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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2015 12:57:29 GMT -5
Cool, but the best part from that:
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onebuffalo
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Post by onebuffalo on May 4, 2015 13:00:09 GMT -5
Kacey Musgraves is another unique female UMG act. And although she has crossover appeal through her friendship with Katy Perry, her upcoming sophomore set is defiantly old-school country. Is that a challenge for you?Mike Dungan: What Kacey does fundamentally is very country -- if anything, it's a little right-of-center for the country radio format. But, this is another extension of how the blurred lines manifest themselves. It's really just an appreciation for the real deal. Katy hears Kacey's music and says, "This is incredible," and they form a bond. There's no thought given to, "Well, she's not like me." Kacey's going to be everywhere we can place her, and we feel we have the right first single [with "Biscuits"]. It just has an up, happy vibe, similar to John Denver's [1975 hit] "Thank God, I'm a Country Boy." www.billboard.com/articles/business/6553846/mike-dungan-universal-music-group-nashville-interview Comparing Kacey Musgraves to John Denver? Quite novel. However, they would have sounded great on Fly Away (sorry, Olivia Newton-John). Cool, but the best part from that: Big Machine is laughing all the way to the bank!
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Zazie
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Post by Zazie on May 4, 2015 13:08:23 GMT -5
This song was on the radio as I was falling asleep last night, and it also came on to wake me up in the morning. I can't remember the last time that happened, especially with a song this low on the charts :) Any chance you can arrange to take a short snooze in the late morning? And of course a mid-afternoon nap is supposed to be very good for you, people say. Obviously you and your sleep schedule could be the one who holds the key to Musgraves scoring her first #1. Just be sure you have a legal prescription for those tranquilizers you will need. Hmm, maybe Kacey can write a song about this....
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2015 17:04:01 GMT -5
I think perhaps Mercury was expecting this to not do more than scrape the top 40 on the airplay charts, and so they were prepared to release the album pretty soon anticipating this wouldn't last more than a few months, but after "Biscuits" started to show strong sales numbers and steady airplay growth her team probably realized they can keep this around longer and push it higher up the charts, so it would make sense to try to release the album around the time the single is receiving maximum airplay, which perhaps Mercury guesses will be around the end of June or early July. I think a top 30 peak is a reasonable expectation for this song. The only real "problem" is that it's so traditional, which frankly isn't what radio is looking for. However, I wouldn't be surprised to see Kacey put out one more single off this album that can get at least as much airplay as "Biscuits." As I've said before, I'm no fan of this song, as it's basically a radio edit of "Follow Your Arrow" (even a strikingly similar melody), but I'm excited for any artist who can get as passionate a following as Kacey Musgraves has, so I'll be interested to watch her career unfold. Why would the label choose a lead single they didn't think they could work higher up the charts on radio? I don't think its sales numbers would have been a huge surprise to them - Kacey's always been a pretty decent seller. I think the label underestimated the length of time this would take to climb the charts, which could be the reason for pushing back the album's release. As you said, they'd want the album to drop around the time the single is receiving maximum airplay. But the release (if June 26th is correct) is only a couple of weeks later, so it won't necessarily make a huge difference. I suspect the push back is more likely due to some behind-the-scenes label stuff. (I'm more concerned with why Maddie & Tae's label apparently pushed back their album by nearly 3 months.) This goes back to the discussion prompted by Gary Overton's comments about not being relevant in the industry if you're not getting played on radio. It's been proven by many artists such as Aaron Watson, Blackberry Smoke, Brandy Clark, and Sturgill Simpson that you don't need a heavy amount of mainstream radio airplay to sell albums. Plenty of artists getting #1 rotation at radio can't sell as many copies of a record as artists getting little to no airplay. I remember back in December 2013 when Parmalee's "Carolina" was at #1 on the charts but Feels Like Carolina opened to lower first-week album sales numbers than Kellie Pickler's The Woman I Am even though Pickler just had "Little Bit Gypsy" lingering in the 40's on the chart. UMG released "Biscuits" because they knew it'd be a fan favorite and sell well, so even if they figured radio might not play it enough for Kacey to get a top 20 airplay single, it would still help them make a lot of money on single and album sales. I think a similar approach is being taken with Chris Stapleton. The charts are just too crowded for every artist to get airplay and not every artist's style fits the demographic radio is targeting, but that doesn't mean artists who aren't getting played can't still earn a decent living and be successful in other platforms (i.e. album sales, critical acclaim, awards). However, it certainly doesn't hurt for the radio single to be getting just about all the airplay it can get when the album is released, which is why I believe UMG moved Kacey's album