WSJ: Funky Remix? How to Reach No. 1 on Billboard's DJ Chart
Jul 12, 2013 12:38:33 GMT -5
Post by HolidayGuy on Jul 12, 2013 12:38:33 GMT -5
Nothing we don't already know, but a pretty good read.
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323689204578573981625735410.html
Funky Remix? How to Reach No. 1 on Billboard's DJ Chart
By HANNAH KARP
An unlikely song shot past Daft Punk's monster hit "Get Lucky" to the top of Billboard's "Dance/Club Play" chart last month. Called "People Like Us," it's by pop singer and former "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson.
But the same weekend at the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas—the biggest electronic-dance-music festival in the U.S.—the song doesn't appear to have been played at all, according to fans who transcribed the set lists. And since March, the track has been played by only about 6% of the 1,100 DJs whose music-playing is monitored by research firm POOL Track Trends. It peaked at No. 30 on Billboard's top-40 airplay chart last month and has slipped to No. 31.
The reason for the discrepancy: Billboard's club chart reflects what a panel of 140 small-time DJs report playing most frequently, not what most DJs—or even especially popular, influential ones—actually play.
It's one of the music magazine's few metrics that isn't based on hard data like sales or airplay tallies. Nonetheless, a strong showing can help a song jump to mainstream radio, which can drive sales and ultimately skew sales.
Some DJs who contribute to Billboard's club-music rankings acknowledged in interviews that they often report playing songs when they haven't and coordinate their reports to anoint a particular song No. 1. Some in the industry expressed frustration with the system but said it was nonetheless an important way for artists to gain visibility.
Silvio Pietroluongo, Billboard's director of charts, said the magazine has been looking into other methodologies but hasn't found the perfect way to monitor club play. It instructs its DJ panel to "chart what you play," doesn't allow records to zoom "from zero to 60," and verifies that its DJs are actually performing. But it generally relies on record companies and promoters to "police themselves," he said, adding that "we're trying to make the charts as accurate as possible."
John Strazza, senior vice president of pop promotion at Sony Music Entertainment's RCA Records, Ms. Clarkson's label, said that to appeal to the DJs on Billboard's panel, RCA sought out producers to remix Ms. Clarkson's song in half-a-dozen ways. He said labels typically invest in such remix packages—which executives say can run up to $50,000—to reenergize a song that has been "beaten to death on the radio" or draw attention to a record that hasn't broken through.
"RCA Records make a conscious effort to work that panel aggressively," said Mr. Strazza, who employs an internal team to call and email the Billboard DJs and hires independent promoters to do the same. Topping the club chart is valuable to artists, he said, because the ranking itself can lead to more radio play and licensing deals and land a song on compilation records overseas that can generate handsome royalties.
Tony Ritschard, a DJ in Madison, Wis., who has been on Billboard's panel for the past four years, said he reported playing Ms. Clarkson's song more than any other that week because he liked the lyrics and thought it could use more exposure. But in reality, he said, he probably didn't play it as often as Daft Punk's "Get Lucky." Sometimes, he said, he reports playing songs because he wants to support them but couldn't because the club wasn't sufficiently warmed up.
The music industry still uses Billboard's club chart as a primary measure of a song's club-world success despite an abundance of broader, more accurate data. It is one of more than 80 charts published by Billboard, most of them now based on hard-to-fudge stats like sales, tracked by Nielsen SoundScan; airplay, tracked by Arbitron ARB -0.04% ; and streaming frequency. Billboard is owned by Prometheus Global Media.
Record companies typically pay independent promoters from $1,000 to $10,000 apiece to boost a single on the club chart, according to label executives and promoters, often offering a bonus if the song reaches the top slot. A strong showing can also appease veteran artists when their music lacks sales or airplay momentum.
But such tactics can backfire. Although Mariah Carey's single "Triumphant," released last August, failed to garner significant sales or airplay, it suddenly appeared atop Billboard's club chart in October. The incident drew ridicule from bloggers like Perez Hilton, who wrote: "Congrats oh butterfly Queen!"
A few independent promoters make a living working Billboard's club charts. None of those interviewed for this article said they offered cash payments to DJs to add songs to the playlists they report to Billboard. But they said they offer modest perks such as free passes to concerts, remixes of tracks no other DJs have, and the opportunity to collaborate with bigger artists.
Bobby Shaw, an independent promoter, said he has trouble getting his own free tickets from labels nowadays but still tries to help DJs who report to Billboard get into shows. In April, RCA hired him to help boost Ms. Clarkson's song on the club chart. He said he started getting traction with the magazine's DJ panelists when a remix of the song made by panel member Paulo Gois began circulating.
Mr. Gois, a 47-year-old Los Angeles DJ who said he plays mostly gay events and likes to layer "soaring diva vocals" over tribal beats, wouldn't chart Ms. Clarkson's song at first. He told Mr. Shaw the original track and its official mixes weren't "really playable" at his parties.
But he did agree to create a version with a "more uplifting sound" and gave it to Mr. Shaw, a move he said can get "record labels to say, 'Let's hire him for the next official remix.'"
By last month, Mr. Shaw said he had persuaded 104 of the panel's 140 or so DJs to chart Ms. Clarkson's song among their most played with the help of the unofficial DJ Paulo remix.
Using reports from a small sampling of DJs did make more sense in the days when monitoring what they played was nearly impossible. Nowadays, the software most DJs use to download their music can also record how many times they spin a record.
