that coming. The last Of Montreal record was the poorest performer of their career at CMJ and normally when you have a slip on the charts it caries over to the next record ( as we have discussed before) So I just naturally thought they would do worse than they did before and maybe be a top 5 most added band. I really thought it would come down to Sleigh Bells, Dismemberment Plan and Best Coast. But it was not even close. Of Montreal ran away with it.   Sleigh Bells was a surprise as well but talking to a few stations it seemed like the mailing was a bit late.  More importantly we had three records with over 100 adds something we have not seen in quite a long time.

So what happens to these adds after the CMJ break?  Lets take a look at last year at this time to see if that can give us any indication. Last year we also saw three records get 100+ adds with Tame Impala taking #1,  Ty Segall taking #2 and Mountain Goats at #3.

The top five records the week before CMJ were

Grizzly Bear
The XX
Animal Collective
Dum Dum Girls
Raveonettes


The Week after the CMJ break ( issue 1270 )

We have a new number one
The XX
Grizzly Bear
Tame Impala
Dum Dum Girls
Flying Lotus

( Ty Segall came in at #7 and Mountain Goats #13)

That is sort of what I expect to happen this time around.  Either Chvrches or Dr. Dog should be able to take the #1 spot on the charts in the next chart while we should see the top 3 adds from this week jump up near the top 10.

Last year at this time we saw a rapid fire switch over at #1 over those last few weeks as well. I expect the same.  

With there only being 8 reporting weeks left I think we will see 4 more #1 records. The 4th being Arcade Fire as it will walk over everything in its path when that comes out. So my goals now are to get #1 before that record comes out.  

If you are going to CMJ lets meet up!  And please come by the Pirate! party on WED at Fontanas.

www.paintismybitch.com  and if you are not yet lets continue the conversation over on twitter @theanimalarrg

CMJ RECAP ISSUE 1316 WEEK 39

Tuesday morning began pretty rough. I looked at the numbers and we were down 20.  I slammed my fist on my desk with every disheartening chart I got in knowing my window was closing on me. I talked to the Boston Pirate office telling them they were fired and were awful at their jobs and we should close down if we can't get Neko Case #1.  

To catch you up, going into this week I knew it would be a battle.  You had the feeling that Ty Segall had run his course and would drop off a bit ( he did going from #1 to #7)  It would come down to 3 records Neko Case ( #2 the last 2 weeks) Arctic Monkeys ( charging up the charts)  and Franz Ferdinand hanging around in the #3 spot.

All three had a legit shot at #1. Franz is the only one of the three with 2 indies on it and that could be enough to take it over the edge. Arctic Monkeys seems to have the most hype of the three and as I mentioned has been charging up the charts. Neko Case has been owning the AAA charts the last 2 weeks and that is usually a sign of larger station dominance.    I checked the charts every hour starting at 8 am on Monday morning.

Here is Monday. PST I stopped checking regularly at 5 but did check one more time before calling it a night.

                 8AM--9AM--10AM--11AM--12PM--1PM--2PM--3PM--4PM--5PM--10PM
Arctic-----18------20------24-------29--------33------37-----46-----52-----54-----66------87
Ty---------13------14------17-------21--------27------28-----34-----39-----40-----48------61
Franz-----14------16------18-------24--------27------32-----38-----42-----44-----54------73
Neko -----15------16------17-------23--------29------29-----38-----43-----45-----55------72


So not exactly what I was going for when we set off to get #1 with Neko Case. In a perfect world we would be tied or have a lead. Being down so many sucked but the thing with monitoring stations this way is it does not tell you the whole story. For all I know these could be all the very small stations have have very little impact on the actual charts or they could be all the big ones and I could be screwed.

When I woke up on Tuesday I thought I was screwed.

Overnight Arctic had jumped to 105 stations while Neko had only jumped to 87. Ty was starting to show he would not be a factor and Franz, like Franz does, was sticking around with 89 stations.

The next time I checked Neko case was down 124 to 109  but she had passed Franz. It was at this point that I fired everyone.    We had 2 and a half hours until the charts closed. You can't really give up at this point but I really thought we were done for. I started to look at the numbers for something to hold on to and noticed we were ahead on some of the bigger stations and some I had just talked to said we were great on their charts so I thought we could have a chance and for the next few hours I stopped going after new stations and focused on those stations that had already been reporting trying to get a little forward movement.  I was feeling good until I saw KCRW report and thought the dream was over. They had Arctic Monkeys on there but no Neko Case.  I was crushed.  My whole plan of attack the last few hours was to narrow the gap, keep it within 10 and hopefully pull out a miracle with the larger core stations. Seeing KCRW I was certain I had failed.

Just as certain as I was earlier this year when I thought 100% that Vampire Weekend was going to be #1. I had never wanted to be wrong more in my life I tweeted.  Sure there was a chance. We had more CORE stations but it is so hard to know how much you need to make up the difference of volume.

When the charts came out and Neko Case was #1 I really did not know what to think. On one hand I was overjoyed that we got to #1 on the other hand how the hell did that just happen. Do I keep on underestimating the power of core stations? The difference between one level of core and another is something else I don't ever really grasp but I know this time it was enough.

Of course there were other things that happened on the charts this week.  I did not have a horse in the top ADDS race this week but Thought it would come down to Yuck or Moby and in the end Yuck took #1 most added and Moby #2.  I hear next week is shaping up to be a crazy week as well, thats to be expected the week before CMJ everyone wants a big record out.

On the charts aside from the race to #1 we have returned to over 300 stations reporting! Give yourself a round of applause. Pretty great to see. I hope we continue more reporters as the CMJ charts are better with the more people reporting.