release date back a little once it became clear that "Biscuits" had a least a few months of life in it on the airplay charts. Cool, but the best part from that: I have a different interpretation of the quote after reading the context of the interview. Dungan was referring to whether he's more skeptical of signing bro-country artists. He's saying that his business strategy is not to chase trends, and focus instead on long-term development, which is why he's cautious of signing any act identified as a "bro-country act." To me, it just seems like he was using FGL as an example of his fear of signing a certain "type" of artist. I personally didn't view this as a jab at FGL or an implication that the duo doesn't have any longevity. Of course, if Dungan was trying to imply this, he'd be absolutely wrong, as Florida Georgia Line have the best-selling country single of all time, a string of seven and counting back-to-back career-starting #1 hits (top 2 hits if you don't count the HCS chart as valid), and one of the best opening weeks for a country album in 2014 with their sophomore album. They've also easily demonstrated that they can do more than just bro-country, as their second album contains songs like "Smoke," "Confession," and "Dirt." Also, Dungan expressed a "pro-bro-country" sentiment in his answer to the previous question, as well as the opinion that the lines between country and pop are continuously blurred a few questions prior to that, so I don't think Dungan has an agenda in either the traditional or the modern direction. He comes across as a wise businessman who knows that different styles work for different artists and there's a place for every style in the music industry. You just have to find the right means to make each style successful. Universal has done a great job with a wide variety of music from traditional stuff like Kacey Musgraves' music to modern, pop country like Luke Bryan. I really don't think he has a problem with Florida Georgia Line.
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bboat11
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Post by bboat11 on May 4, 2015 21:01:01 GMT -5
This song was on the radio as I was falling asleep last night, and it also came on to wake me up in the morning. I can't remember the last time that happened, especially with a song this low on the charts :) Any chance you can arrange to take a short snooze in the late morning? And of course a mid-afternoon nap is supposed to be very good for you, people say. Obviously you and your sleep schedule could be the one who holds the key to Musgraves scoring her first #1. Just be sure you have a legal prescription for those tranquilizers you will need. Hmm, maybe Kacey can write a song about this.... Haha unfortunately if Kacey's song was climbing with my accumulated sleep hours alone, it would take her about a decade to break the top 40... My sleep cycle is about as regular as a football bat.
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Post by 43dudleyvillas on May 4, 2015 21:03:12 GMT -5
Why would the label choose a lead single they didn't think they could work higher up the charts on radio? I don't think its sales numbers would have been a huge surprise to them - Kacey's always been a pretty decent seller. I think the label underestimated the length of time this would take to climb the charts, which could be the reason for pushing back the album's release. As you said, they'd want the album to drop around the time the single is receiving maximum airplay. But the release (if June 26th is correct) is only a couple of weeks later, so it won't necessarily make a huge difference. I suspect the push back is more likely due to some behind-the-scenes label stuff. (I'm more concerned with why Maddie & Tae's label apparently pushed back their album by nearly 3 months.) This goes back to the discussion prompted by Gary Overton's comments about not being relevant in the industry if you're not getting played on radio. It's been proven by many artists such as Aaron Watson, Blackberry Smoke, Brandy Clark, and Sturgill Simpson that you don't need a heavy amount of mainstream radio airplay to sell albums. Plenty of artists getting #1 rotation at radio can't sell as many copies of a record as artists getting little to no airplay. I remember back in December 2013 when Parmalee's "Carolina" was at #1 on the charts but Feels Like Carolina opened to lower first-week album sales numbers than Kellie Pickler's The Woman I Am even though Pickler just had "Little Bit Gypsy" lingering in the 40's on the chart. UMG released "Biscuits" because they knew it'd be a fan favorite and sell well, so even if they figured radio might not play it enough for Kacey to get a top 20 airplay single, it would still help them make a lot of money on single and album sales. I think a similar approach is being taken with Chris Stapleton. The charts are just too crowded for every artist to get airplay and not every artist's style fits the demographic radio is targeting, but that doesn't mean artists who aren't getting played can't still earn a decent living and be successful in other platforms (i.e. album sales, critical acclaim, awards). However, it certainly doesn't hurt for the radio single to be getting just about all the airplay it can get when the album is released, which is why I believe UMG moved Kacey's album release date back a little once it became clear that "Biscuits" had a least a few months of life in it on the airplay charts. I obviously agree with your observations in the first paragraph here, and your take on UMG Nashville possibly pushing back the release of Kacey's album by a few weeks because it hadn't anticipated the possibility that "Biscuits" could actually work at country radio is interesting...definitely