What makes you national?

I'm well aware of the advertising & music content relationship within radio. Sure payola is illegal but it's still done and spin programs tread the line of legality. Jocks have no freedom to play what they want these days. Of course I'm talking commercial radio here (I have my own thoughts on college radio that I may share later). Certain commercial radio stations have the CDs I release and one station that has played my bands' music before now can not play the band because they are "not national" and the boss said they can only spin national bands.

I think music should stand up on its own against other music. The single should not be passed over because it was not released by a multinational corporation. A single should be passed up if it does not fit format. It should be skipped it the PD and MD are not into it. Who releases it should not play into it and it frustrates me and pisses me off that it does. What constitutes a national band anyway?

If it's only a CD being released by the Big 4 I'd say bullshit. Lots of indies have national acts. Starting with Victory Records on down to smaller indies like No Idea or Deep Elm - all can boast having national acts. So is it distribution? If your CDs are in stores everywhere does that matter? Clap Your Hands Say Yeah were legitimately national with no label. With online distribution you don't need the shelf space...

So is it touring? How much touring needs to be done to be considered a national act? Do you need to hit both coasts? What if you tour regionally but had radio airplay nationally? What if you toured all 50 states but had no radio play or media coverage. So what is a national band?

Are you then international if you play another country? Another continent?

What do you think are the defining points between a local/regional/national act? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Being a fan

So I'm really just a big music fan at heart. I should most likely be writing a music blog similar to those in my daily reads section, since I could cover way more ground. Maybe I will write about lots of bands that are not part of Aux here. I guess it is too soon to tell but my guess is I will. For being a small label I get a lot of music sent to me and naturally you can expect some to filter through. But for today I have one of my own to talk about.

Merit.

I pretty much organized this label to help put out their first CD. They make music I like to hear and I think a lot of other people will too. They are not too indie and not too commercial and have a work ethic that never quits. Merit is working on a Canadian tour in July and hopefully a short stint on Warped Tour will follow in August. If you haven't done so already, get to know Merit.

Merit - Blue Bedroom

Music PR

Tonight was the last class for my music public relations class that I developed for Syracuse University. I've wanted SU to have a class like this since I started classes there in 2000 as a Masters student. I wanted it even more in 2002 as a doctoral student. Now they have one. With sixteen future PR professionals now out of my class I hope I gave them a sense of what I do and what others do when promoting music. I know I did but i hope it sticks with them. I guess I can't describe what it was like to see the class end so I'll just end with this:

"Well here I am don't know how to say this
Only thing I know is awkward silence." -Saves The Day