But even that approach wouldn't be foolproof. Billboard's Mr. Pietroluongo said such data don't necessarily show what time or where a song was played, meaning that "someone could be playing it in their basement."
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323689204578573981625735410.html
Funky Remix? How to Reach No. 1 on Billboard's DJ Chart
By HANNAH KARP
An unlikely song shot past Daft Punk's monster hit "Get Lucky" to the top of Billboard's "Dance/Club Play" chart last month. Called "People Like Us," it's by pop singer and former "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson.
But the same weekend at the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas—the biggest electronic-dance-music festival in the U.S.—the song doesn't appear to have been played at all, according to fans who transcribed the set lists. And since March, the track has been played by only about 6% of the 1,100 DJs whose music-playing is monitored by research firm POOL Track Trends. It peaked at No. 30 on Billboard's top-40 airplay chart last month and has slipped to No. 31.
The reason for the discrepancy: Billboard's club chart reflects what a panel of 140 small-time DJs report playing most frequently, not what most DJs—or even especially popular, influential ones—actually play.
It's one of the music magazine's few metrics that isn't based on hard data like sales or airplay tallies. Nonetheless, a strong showing can help a song jump to mainstream radio, which can drive sales and ultimately skew sales.
Some DJs who contribute to Billboard's club-music rankings acknowledged in interviews that they often report playing songs when they haven't and coordinate their reports to anoint a particular song No. 1. Some in the industry expressed frustration with the system but said it was nonetheless an important way for artists to gain visibility.
Silvio Pietroluongo, Billboard's director of charts, said the magazine has been looking into other methodologies but hasn't found the perfect way to monitor club play. It instructs its DJ panel to "chart what you play," doesn't allow records to zoom "from zero to 60," and verifies that its DJs are actually performing. But it generally relies on record companies and promoters to "police themselves," he said, adding that "we're trying to make the charts as accurate as possible."
John Strazza, senior vice president of pop promotion at Sony Music Entertainment's RCA Records, Ms. Clarkson's label, said that to appeal to the DJs on Billboard's panel, RCA sought out producers to remix Ms. Clarkson's song in half-a-dozen ways. He said labels typically invest in such remix packages—which executives say can run up to $50,000—to reenergize a song that has been "beaten to death on the radio" or draw attention to a record that hasn't broken through.
"RCA Records make a conscious effort to work that panel aggressively," said Mr. Strazza, who employs an internal team to call and email the Billboard DJs and hires independent promoters to do the same. Topping the club chart is valuable to artists, he said, because the ranking itself can lead to more radio play and licensing deals and land a song on compilation records overseas that can generate handsome royalties.
Tony Ritschard, a DJ in Madison, Wis., who has been on Billboard's panel for the past four years, said he reported playing Ms. Clarkson's song more than any other that week because he liked the lyrics and thought it could use more exposure. But in reality, he said, he probably didn't play it as often as Daft Punk's "Get Lucky." Sometimes, he said, he reports playing songs because he wants to support them but couldn't because the club wasn't sufficiently warmed up.
The music industry still uses Billboard's club chart as a primary measure of a song's club-world success despite an abundance of broader, more accurate data. It is one of more than 80 charts published by Billboard, most of them now based on hard-to-fudge stats like sales, tracked by Nielsen SoundScan; airplay, tracked by Arbitron ARB -0.04% ; and streaming frequency. Billboard is owned by Prometheus Global Media.
Record companies typically pay independent promoters from $1,000 to $10,000 apiece to boost a single on the club chart, according to label executives and promoters, often offering a bonus if the song reaches the top slot. A strong showing can also appease veteran artists when their music lacks sales or airplay momentum.
But such tactics can backfire. Although Mariah Carey's single "Triumphant," released last August, failed to garner significant sales or airplay, it suddenly appeared atop Billboard's club chart in October. The incident drew ridicule from bloggers like Perez Hilton, who wrote: "Congrats oh butterfly Queen!"
A few independent promoters make a living working Billboard's club charts. None of those interviewed for this article said they offered cash payments to DJs to add songs to the playlists they report to Billboard. But they said they offer modest perks such as free passes to concerts, remixes of tracks no other DJs have, and the opportunity to collaborate with bigger artists.
Bobby Shaw, an independent promoter, said he has trouble getting his own free tickets from labels nowadays but still tries to help DJs who report to Billboard get into shows. In April, RCA hired him to help boost Ms. Clarkson's song on the club chart. He said he started getting traction with the magazine's DJ panelists when a remix of the song made by panel member Paulo Gois began circulating.
Mr. Gois, a 47-year-old Los Angeles DJ who said he plays mostly gay events and likes to layer "soaring diva vocals" over tribal beats, wouldn't chart Ms. Clarkson's song at first. He told Mr. Shaw the original track and its official mixes weren't "really playable" at his parties.
But he did agree to create a version with a "more uplifting sound" and gave it to Mr. Shaw, a move he said can get "record labels to say, 'Let's hire him for the next official remix.'"
By last month, Mr. Shaw said he had persuaded 104 of the panel's 140 or so DJs to chart Ms. Clarkson's song among their most played with the help of the unofficial DJ Paulo remix.
Using reports from a small sampling of DJs did make more sense in the days when monitoring what they played was nearly impossible. Nowadays, the software most DJs use to download their music can also record how many times they spin a record.
But even that approach wouldn't be foolproof. Billboard's Mr. Pietroluongo said such data don't necessarily show what time or where a song was played, meaning that "someone could be playing it in their basement."