makes me think. For the timeframe we're considering, a few weeks may mean the difference between, what, a song in the mid-30s with around 1100 spins on the Mediabase panel and 8-9 million in audience and a song that just hit the top-30 with around 1500 spins on the Mediabase panel and perhaps 10 million in audience? I guess I can see that being a calculation that the label would go for. On the other hand, TV bookings are competitive, and I will be surprised if Kacey doesn't have a solid amount of advance print media and perhaps some NPR promotion set for her album (we already know that her album has been made available for the media to stream). Those things tend to get booked in advance, and if she is going to get any coverage in some of the high-end fashion magazines, those interviews would typically take place a few months in advance. Even a major Spin feature would be planned months ahead of time. So there's a part of me that is intrigued by what you're saying and wants to consider it (especially because I would like to see "Biscuits" work at radio, and perhaps get an extra surge from album promotion). But another part of me goes back to your point about Kacey being able to sell without dependence on airplay, and thinks that the release date may be a function of other promotional opportunities (and/or anticipated chart competition) making late June a more optimal release date. Cool, but the best part from that: I have a different interpretation of the quote after reading the context of the interview. Dungan was referring to whether he's more skeptical of signing bro-country artists. He's saying that his business strategy is not to chase trends, and focus instead on long-term development, which is why he's cautious of signing any act identified as a "bro-country act." To me, it just seems like he was using FGL as an example of his fear of signing a certain "type" of artist. I personally didn't view this as a jab at FGL or an implication that the duo doesn't have any longevity. Of course, if Dungan was trying to imply this, he'd be absolutely wrong, as Florida Georgia Line have the best-selling country single of all time, a string of seven and counting back-to-back career-starting #1 hits (top 2 hits if you don't count the HCS chart as valid), and one of the best opening weeks for a country album in 2014 with their sophomore album. They've also easily demonstrated that they can do more than just bro-country, as their second album contains songs like "Smoke," "Confession," and "Dirt." Also, Dungan expressed a "pro-bro-country" sentiment in his answer to the previous question, as well as the opinion that the lines between country and pop are continuously blurred a few questions prior to that, so I don't think Dungan has an agenda in either the traditional or the modern direction. He comes across as a wise businessman who knows that different styles work for different artists and there's a place for every style in the music industry. You just have to find the right means to make each style successful. Universal has done a great job with a wide variety of music from traditional stuff like Kacey Musgraves' music to modern, pop country like Luke Bryan. I really don't think he has a problem with Florida Georgia Line. Here I'm not sure that I agree with your take. Dungan specifically says, "I can't say that I would have signed them," which seems to be a clear reference to what he would have done had he seen Florida-Georgia Line in 2011. Whether or not the "long-term career development" comment is a reflection of whether he thinks that Florida-Georgia Line will have staying power (it would take more than two albums to know, I would think), the fact that he openly expresses doubt that he would have signed them strikes me as an indication that he is not a fan. And his "pro-bro-country" comment was really about drawing lines based on quality -- surely his biggest artist Luke Bryan was on his mind, and the way I read between his lines, Dungan would defend Luke's music as "quality" bro and dismiss Florida-Georgia Line's music as not. Moreover, in interviews last year (with All Access and Hits Daily Double), Dungan talked about Luke's range and ability to go in different directions, and he also seemed to blame "copycats" for taking what Luke did and running it into the ground. Of note, in the Hits interview, Dungan also said this: So I shall continue giggling behind my hand at the thought of the head of Nashville's biggest label openly professing his distaste for Florida-Georgia Line. But yes, FGL and their team can soothe any resulting bruises to their egos with piles of money (though money certainly can't buy respect). Anyway, I respect a lot of what Mike Dungan is doing, but I am far from ready to canonize him based on his interviews. He is, after all, championing a new artist who has accomplished the rare feat of uniting all of the country forum posters (albeit in a group sing of "Kum-ba-NO!"). And his repeated assertions that more women haven't broken through at the format because they haven't been "bringing it" is the kind of specious, radio-targeted and brown-nosed argument that: - ignores the abject mediocrity and indistinguishability [sic] of the vast majority of the male artists who have broken through in the past few years,
- fails to acknowledge the structural impetuses toward homogeneity that have played in favor of guys and against women at country radio during this period,
- glosses over the failure of labels to build audiences for female artists outside of radio, prior to bringing them to country radio, since that seems to be the only way that they might be given a chance at country radio, and
- is thoroughly refuted by the breakout success of his own artist, Kacey Musgraves.