Lets look at some of the bigger movers.  MGMT comes in at #8 from #16, The last record went to #2 but they seem to have faded from being the next it CMJ band but should have a nice chance at top 5 still I think.   Chvrches comes in at #9 after being #2 most added last week and jumping up from #78 this is one of the next contenders for #1 for sure.  Last weeks #1 most added Dr. Dog comes in at #13 and these two should battle for #1 in a few weeks I think.  They are currently only 10 stations apart so the gap is pretty small.  I would be surprised if both jumped into the top 5 next week but each should be on the cusp for sure.

The number one debut of the week comes in from Those Darlins at #41 we had 35 debuts this week a pretty high number. Still feel there are a lot of people coming back and would expect that to mean records that were big over the summer to hang out for a bit longer.  Taking a look there are, not counting the current #1, 8 former #1s on the chart. Most seem to be maintaining pretty well with a few even moving back up on the charts.

What are you guys looking forward to seeing at CMJ? What are you listening to lately?  Let me know! If you want to have a discussion about this lets do it on twitter @theanimalarrg

CMJ RECAP 1315 WEEK 38

It is hard to believe that in three more short reporting weeks we will be hanging out in NYC for the CMJ Music Conference. I know not all of you will be there but it seems over the last few years there has been an uptick in the number of stations going. Or perhaps just more people from a few stations. Whatever the case it seems to be on the upswing. And yet while we are three short weeks away and the number of people going to CMJ keeps going up, the number of stations reporting to CMJ is just startlingly low.  We have not had a over 300 stations reporting since week 17. This whole year we have only had NINE weeks out of 38 that have had over 300 stations.   Last year at this time was not much better with 12 weeks out of 300.

I believe I have gone over this once before but it is a point worth revisiting every now and again.
This year we have had 432 stations report.
Last year there were 466 reporters
468 in 2011
510 in 2010
530 in 2009
575 in 2008
608 in 2007
647 in 2006

As you can see every year there are less reporters and I always ask why, why do more stations quit CMJ every year. That is not to say there are not new stations but for every WQFS that quits a station like Pizza FM takes its place.  For every WEGL, WERS, WHRB, WPGU, WERK  there are "the thing" "radio Phoenix" "ohio FM"

I do not mean disrespect to any of these stations, I only wish that instead of replacing WERS with M3 Radio there was a way to keep WERS reporting to CMJ because CMJ is better when the best stations across the country report.  CMJ is not at its best when Joe internet can go and buy a subscription and report and dilute the charts.   I wish we could get them back but I understand completely why they no longer do, programs are getting cut budgets are getting smaller. On every level.    Upon saying all of this I can understand why a new station that is taking the time and spending the money to report would be upset that reporting does not automagically equal hard copies of records.   The truth is, and we have touched on this before, that some stations that have more wattage, a bigger listening audience, more community outreach and thereby a spin there is worth more to the band/ promoter/ label than a small unknown station broadcasting to 3 stoned dudes and a cow.   Anyways this is a huge discussion we can have and I would love to have so let me know your thoughts. I have asked some stations recently that no longer report that I still service why they no longer report and because they are larger stations they still get records and do not see the point in reporting. Not my words theirs.

Anyways such a large tangent to start off with this week but it bothers me that we are still under 300 stations to start the year.

Now on to this weeks chart.  I will say that while we did not get to 300 we were close 296. But the point is we should be way above not hovering below as we currently are.  But 296 is a jump up from last week by a good 20 stations so there is hope we can get there next week. The hard part of having these waves of new stations is keeping on top of them. Stations tend to come back to PILEs and PILES of records and no matter what we try and do to help them the end up adding Vampire Weekend, Daft Punk and a bunch of summer left overs because they are there. This is hard when you have 4 different companies pushing 4 records for #1 on the top 200. It makes for a pretty tight race.

This weeks race was pretty tight, at least I think it was.  #1 Ty Segall pretty much had it the whole way I thought but is not gaining the ground we saw over the past few weeks so the thought is they have peaked and might start to fall a bit. He has been hovering close to the 60% mark of stations while the other contenders are closer to 50%.  Lets take a look at the others.

Neko Case at #2
Franz Ferdinand at #3
Arctic Monkeys at #4

Deer Tick made a nice rebound to jump into the top 5 I just think these other records are stronger so we will focus on them.

I could of seen the order play out any other way and not been shocked.  Every one has strengths. Franz is dominating with #1s having an overwhelming advantage in that department.  Neko has the AAA and higher cores going for her while Arctic Monkeys saw a big jump in the # of stations playing them.

I actually thought, before I looked at the numbers, that Arctic would be ahead of Franz but the #1s and the volume of stations really helped them out.   This next week should be very interesting. I don't think any of the big debuts or records that had big moves will contend next week so it should be a similar showdown between the four.

The new records to keep an eye on would be Goldfrap, MGMT, Man Man, Elvis Costello and Obits none of these I see pushing for #1 though. However this time of year can lend itself to longer runs at the top spot. I say that because with so many new good records coming in you get fewer #1's for each one because more stations like a lot of different records and they tend to have longer climbs than the summer time where there are 2 good records and both race up the chart very quickly.  

The next big contenders I think went for adds this week in DR DOG and Chvrches.  Dr. Dog took the number one spot pretty handedly but at the same time Chvrches had the higher debut on the top 200. I could see these two fighting it out the week after CMJ, look for both to be somewhere in the top 20 easily next week perhaps even top 15.

