The Process: Radio Is a Reality
by Shaun Groves | posted 5/01/2003
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As the August 5 release of Shaun Groves's sophomore album draws closer, he and the folks at Rocketown work out the next step in the process of releasing an album — selecting the radio single. Shaun shares his thoughts regarding the difference between a "hit" and a "favorite."
My favorite songs are never on the radio. How about you? Have you ever listened to a CD, fallen in love with a song, and wondered in the days and years ahead why it's never on the radio? You'll love this then.
My CD Twilight is finished, pretty much. The packaging is yet to be designed, but all the music is complete. The marketing team at Rocketown, which oddly enough is almost everyone at Rocketown with the exception of the attorney, has met a few times to discuss which songs will be sent to radio stations—and more importantly, perhaps—which one will go first.
This is an important question because that song will be the first impression listeners will have of my new CD. It's also one of the reasons I have a record label. I'm asked from time to time why I didn't do all this independently. My short answer is that a
record label knows things I don't—I hope—I'm pretty sure—I'm positive—I think. Well, anyway, regardless of whether they do or they don't, their job is to assume they do and mine is to do the same. At moments like these, my job is to let them do their job.
Here's how radio works—the simple version from an artist's perspective. I write songs without thinking about how to make radio happy—not because I dislike radio play but because there's no telling what they'll like from one day to the next. That's the trouble with humans in general. We're unpredictable. After the
songs are recorded, Derek Jones takes over. He's a tan,
obsessive-compulsive, positive ball of energy who bounces from
phone call to phone call incessantly pleading with radio guys to
play the latest single from Rocketown—and with great success I
might add. His job is to get our songs played on your station,
and he has a good nose for what songs will work best.
After Derek picks the song, it is remixed. Versions with the vocal louder or the guitars turned down, for instance, offer each station the ability to meet their audience's likes and dislikes,
eliminating some barriers to getting it played along the way. The
single—or song—is sent out to stations' program directors. We pray that they decide to listen to our song out of the stack of
hundreds they receive each week. Then Derek and his little
helpers get on the phone and harass … I mean ask nicely for the
song to be played.
Then we wait.
With our last record together, Invitation to Eavesdrop, this process worked surprisingly well. I was told then that new artists are fortunate to get one song played—at most they'll get two. But we had seven radio singles to every format of Christian radio: Adult Contemporary, Christian Hit Radio or Pop,
Inspirational, and Rock. And five of those songs made it on the
chart. Two were number one and two more were top five. Amazing.
And I can't take credit for that. The process worked. Derek
worked. And radio listened.
But it's that success that both makes me nervous about following our own track record and confident in Derek's abilities and wisdom. I don't live for radio play, but it's still an important factor in both the ministry and business that we're in. What if radio stations don't play this first song? Will that make them
less likely to give the next one a listen, and the next? But, in
the end, I don't have the answers, and I think Derek can be
trusted. He's earned it. He's done his research: polling a few of
his close friends in the radio industry. He's studied hard:
watching the charts for trends or needs that we can meet.
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