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sabre14
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Post by sabre14 on May 12, 2015 23:43:57 GMT -5
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.indulgecountry
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Post by .indulgecountry on May 12, 2015 23:52:59 GMT -5
^ I was just thinking about that the other day. Glad to know that a video is confirmed, although I would've been surprised if one wasn't eventually coming for this.
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Post by countrygirl918 on May 13, 2015 9:04:47 GMT -5
Also, for "Rainbow" fans:
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Post by StrongerThanTheTruth on May 13, 2015 9:15:14 GMT -5
Also, for "Rainbow" fans: She needs to do a deluxe version of the album and rainbow needs to be on it! I LOVE that song and I'm slightly annoyed that it's not on the new album. I've heard 2 of the tracks on here live and they're good but the other 11 need to be as good or I'm gonna be annoyed Rainbow wasn't included!
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Post by wonderstruck on May 14, 2015 17:40:08 GMT -5
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zaclord 🌈
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Post by zaclord 🌈 on May 19, 2015 0:22:03 GMT -5
This took an ugly hit this week. -75 spins, -0.357 mill in audience, and fell two spots down to #46. I'm honestly really surprised that radio isn't jumping at the opportunity to play this though. I know the charts are clogged to the max right now, but this is a very radio friendly song by an artist that a ton of listeners obviously love and support. I didn't expect this to fly up the charts by any means, but I expected it to be nearing the top 30 at this point, not flopping around in the mid-40s. I really would love to see her become an established radio artist, but as long as she keeps on releasing quality singles and albums, I really don't care how unfair radio is to her. Hopefully this can still pick back up and make the top 30 though.
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.indulgecountry
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Post by .indulgecountry on May 19, 2015 1:06:19 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm also pretty surprised at how this is struggling to take off. But I just can't imagine that it won't be able to turn it around with time. It's a radio friendly song and Kacey is obviously a fairly hot commodity already, so it wouldn't make sense for radio to keep holding her back if she's giving them stuff they can play. I can understand (but disagree with) the controversy over playing something like "Follow Your Arrow," but if they can turn something as dark and off-the-wall as "Merry Go 'Round" into a Top 10 hit, this should do no less than Top 20, at minimum. Perhaps a nice opening week for Pageant Material will provide a well-needed swift kick to radio PDs.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2015 4:03:38 GMT -5
This took an ugly hit this week. -75 spins, -0.357 mill in audience, and fell two spots down to #46. The big reason it took a hit this week is because it lost countdown spins from Bob Kingsley's CT40. "Biscuits" entered the Mediabase top 40 on Sunday May 3, moving up to #39. That meant that it got countdown spins last weekend. But because it fell 39-43 on Mediabase on Sunday the 10th, Kacey lost the CT40 countdown spins this past weekend. The same thing happened to Austin Webb as well. In one sense, I'm surprised that "Biscuits" isn't doing well. Kacey has it all--the talent, the look, the critical acclaim--and she has the fans, too. "Biscuits" continues to sell quite well, especially when you consider its limited airplay. And her debut album has out-sold virtually every other new male artist out there, and has even out-sold the latest releases from Brad Paisley, Lady Antebellum, Billy Currington, Chris Young, Jake Owen, Rascal Flatts, Eli Young Band, Lee Brice, etc. But on the other hand, I'm not exactly surprised that this isn't doing well, and the reason is because Kacey isn't catering to the male 18-35 demographic...the demo that country radio has been super-serving for the better part of the last few years. "Merry Go 'Round" has so far been the exception when it comes to Musgraves singles. Sure, it was darker and maybe not as much of a conventional radio release, but it connected with fans nonetheless, and Kacey had a lot of buzz and had just been on a radio tour that led up to the release of MGR. It's unfortunate that the country radio gate-keepers seem so hell-bent on ignoring music that doesn't cater to their current target demographic, especially when that music is good and when it's selling quite well. It would sell better if it got airplay, but the big radio conglomerates don't like to take