Something I always find interesting/ frustrating this time of year is with new stations and new good records you get to see records gain a lot of stations and go down on the same week. It can be VERY frustrating to gain 20 stations in a week and go down 2 spots but it happens a lot.  Look at Deer Tick last week they gained stations on top of what they had the week previous but they went down a spot. They were able to rebound nicely this week and grab that top 5.  So we need to keep an eye out for those records in week 4 or 3 that already have gone down as they have the best chance of a rebound. Once you get to week 5 on the chart it is typically time to let them go, not always though.

Well I think I covered a lot this week, as we get closer to CMJ I will list all the parties I know about and also tell you who I am looking forward to seeing, please share with me who you are excited to see!

Please be sure to follow me on the twitters at www.twitter.com/theanimalarrg
and you can follow me on instagram at douginthehouse

Lets talk soon!

CMJ RECAP ISSUE 1314 WEEK 37

Hello friends. If have not yet seen the Nominations for the CMJ AWARDS were announced yesterday check them out. I will not do a full rundown of the nominations.  I think they are fun and a great time and I won Promoter of the year many times in a row and thoroughly enjoyed it. I do wish they would change the nomination and voting process.  One idea I had was that Stations could only nominate and vote for Promoters and Promoters could only nominate and vote for Stations.  My theory being that it would stop things like a station that does not even report to CMJ on a regular basis from being nominated.  Or perhaps if each station/ promotion company got one vote.  I am sure there would be problems no matter what they did but that might make it better.  Or maybe I am wrong and UTA radio is a fantastic internet station run by students that everyone has heard of except for me ...oh and those other 4 promoters I asked but maybe everyone else loves them.


Another week under 300 reporters. I miss you guys. I hope you all come back soon. Things look to be on track for our first 300 reporting week of the Fall for the last week of September. These charts are so much more fun the more people we have participating.  

Lets start with ADDS this week. MGMT took #1 with under 90 ADDs. While I, and the people I talked to, thought MGMT would take #1 most ADDED pretty easily I am surprised it did not break 100.  The adds were all really clustered together looked like there were no records that everyone liked but many records that a bunch of people liked, if that makes sense.  The last MGMT record went to #2 and I think that was viewed as a disappointment in much the same way Tegan and Sara going to #2 was a disappointment. You still feel good about #2 but when your expectations are #1 it can be a big bummer.   So regardless of what this record sounds like and if it is better or worse than the last one it is being judged by how the last one made them feel.  I think you will see the same thing with the next Tegan and Sara record as it was a change in sound and changes in sound scare people away. They also get new fans too but it takes time to build that back up to a #1 contender.

The charts were once again topped by Ty Segall. When I first saw the numbers I thought he had another amazing week but in looking closely it looks like they had the same week as last week. With just around 65% of reporting stations. They just did a really good job of getting those new stations that were coming back on.   Neko Case had a great week charging past Franz Ferdinand to grab #2 on the charts. Her percentage of stations went from 40% to 51% so a nice improvement. Still a ways to go for #1 but looking pretty good.  

With 2 indies on Franz Ferdinand it would be hard to count them out of the race for #1 next week.  Ty Segall could gain more stations but it is more likely that he will start to lose the grip on the high percentage he has.   I am also looking at a charging Arctic Monkeys who come in at #11 after their great add week.  It is a little like the situation with Washed Out and No Age that we saw a few weeks ago. Do you continue to go for Ty at #1 or do you put everything into getting Arctic Monkeys up there.  Now I think the window at this point is pretty open for a LOT of different scenarios and I could see a lot of things happening.   I think next week will be VERY close though. What do you think will happen out there?  Let me know @theanimalarrg 

Also what are you surprised about out there? I can tell you that I am most surprised that a digital only single debuted at #50!!! I know it is Arcade Fire but wow. That is something else. Beating another digital only EP in the PIXIES.   Well all that I know is that helps me not send a bunch of hard copies out knowing that you know how to download singles and EP. Thanks for that. HA.

This week we had 33 debuts! That is pretty high I think.  The number one debut of the week came from Goldfrapp.  I will start doing more chart info like that as more people come back as it gives the chart a bit more legitimacy.  But please let me know if you have any burning questions that I can help answer about college radio. I am here to help .

Also thank you for nominating me for Outstanding Leadership In College Radio I do appreciate it and If there is anything I can do to get better at helping you guys out just let me know.

CMJ AWARD NOMINATIONS

This Sunday marked the last day you can nominate someone for the CMJ awards.  I saw  a lot of "vote for me" posts from Promoters and Stations and I wanted to take you through the process of who I picked and Why.  ( For stations I only talk to a portion of the stations so there are plenty of other worthy nominations I am sure )

Station Of The Year
Last year was pretty fantastic when WTBU from Boston University won the award and I love when things like that happen. When I look at station of the year personally I look at those stations that are growing and getting better by the year. My suggestions for this award are: ( keep in mind I don't talk to every station and can only suggest the ones I do talk about) 
KVMR, KALX, KDHX, KLSU   of course there are plenty of deserving stations but those were in the running for my nomination

I went with KDHX, click to check them out 

Music Director Of The Year
You really can't go wrong with any of the MD's of the above mentioned 
Alice from KVMR, Arielle from KALX, Nick from KDHX and Angela from KLSU were all in the running 

I went with the Local station here in San Francisco and Arielle from KALX 




Specialty Music Director Of The Year


I do not talk to specialty music directors so I left it blank 


Biggest Champion Of The Local Scene

Last year I nominated WBWC because I feel they get really involved with the community. I know WUTK does a lot as well but this year I went with WICB 


Will Never Sell Out
There are a lot of stations that have rigid rules and will never break them and I could of gone with someone from WRAS, WUOG, WUSC but this year I went with Abbie Gobell from KUOM as she clearly has a goal for her station and what she wants it to sound like and has the added obstacle of KCMP being in the same market. 


