Radio is more important than ever to songwriters
Posted on Oct 26, 2009 in News
It’s a singles business. That’s what songwriters are saying more these days as record executives are more interested selling singles than full albums – and it’s radio that is providing that critical publicity to make a chart-topper. Fewer consumers are purchasing full albums and instead turn to the hits and download them online from retailers like iTunes and Amazon.
At the CMJ Music Marathon in Manhattan last week, a panel of hit songwriters concurred, “the best way to land a hit is a tried-and-true one: Get on the radio.”
“The business is so singles-driven now,” Ossoff says, adding that the new trend is for songwriters to submit only a verse and a chorus to execs, who will tell them to finish songs that have hit potential.
“Radio’s become more important because of what has happened,” said David Katz, half of the production-songwriting team S*A*M and Sluggo, responsible for recent hits from Boys Like Girls, The Academy Is . . . , and Metro Station. “The hit song’s become a more important medium because no one buys albums any more.”
Source: Newsday