risks, and they see Kacey Musgraves' music as too far outside of the target demo. And it's for these reasons that I don't see "Biscuits" doing much more than what it's done. Songs that sputter for too long in the 40's and 50's rarely ever do much. There are a few exceptions, but most songs that spend so much time near the bottom of the chart don't wind up doing much. I'd love to be proved wrong and to see Kacey take this into at least the top 30, but I think their best bet right now is to ride this out for another 4-6 weeks, and then release the 2nd single shortly after the album hits stores. Right now I think it's more likely that songs like "Biscuits", "Better Than You Left Me", "Long Stretch Of Love", "All Country On You", "Country", "Hangover Tonight", "Let It Go", "It Feels Good", "Folks Like Us", "I Love This Life", "On To Something Good", "My Mistake", "Hit The Road", "For A Boy", and "Can't Get Away From A Good Time" (among others) will all fizzle out before they ever make the Billboard top 30 (and some won't even go top 40 or top 50). Maybe 1 or 2 of them will get lucky, catch a spark, and take off, but for the majority of them, it's not looking very good.
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Post by countrygirl918 on May 19, 2015 9:26:24 GMT -5
This took an ugly hit this week. -75 spins, -0.357 mill in audience, and fell two spots down to #46. The big reason it took a hit this week is because it lost countdown spins from Bob Kingsley's CT40. "Biscuits" entered the Mediabase top 40 on Sunday May 3, moving up to #39. That meant that it got countdown spins last weekend. But because it fell 39-43 on Mediabase on Sunday the 10th, Kacey lost the CT40 countdown spins this past weekend. The same thing happened to Austin Webb as well. In one sense, I'm surprised that "Biscuits" isn't doing well. Kacey has it all--the talent, the look, the critical acclaim--and she has the fans, too. "Biscuits" continues to sell quite well, especially when you consider its limited airplay. And her debut album has out-sold virtually every other new male artist out there, and has even out-sold the latest releases from Brad Paisley, Lady Antebellum, Billy Currington, Chris Young, Jake Owen, Rascal Flatts, Eli Young Band, Lee Brice, etc.But on the other hand, I'm not exactly surprised that this isn't doing well, and the reason is because Kacey isn't catering to the male 18-35 demographic...the demo that country radio has been super-serving for the better part of the last few years. "Merry Go 'Round" has so far been the exception when it comes to Musgraves singles. Sure, it was darker and maybe not as much of a conventional radio release, but it connected with fans nonetheless, and Kacey had a lot of buzz and had just been on a radio tour that led up to the release of MGR. It's unfortunate that the country radio gate-keepers seem so hell-bent on ignoring music that doesn't cater to their current target demographic, especially when that music is good and when it's selling quite well. It would sell better if it got airplay, but the big radio conglomerates don't like to take risks, and they see Kacey Musgraves' music as too far outside of the target demo. And it's for these reasons that I don't see "Biscuits" doing much more than what it's done. Songs that sputter for too long in the 40's and 50's rarely ever do much. There are a few exceptions, but most songs that spend so much time near the bottom of the chart don't wind up doing much. I'd love to be proved wrong and to see Kacey take this into at least the top 30, but I think their best bet right now is to ride this out for another 4-6 weeks, and then release the 2nd single shortly after the album hits stores. Right now I think it's more likely that songs like "Biscuits", "Better Than You Left Me", "Long Stretch Of Love", "All Country On You", "Country", "Hangover Tonight", "Let It Go", "It Feels Good", "Folks Like Us", "I Love This Life", "On To Something Good", "My Mistake", "Hit The Road", "For A Boy", and "Can't Get Away From A Good Time" (among others) will all fizzle out before they ever make the Billboard top 30 (and some won't even go top 40 or top 50). Maybe 1 or 2 of them will get lucky, catch a spark, and take off, but for the majority of them, it's not looking very good. The bolded is what makes Kacey's progress on country radio so frustrating. I'm constantly hearing the excuse from radio folks that they play what is selling, and females just aren't selling. Well, that's simply not true - they're just ignoring the females that are selling. Honestly, I hope country radio's ratings continue to drop. I think that is the only thing that will make them seriously consider widening their target demo and including music from artists that don't necessarily cater to the male 18-35 demo. The format has become so one-dimensional, and it desperately needs a change.