Biggest Community Resource
To me this falls right in line with the champion of the local scene or maybe I just read them wrong and should of done something else for champion of the local Scene... Now that I think about it that is looking more like someone that plays a lot of local music. Well moving on.  I went with WDBM on this one 


Biggest Improvement
This one is always a lot of fun. I am pretty sure KSLU won it like 3 out of the 4 first years.  I really like the direction WUTK is going in and what the new Music directors have been doing so I went with them 


Best Use Of Limited Resources
There are so many people out there that do not get paid or just do the job for the joy of doing the job. I went in the direction of not in a major city, thus no large tours and I just wanted to give a shout to a station that does a great job year after year so I went with KGLT  


Rookie Of The Year
You could say this ties in with Biggest Improvement as a new MD tends to bring about a large improvement. I also wish they did this for the Promoters as there are so many good new promoters out there that deserve a shout.  I honestly have not talked to a lot of new MD's this year so I went with the newest one I just talked to in Olive from KPSU.  
Best Student-Run, Internet-Only Station
There are a bunch of Internet only stations that report to CMJ but only a few that are student run. I only talk to one of them so of course I went with them  Spinnaker Radio 


Best Taste In Music
A ton of people out there have GREAT tastes in music. Everyone I named above does of course. And many more that I did not name.  I went with Jake from WITR 


Most Creative Programming
Another tough one and I could of gone with them for Limited resources but he was pushing for this so I said sure what the hell!  WDWN 

Industry Awards




These were a lot of fun. I decided not to nominate Pirate! for everything and go with those I thought were really deserving of the award. 


Promoter Of The Year
There are a lot of Promoters doing really good jobs out there. Let me tell you some of my favorites. Of course Canada here at Pirate! Has been doing a great job. Hannah and her team over at Jagjaguwar are all stellar.  But it came down to a coin flip for me between Christine at Distiller and my eventual nominee Tenni at AAM.  I hope all of them get nominated for Promoter of the year as they all would deserve it.  But seeing the things they are doing this year at AAM is pretty impressive so I went with her. 
Promotion Company Of The Year
Obviously I think we are the best here at Pirate! so I went with us.  I do think that most of the promotional companies do a really good job otherwise they would not be here. 


Outstanding Leadership In College Radio
ME. I AM YOUR LEADER.   But seriously I just look at this as  who is the old person still doing things. ME I am still doing things. 


Best Online Resources
I know I said I did not nominate Pirate! for everything and I did not but how great is our download system. Its easy right? 


Best Taste In Music
Ok another non Pirate!  I thought of throwing a curveball like Oscar in here since he has to be the most honest about his musical preferences or someone at Terrorbird as they have a great roster of music fans over there but I decided to go with Graham from AmanAplanAcanal 


Please Hire Me When I Graduate
You don't want to work for me, I make you get me sandwiches. Go work for CMJ thats where you want to be. The Hub of the College music industry 


Sexiest Phone Voice
Better than biggest flirt I suppose but if you have talked to Canada you know his voice is sexy. 


Best Artist Roster
I have to think my roster is the best right! Otherwise what am I doing.  After Pirate thought you have to look at the great rosters of Team Clermont and Terrorbird and I single those two out as they really seem to be focusing on music THEY like and I respect that ( and the screen shot I took of who I nominated here got cut off and I cant remember what I put)

Thanks for reading!

Full update later this week.

CMJ ISSUE 1313 RECAP WEEK 36

Thank you to everyone that participated in the vote for the #1 most added record last week.  And just like the vote Arctic Monkeys was #1 most added. There were a couple add in votes but shockingly there were no Pixies add in votes. The Pixies came out of nowhere and scored a top five most added. When I think about that I am surprised.  For years we have talked about what would happen if the Pixies put out more music.  I know you can't predict how good an EP or record will be but I expected more.  

This weeks chart race and top ADD race were very slow.  What I thought would of happened last week happened this week with Ty Segall taking #1 on the top 200 and Arctic Monkeys taking #1 on the top ADDS.    But there were some more people back reporting so thats kind of fun.  The next few weeks should be fun but we will get to that in a bit.

What I wanted to concentrate on this week was a question I got from one of the stations that reads this blog...

"PS, I really love your blog. I've been an MD for  a few years and I'm always fascinated by the different personalities of record reps...some of the nicest people I've chatted with to some of the biggest jerks I'd hope to never meet in real life. I'd be curious to know how record charting affects a rep's job and what pressure people are under to get the highest number of records charting etc. And what, if any, consequence is their for being complete dicks to music directors. So far this year has been decent...we'll see how it goes as the year progresses. "

It is a great question. We all have different ways of promoting. I hear all the time of intimidation ( if you don't get on this you wont get any more records type of threat)  And those that let the record speak for themselves. There are of course many in-between that toe the line.

I don't really understand/ nor have I ever understood those that bully stations.  It should and can be a symbiotic relationship.  We send you music. You listen and decide on what you like. It was never meant to be we send you music you chart it or we don't send you any more.  But that can happen. And hell I have pulled servicing on many stations throughout my years of being a promoter.  The reasons can vary but that is a last straw.     The question though is how charting can affect a promoters job.
I can tell you at Pirate and those that have moved on from Pirate, I would like to think, promote without bullying. Or being dicks.   But to be 100% honest if it gets results it does not matter how it is done to the company.   So those of you that buy in to the bullying or threats are only helping those promoters continue in the line of being dicks as the station mentioned.

