With apologies to The Boomtown Rats, let’s get into the new week with some news – almost all of it good.
Late last week, the RAB released its 2014 grand sales totals for the year, and (drum roll)….
Yes, 2014 was another flattish year for overall revenue (actually down 1% year to year, with both spot and network business down in the low single digits). On the other hand, digital was up 9% and off-air revenue shot up an impressive 16%. Automotive continues to lead the radio revenue league, but it is also down 2% from 2013.
So that’s both good and bad news, most of which was predictable.
Here’s some much better news to get your week off to a good start, especially if you’re in rock radio.
Last week, Inside Radio did its post-mortem on the impact of the post-Christmas hangover. The chart below shows the accumulated PPM results from the January monthly. You can see that Classic Rock is one of the formats that enjoyed it’s best January, continuing what is now a four-year trend.
Up to this point, the news in this post has been from an industry insider point of view. What about to the outside world?
Forbes recently published an article called “Truth In Numbers: Six Music Industry Takeaways From Year-End Data” written by Zack O’Malley Greenburg.
In it, he identifies a number of mega-trends that include an increased consumer interest in overall music consumption, the cratering of digital download sales, and a corresponding interest in vinyl.
And there are two items in Greenburg’s “six pack of trends” that stand out as very positive, especially to those of us in rock radio.
First, “Rock isn’t as dead as one might think” is the first smile. He equates part of vinyl’s resurgence to the “enduring popularity of rock music.” In fact, seven of every ten LPs sold last year were rock-based. Greenburg notes that from the Arctic Monkeys to the Beatles, rock drove albums sales. And from a streaming standpoint, pop-rock is the strongest genre.
And second, “Radio still rules” which is music to everyone’s ears. Greenburg notes there are 320 million people in the U.S., of whom 298 million listen to AM/FM radio (yes, that comes out to 93%).
Beyond that, he quotes Morgan Stanley (another credible source) who says that 44% off of all music industry revenue in the U.S. ast year was from terrestrial radio broadcasting, more than double that of Pandora, SiriusXM, and Spotify – combined.
And the last piece of good news on a Monday is that the host of the Relevant Podcast, Jesse Carey, launched a Nickelback marathon to raise money to build a well for Water, a Bay Area non-profit. Proving that radio stunts continue to work, Carey spent an entire week listening to nothing but all Nickelback all the time in the hope of raising $10,000. As I’m writing this, he’s nearly tripled that goal with one day to go. By the way, Chad Kroeger even donated $666 to the cause.
In addition to putting himself and his podcast on the map, Carey has garnered media coverage from MTV, E! Online, Time, “Entertainment Tonight,” and now this blog. It’s a reminder to everyone in radio that a good cause combined with a ridiculous premise almost always generates publicity and good will even for DJs and stations in smaller markets.
And while Carey could have picked anyone from Katy Perry to Barry Manilow, he selected one of the most polarizing rock bands ever, Nickelback.
So there’s your good news to start a Monday. And if you’re looking for some sing-along music to kick off the week, try “I Don’t Like Mondays” from the great Bob Geldoff and his Boomtown Rats. It always works.
(Email recipients can watch “I Don’t Like Mondays” here)
Have a great week.
Thanks to Joe Knapp and Gene McKay of Inside Radio for the heads-up and the permission to use this cool graphic.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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