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Post by wonderstruck on May 19, 2015 21:17:48 GMT -5
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Post by wonderstruck on May 20, 2015 11:14:39 GMT -5
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Uncle Lumpy
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Post by Uncle Lumpy on May 20, 2015 11:59:05 GMT -5
Seeing this struggle is so very frustrating. I detest mainstream country radio.
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sabre14
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Post by sabre14 on May 24, 2015 14:39:33 GMT -5
"Biscuits" lost 87 spins and 1.2 million in audience this week. Without the help of Westwood One, this song would be doing worse than what it has accomplished thus far on MB. The amount of audience "Biscuits" lost is pretty staggering and even if this was able to recover over the next few days, I don't see this doing much more anyway and I expect a new single by the time the album drops.
Shame too since Kacey shot a music video for this song, but radio is just not responding to this single - even with it's very good sales for the airplay it has gotten; which as already been pointed out here but I agree that it is definitely frustrating.
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Post by wonderstruck on May 24, 2015 21:17:36 GMT -5
So disappointing. I hope we still get the music video.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2015 2:38:20 GMT -5
"Biscuits" lost 87 spins and 1.2 million in audience this week. Without the help of Westwood One, this song would be doing worse than what it has accomplished thus far on MB. The amount of audience "Biscuits" lost is pretty staggering and even if this was able to recover over the next few days, I don't see this doing much more anyway and I expect a new single by the time the album drops. Shame too since Kacey shot a music video for this song, but radio is just not responding to this single - even with it's very good sales for the airplay it has gotten; which as already been pointed out here but I agree that it is definitely frustrating. There's no denying that this one is struggling (that's an understatement), but I'm not sure if it's done yet. I don't think it'll lose much audience on tomorrow's Billboard chart--the 1.2 million loss you stated is obviously for the MB tracking week, and 400k of it came from last Sunday alone (due to a loss of countdown spins), which was the last day of last week's BB chart. And it appears that another 400k is due to a small drop in spins at Westwood One, which also won't affect Billboard. But this needs to rebound in the next few days, that's for sure.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2015 3:09:17 GMT -5
This one is selling, but as with songs like "Girl Crush" and "Like a Wrecking Ball" that had trouble at radio, its good sales are contrasted by really bad research scores. This has a 27% negativity rate on the Mediabase callout chart, which is the highest on the whole chart, even higher than the LBT and Eric Church songs, which both had even stronger sales, so I'm not too surprised to see this struggling. Would the research be better if country radio was reaching a larger audience and the callout panel had a wider demographic? Maybe, but the poor showing of "House Party" on this same callout chart has me suspecting that maybe the callout panel still has a reasonable amount of listeners who want more than pop/bro-country.