There have been a lot of new MD's I have talked to over the past week and I say the same thing to each of them.  I am not in any of these bands. Be honest with me about how you feel about this record. I might try and convince you otherwise but I will not be offended.  My job is to get feedback and to help get each band into the right station. So if you are not the right station it is best I know right away instead of lying to me and saying you can't find it or it is in review.

So I honestly have no idea of what is going for adds next week but for the charts It should be rather exciting

We have Ty Segall at #1 Can they hold it?

That means that records such as Wahed out and Superchunk should be leaving the top 5.

That ALSO means we have a race between No Age, Franz Ferdinand, Deer Tick, Neko Case, Jacuzzi Boys and a few others that all feel they have a shot for #1 or top five.

Franz Ferdinand needed to make a bigger move this week from 5 last week, they only went to 4.  They did gain 40 stations but Ty Segall had 142 last week and that would still leave them 20 short.

So to overtake #1 Ty Segall this next week a record will have to, in theory, have more than 162 stations. The closest at this point is Washed out with 145 and they are on the downturn.  I think Ty is safe for another week but whomever makes the biggest jump out of those listed above next week will have the best chance at #1 in 2 weeks.

Should start to get fun soon! See you at CMJ? Oh if you have not voted be sure to nominate for the CMJ awards and let me know if you want me to vote for you for something.

Hit me up on twitter at @theanimalarrg.

September 16th ADD preview.

I thought it would be fun this week to see what you guys thought the results would be this week.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

CMJ RECAP ISSUE 1312 WEEK 35

Things are getting fun out there. I just wish more of you were back to enjoy it.  I thought we would see a big  uptick in reporting from the summer weeks but I guess that is still a week or so away.  This week we hover around those same low, I would rather be outside than inside reporting, chart numbers.

I am sure you have all seen the many articles talking about exciting fall records, if not here are a few:

Pitchfork

Spin 

Metacritic 

What are you excited about?  This week we saw a few of those Most Anticipated go for Adds in : Nine Inch Nails,  King Khan and the Shrines, Volcano Choir, and Neko Case.  

Of course going in I thought it would be a tough race between all four big names but in the end it was a runaway victory for Neko Case. At no point did I check and have her behind and in the end she won by over 25 ADDS.  In talking to some other promoters Nine Inch Nails proved to be the most hard to predict.  While some thought the record would do better, others were shocked at how well it did.   I find it very interesting as it still did get top five most ADDEd but I saw it as a top 3 or potential #1 add and others thought it would only be a top 10 most added at best.   Could be that some people really like NIN while others hate them.   Could be some overvalued how good the record could do while some undervalued.   What do you think?

The chart this week was FULL of surprises!  I recall last week week saying something like no way Washed Out will be #1 again and it would come down to Ty Segall and No Age. Well I am not above admitting when I am way off. And that I was. Washed Out dominated yet again.  Ty did move up to #2 and Superchunk and No Age round out the top 4 but another big shock was the move made by Franz Ferdinand to #5.  But that can happen in the transition from Summer to Fall. People are eager to move in the new records and move out the old ones.  But there are a few things I would like to talk about.

Lets start with Washed out. Well done. I can see why they decided to continue pushing Washed Out. The numbers for No Age suggest that they really had no chance to take #1. The smart thing to do if you realize that you have no chance is go with what you do have a chance with.  So while you would never give up on No Age, you have the #1 record why not work to keep it.  Its a good situation to be in. Sometimes it can be fun to block one of your competitors as well.

Secondly, you will recall last week Franz Ferdinand came in at #1 most added with 108 adds.  Exactly half the stations reporting ADDS added the record and also debuted at 99.  They obviously went for it. They saw the opening and decided their best shot is to get the record up there as fast as possible to have a shot at #1.  This time of year it is a great strategy. In about 3 weeks the top 10 will be full of records that, had they gone for adds in the summer, could be #1 records.  So this weeks #1 most added record Neko Case can she do a Franz?  Well she debuted at 83 in her add week and had 54% of the stations add her.  So the numbers line up. We will have to see.

This next week should be pretty interesting as it has gotten a bit crowded up at the top. We have Washed out, who we cant count out after what we saw this week. Ty Segall, the record I proclaimed would be #1 this past week. No Age, Franz and all the above mentioned ADDS that will surely jump most of last weeks ADDS.   That should be interesting to watch actually.  We can look at what Last weeks adds Jacuzzi Boys ( 10), Deer Tick (11), Crocodiles (17),  Dodos (21)  did in their first week of pushing and compare how next weeks ADDS do. I bet that the big ones debut higher than the lowest at 21. I would even go as far as to say higher than 17.  

So I have no real idea what will happen on the charts but if Washed Out is able to hold on to #1 that would be very impressive. If it is not Washed out I have to think it is Ty Segall although Franz Ferdinand could make a legit push.  And what of this weeks big add Neko Case.

If you have yet to check out who is playing CMJ

and if you have not yet nominated anyone for the CMJ AWARDS please do! You have until September 15th.

Hit me up on twitter at @theanimalarrg  and thank you for reading.

