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.