The good thing for Kacey's fans about this tanking, though, is that it proves country radio's objection to "Follow Your Arrow" wasn't based on any particular lyric, but more likely the traditional sound of the song or the poor research scores. I still think Kacey can get a moderate hit yet, especially if her album sales are really strong. Maybe she and her team will just have to do a little more radio promo work, or maybe her label will decide to make her a non-mainstream artist like Chris Stapleton or Brandy Clark and not target radio success. I'll reserve a final judgement until I hear the material on her new CD.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2015 3:42:13 GMT -5
This one is selling, but as with songs like "Girl Crush" and "Like a Wrecking Ball" that had trouble at radio, its good sales are contrasted by really bad research scores. This has a 27% negativity rate on the Mediabase callout chart, which is the highest on the whole chart, even higher than the LBT and Eric Church songs, which both had even stronger sales, so I'm not too surprised to see this struggling. Would the research be better if country radio was reaching a larger audience and the callout panel had a wider demographic? Maybe, but the poor showing of "House Party" on this same callout chart has me suspecting that maybe the callout panel still has a reasonable amount of listeners who want more than pop/bro-country. Sam Hunt isn't a good example, though. He's an extremely polarizing artist. I can't tell you how many hundreds of posts I read on Facebook (usually radio station pages) or on iTunes that say "enough with Sam Hunt and his rapping. He needs to go pop like Taylor did", etc. And these posts will get hundreds of likes. "Take Your Time" was a huge hit at country radio, there's no denying that, but there are still a lot of people who didn't like it and who don't seem likely to like anything that Sam does. As for "Biscuits", it does have a rather high negative score on Mediabase Callout, but I'd wager that that's indeed because Kacey is a female. Female-led songs (and ballads) tend to have higher negative scores. The good news, if you can call it that, is that "Biscuits" is doing decently well on the Radiofeedback New Music callout report, which I find to be a lot more detailed than Mediabase Callout. Bullseye's Callout America, Bullseye Callout, and Radiofeedback charts are all different callout reports (different samples), and yet their results are remarkably similar (which, to me, suggests that it is fairly believable research, if three entirely different samples are coming up with similar results). Anyway, "Biscuits" has a total positive score of 60.1 on the Radiofeedback New Music survey, which is higher than "Better Than You Left Me", "Country", "35 mph Town", "For A Boy", "First Kiss", "It Feels Good", "Crash And Burn", and "Hangover Tonight". Kacey's dislike percentage is 10.3, and strongly dislike is 7.9. Those numbers are pretty much on par with the other new songs, most of which are in the 30's or lower on the airplay charts. Also of note: the sample size for "Biscuits" was 291, and nearly 60% of those surveyed answered "have not heard yet".
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.indulgecountry
Diamond Member
Best Country Poster 2011, 2017, & 2018
"You left a mark on my face // And brought a dozen red flags in a vase"
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Post by .indulgecountry on May 25, 2015 13:34:59 GMT -5
The good thing for Kacey's fans about this tanking, though, is that it proves country radio's objection to "Follow Your Arrow" wasn't based on any particular lyric, but more likely the traditional sound of the song or the poor research scores. Nah, it was definitely the lyric. Maybe "Biscuits," which is her most radio-friendly release to date imo, is struggling because it's not going over well with the bro-y crowd that doesn't like hearing female voices ( ), but "Follow Your Arrow" failed because of the controversy. Many radio PDs even said as much, and it also sold quite well, so it's not as if people weren't liking that song -- I mean it went Gold without ever reaching the Top 40.
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onebuffalo
Diamond Member
#LiteralLegender
I am One Buffalo.
Joined: June 2009
Posts: 26,588
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Post by onebuffalo on May 28, 2015 12:51:51 GMT -5
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Post by wonderstruck on May 31, 2015 18:06:40 GMT -5
+22 spins today.
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Post by wonderstruck on Jun 3, 2015 11:29:21 GMT -5
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Post by wonderstruck on Jun 3, 2015 23:32:29 GMT -5
Kacey will be on Jimmy Fallon on June 9th and Seth Meyers on June 10th.
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someguy
Diamond Member
Joined: October 2003
Posts: 16,024
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Post by someguy on Jun 4, 2015 0:17:18 GMT -5
Are we still hopeful that this will break the top 40? I mean, realistically, I'd love it to, but I'm just not sure at this point. Part of me wonders if they're just waiting until the album is released to judge fan reaction to the tracks, and will end up picking a second single based on that sooner rather than later.
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Post by Tylerjamesnerd on Jun 4, 2015 13:37:14 GMT -5
Nasty update today!! I want this to make top 40 but today it lost more than half a million in audience. Can this still recover? I just think its lost to much over the week.
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