CMJ RECAP CMJ ISSUE 1311 WEEK 34

Thought It was time for another "live" breakdown of what is going on on the charts. It is 7:00AM here on the west coast on Monday August 26th. The ADD weeks are getting bigger and better and Music Directors are trickling back from summer break.    The first thing I do, and it saddens me to say this, is check Pitchfork to see if any of my ADDS got reviewed. IF they did and it is a good score (7 or higher)  I add it to my weekly email and use it to boost the record. But most of the time the impact from a good Pitchfork review is not felt until the next week. This week 2 of the bigger ADDs are reviewed in Franz Ferdinand getting a 5.4 and Dent May getting a 6.2.   So if I were working either of these I would ignore them and move on. Neither score will likely have an effect on the CMJ charts. MAYBE the Franz one but its not low enough to really make a dent I don't think.

When I asked everyone their thoughts for who will be #1 most added they said Franz Ferdinand and I think based upon name recognition alone they have the best shot but there are some other contenders to keep an eye on for sure. So now I head to CMJ to get the baseline for the week.

Well at this time there is nothing to reports via ADDS with only 6 reporters in.  So we will have to check back with that a bit later.  For the charts though something pretty interesting. Superchunk has the lead by one over Washed Out.  If Superchunk is going to do it, it has to be this week. So this will be fun to watch.


9:15 AM  Already talked to more people this week than last week at this time. A few newbies coming back to school, getting really excited about fall.  ADDS seem to be updated and so far we have 28 stations reporting. If we look at last weeks total adds of 217 it means we are looking at a very small percentage of reporters so we cant take too much from these results, But lets look anyways .

Okkervil River --3
Franz Ferdinand-12
Dodos--4
Jacuzzi Boys--8
Deer Tick--7
Califone--5
Dent May--2

Well that is a punch in the GUT for sure. man...

Not much has changed on the reporting for top 200 so no update there really.


2:02 PM
Been a pretty busy day on the phone but CMJ charts are trickling in as slowly as ever. I wanted to get to  a point where we had 50 reporters on the ADDS side and that FINALLY happened.
At least at 50 can predict a little bit better what will happen

Franz Ferdinand--21
Deer Tick--19
Jacuzzi Boys--19
Crocodiles--17
Dodo's--11
Okkervil River--9
Califone--9
Orwells--9
Still Life Still-6
Kissaway Trail--5
Dent MAy--5

Crazy how that gap Between Franz and everyone else has gotten a lot smaller.  Nothing seems to be on pace for 100 adds but 50 is still a small sample size but we are starting to see 4 records pull away.

as for charting Superchunk holds a one station lead over Washed out
With Ty Segall and No age tied about 12 back.


Its 4pm here on the West coast meaning I am winding down the work day.  I will say I talked to the most people I have talked to a long time and It felt good to be busy. Wish the number of charts reflected that.


Tuesday August 27th.

7:00am

Dodos review on pitchfork is a 6.8.  Thats not a number that changes anything
so now we go to the CMJ charts to see what happened overnight

We are up to 114 stations so we are on pace for over 200 reporting ADDS and that is nice
How much has changed?


Franz Ferdinand--21--55

Deer Tick--19--39
Jacuzzi Boys--19--48
Crocodiles--17--41
Dodo's--11--30
Okkervil River--9--26
Califone--9--25
Orwells--9--29
Still Life Still-6--11
Kissaway Trail--5--16
Dent MAy--5--25


So Franz is in First pretty comfortably.  I am not shocked but I did think the other records would challenge a bit more.

On the charts it looks like Washed out is pulling ahead with 77 stations with Superchunk at 73.  Its not over but looking a bit more like Washed out will take #1


9am


Franz Ferdinand--21--55--72

Deer Tick--19--39--53
Jacuzzi Boys--19--48--60
Crocodiles--17--41--53
Dodo's--11--30---34
Okkervil River--9--26--31
Califone--9--25---32
Orwells--9--29---34
Still Life Still-6--11---14
Kissaway Trail--5--16--19
Dent MAy--5--25--36
Porcelain Raft-----26

Superchunk has a chance... this should be interesting

Everytime I check No age and Ty Segall they have the same number of stations. next week should be interesting

9:40am


Franz Ferdinand--21--55--72--81

Deer Tick--19--39--53--61
Jacuzzi Boys--19--48--60--71
Crocodiles--17--41--53--56
Dodo's--11--30---34--40
Okkervil River--9--26--31--36
Califone--9--25---32--38
Orwells--9--29---34--38
Still Life Still-6--11---14--15
Kissaway Trail--5--16--19--21
Dent MAy--5--25--36--42
Porcelain Raft-----26---------30

looks like we have our top 4 set with a bunch in contention for #5

Washed out holds a 3 station lead on Superchunk 103-100
( although I do feel that Superchunk has a core lead so who knows )

HALF HOUR LEFT 

Larger lead for Washed out and Dodos looks to have taken control of the #5 spot. 

11:02 ( 2:02)   

A ton  of activity towards the end. Will be interesting to see what happens when the dust settles 

I dont feel strongly enough to say Washed Out or Superchunk have it. Would not be shocked with either.  I am however leaning towards Washed out.. The last two times I leaned ( vampire weekend a few months ago and Washed out even a few weeks ago I was wrong so who knows ) 

AND NOW THE CMJ RECAP 

I hope you guys all enjoyed the "live" breakdown. I think it is fun to show you what is happening behind the scenes. 

I talked to a few promoters that were surprised about Franz Ferdinand being #1 most ADDED .  I am not because there were still only 216 stations that reported ADDS so that tells me a lot of people just looked at email and and went with the name they knew.  The separation between 4 and 9 is only about 20 adds not a huge number really but the top 3 of Franz, Jacuzzi Boys and Deer Tick really separated themselves from the pack.

The real excitement this week came from Superchunk. One of the first charts I got in this week was from a huge station that had them at #1 and that started me thinking they had a chance. They even lead a few times throughout.   But in the end Washed Out held on with a pretty easy victory.

With Labor Day here it should become a lot more interesting week to week on the charts.  The last 2 years the number of stations reporting before Labor Day and On labor day jump up from the 220 range to the 270 range. Sometimes it happens on labor day and other years it happens the week after but we are in store for a nice jump.

Last weeks race for the ADDs turned into a race to see who could jump up the most on the chart. With Ty Segall winning that footrace and coming in at #3.  No Age is not far behind at #5 but I would imagine both are going to be pushing hard to take #1 next week. I don't see a way it is not one of them this next week.  I see a top five of Ty Segal, No Age, Superchunk, Washed out and Islands for next week.  I could even see Superchunk staying at #2 and No Age coming in at 4 but for sure a combo of those 5 records.

Thanks to everyone that chimed in on #1 most added predictions last week. All of you had Franz at #1 so well done.  I am not sure what all is going this next week aside from NEKO CASE and NIN but I am sure we will know soon enough.



As always be sure to follow me on twitter @theanimalarrg 

until next time. Thank you for reading.


Oh a late addition the CMJ AWARDS NOMINATIONS have started

http://www.cmj.com/columns/on-air/nominations-now-open-2013-cmj-college-radio-awards/

share with me who I should vote for and why.

CMJ ISSUE 1311 Preview

While I will not be able to do this every week I thought It might be fun to take a look at what is going for adds this coming week and see what you, thought might happen this week for ADDs.

If there are any I missed let me know. More importantly please let me know who you think will be the top five most added

The Orwells (2)
Franz Ferdinand (2)
Dent May (2)
Okkervil River
The Dodo's
Deer Tick
Jacuzzi Boys
Travis
Shahead and DJ Supreme
The Suburbs
Leo Lydon
Crocodiles
Native
The Vernons
The Colourist
August Alisana
J. Roddy Walston
Kissaway Trail
Telepathe
Porcelain Raft



Let me know your thoughts at @theanimalarrg

To be honest I have no idea. Who will be back? How will "heritage" acts fare?

CMJ ISSUE 1310 WEEK 33

For those of you that do not yet follow me on twitter (@theanimalarrg )  you might of missed this on Monday.  What I found to be the worst use of a CMJ Official ADD spot in quite some time. If I were to of kept track over the years of every instance of the worst adds I could say this is in fact THE worst but It is for sure One of the worst.

1. BLOUSE Shadow 2. BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE Forgiveness Rock Record

Keep in mind this is for this weeks ADD week.   

Let's start with the fact they only added 2 records.  On top of that they added a record that is OVER THREE YEARS OLD 

WHAT??

Every week there are a bunch of stations that, for whatever reason, ADD old records. There were plenty of those this week. I saw one for Tera Melos a 4 month old record.   There are always a bunch for the records that went for ADDS the week previous as well as a bunch for those that are going for adds next week. Why? I have no idea.  As I have mentioned a hundred thousand times the only time ADDing a record helps an artist is when it is on the ADD week.  So while you felt the need to add last weeks ADD or next weeks it in fact helped no one. Not the Artist. The Label. The promoter or even your station are helped by this.  While adding a record THREE YEARS after it came out is way more asinine than adding last weeks add again, adding last weeks add is still dumb.   

I really would love to save this message for when more of you are back, as I know a lot are coming back over the next few weeks, doing ADDS can be a bit confusing but it does not have to be.   

Other promoters and labels have expressed the same frustration to me as well.  One of my label friends was tweeting about this earlier yesterday and I thought I would share their words. I like to keep things anonymous, unless they ask me to say who they are later though. 

" I think it's annoying when people go off add date (esp early!) but it's technically a suggestion and pretty industry-sided... The fact that a station adds on the add date is a professional courtesy, really. It's part of the deal you have with stations... And it's a largely unspoken deal, esp. for young and new DJs and MDs. So if they don't get it, explain it to them."

And maybe that is part of the problem.  Maybe ADDS have not been explained. If that is the case just ask any one of your promoters and I am sure they are more than willing to let you know the proper way of doing them.   

The reason I started with that this week is because more than ever each add week is decided by under 5 adds.  So If that stations that added Terra Melos, Broken Social Scene or Islands would of added an ADD that was actually adding this week then maybe we would have a different #1 than we have. 

This weeks race was, from start to finish, one of the closest I have seen. The biggest lead I ever saw by either Ty Segall or No Age was 3 adds.  It was clear from the start that it was going to be one of these two records.   What I thought was crazy was just how many people added Both records. With 217 reporters and each record getting over 100 adds. There were 116 stations that added both of them.  Only 38 stations added neither.  That leads just 63 stations deciding who was going to be champion. 

In the end Ty Segall won  33-30 out of those remaining ADDS.  Overall it was 149-146.  But both records getting almost 70% of the ADDS is pretty nuts.  

So where does that leave us for the charts. Clearly both of these records have a chance at #1 over the next few weeks.  The charts are going to start to change pretty dramatically over the next few weeks as stations gone for the summer come back and pretty much ignore a good portion of the records that went for adds in the summer and focus on new records.  So the newer records are going to shoot up the chart VERY FAST. 

We saw that this week with Superchunk, last weeks #1 add. They come in this week at #4 having debuted last week at #151. Now the question is do they have a shot at #1?  And how about Polyphonic Spree coming in at #6 from last weeks #25?   It is a fun question to ponder with both these records. 

We knew Washed Out was going to take #1 this week as they should of had it last week. So what happens now. Does washed out continue to get stronger? That does typically happen when a record gets to #1. Or because of the timing of the record does NO AGE or TY Segall try and push for #1 now.  And what about Superchunk??? So very exciting! 

I can tell you it will be No Age, Ty Segall, Washed out or Superchunk in the #1 spot next week.  

The question I ask myself now is can Superchunk fit into that window?  It depends on a few things. 

If Washed Out remains the biggest priority for the people pushing it I think it stays there. However if the focus changes, too early, to getting No Age up there will that open the window enough for Superchunk to fit in for a week?  It's possible but Everything has to go right for that to happen.  The wildcard here is that there are two indies on Superchunk and if they are on the same page the chances go up a lot.   

I said "too early" before because I think without trying No Age and Ty Segall could be both in the top 5 next week. But I don't think even with huge pushes they can gain enough stations to get to #1. So I would just let them do what they are going to do and then go for the top spot in two weeks.  However I would start saying "going for #1" because the more you say it the more people hear it and the better chance you have.   

If I had to make a guess for next week I would say Washed out #1 Superchunk #2   with Ty Segall and No Age coming somewhere in the 3-7 range of things.  Then in 2 weeks one of them #1. 

What do you guys think? 

CMJ issue 1309 Week 32

Last week I felt like we were at the low point of the summer. That we would only start gaining people back from here on in and the quality or records would increase.  I was half right. The records are getting better but there is no one around to listen to them.

This of course leads to some of the weirdest charts I have seen.  If you remember a few months/ weeks back we had that week where CLEARLY Vampire weekend was the #1 record. Everything pointed towards them being number one but using advanced calculus CMJ told us that in fact it was Phoenix was number one.  That is what this week felt like.

I want to say this as nice as possible. But any other time of year most of the records in the top 10 would most likely be in the top 30 TOPS. I really wish I could come up with an actual formula but I am willing to bet some of the records that have gotten to #1 would only be top 5.  Those that have reached top five over the past few weeks well I would bet they would be lucky to get top 20.  Top 10 records would maybe be top 30.   Of course there are some records that are just doing what they would do any time of year but really there are a LOT of overachieving records out there. So it makes it hard to really know what is going to happen on the charts.   Going into this week I thought Hunx would stay at #1 and Washed out would put themselves in a position to take #1 next week.

This is one case where I was right but... I really don't think I should be.  I talk to a lot of you out there about what is happening as it is happening and while this weeks chart was being compiled it really looked like Washed Out was going to be the #1 record. When Hunx and His punx held on to #1 most of you out there were SHOCKED.  We mentioned this briefly in the past but every station has a ranking and when you looked at the top ranking Washed out had more. The second highest Washed out had more. The third highest washed out had more. Usually that is enough. Now Hunx had more overall but only by 5 or so.  It really defied logic.  Calculus.  Magnets. I don't really know what.  But somewhere Hunx had enough to hang on to #1. This means that next week If there were a CMJ betting pool I would be tall my monies that Washed out would take #1.  ALL OF THE MONIES.

When I was looking at this weeks ADD week I though there would be a chance to have a close one. While the final tally was within 10 it did get as close as 5 but Superchunk lead the way from start to finish beating out Islands by just over a handful.  One thing that does get me excited though is the fact we had 2 record get over 100 adds.  This week 100 adds = 55% of all stations reporting adds so that is pretty good!  It is a good sign that better records are being added at radio. I know this next week we should see some more 100 add records and while it will take longer for stations to come back it does make our jobs a bit more fun.  

One thing thats hard this time of year is having records getting lost in the shuffle.  You have a bunch of stations that have been around for summer that nothing changes on and those are usually your core station but thats only about a third of the stations. The rest are coming back from break and deciding to chart The Knife or Daft Punk because they missed it while they were away or you have a lot changing over and bringing in a new MD. So if we don't schedule a record correctly it can easily be lost between Summer and Fall.  I will try and remember to go over some records that this happens to in a few weeks.  Because most of the time they are really good records that peak in the first week and then just free-fall, I would not be shocked if it happens to some of the adds from this week.  The next  million dollar question I guess is will Superchunk or Islands get to #1?

I say no. I think both have a shot and will get close but the timing is right for Washed out to get there and stay there for about 2 weeks and then we start to see the big guns come out.  This Fall should be a lot of fun with records from :  Ty Segall, Franz Ferdinand, Dr. Dog, Nine Inch Nails, Neko Case, Chvrches, Arcade Fire, Dismemberment Plan, Deer Tick, Man man, No Age ...and here is where it gets interesting. I have noticed, and other promoters have brought to my attention that so called "heritage artists" have been underperforming as of late.  So there is a disconnect from what some promoters think will do well and what stations are actually digging. Some of this has to do with timing of course but when you look back at the recent history you can see records from artists that have multiple #1's coming up short. A lot.  Flaming Lips, Tegan and Sara, Sebadoh ( while it was an EP I thought it would do better) Same can be said for the Replacements EP, The National, Camera Obscura,  The Strokes, I am sure there are others but the point is college radio is always changing and what "collectively" you guys thing is cool or hip or good is also always changing. I saw a Bad Religion record go number one, that would never happen today. Might It happen in the future? Yes maybe.

Well this week was fun and I look forward to more weeks like this. I also look forward to more interaction with you guys. So please hit me up on twitter at @theanimalarrg  and lets talk about what is happening at radio.    Also we would not be a community without CMJ so lets be sure to hang out this year in NYC. It is just around the corner and they just announced the College Day lineup!  http://www.cmj.com/columns/on-air/save-the-dates-college-radio-at-cmj-2013/

thank you for reading. Talk soon.

doug