#rhythmic radio

We went for rhythmic radio "adds" on March 19.  It was a bit slow getting all of the pieces in place.  We started out our first week with 4th most added (above us were Drake, Jeezy, and Nicki Minaj) which was nice company to be in, but getting the spins in great day parts would prove more of a challenge.  Many of the radio PDs like the song, but they feel it's more POP than Rhythmic.  They are correct--but once you go for Pop radio, you can't come back to Rhythmic.  It's far better to struggle early on and get the rhythmic spins and then add pop spins, than to just get pop spins and forego the thousands of spins rhythmic offers once they catch on.  I chose to get all the spins I could get and leave no stone unturned.

It's like making sparks and hoping it will catch fire.

The cool thing about this record is that I tested it and I know what it can do.  I tested it prior to spending a dime of the investor's money.  The challenge is keeping any investor happy and on board.  If she feels it isn't catching fire fast enough, she could pull the plug at any minute.  The key to being a good consultant in music, to me, is keeping realistic expectations among your investor (the boss), the artist, and the team.  If you come in like a used car salesman promising the world, when things don't happen immediatey (and they rarely do) everyone loses momentum.  I've tried to be as honest as possible with my expectations, even if it sells me out of the job.  Let's be real: it's more fun and promising to hire the bullshitters who tell you what you want to hear.

My philosophy has always been: TEST the record, then build slowly from the ground up.  I'm doing this a bit backwards though on this project, because the investor had lost a large amount of money prior to my arrival.  Normally, I'd start a record at the street and club level for a few months and then go after radio.  I didn't have that luxury in this case.  She needed to SEE movement forward as soon as possible, and I needed her to see it.  This song is strong enough to warrant working it a bit backwards (not all are) so I chose to start working it backwards--radio first, then the clubs and streets as it builds slowly at radio.  Think about this though: we all have gut instincts in this business and I'm fortunate than mine seem to be correct more than they are wrong...but how amaing is it for any one human being to look at another human being and entrust their money to a gut feeling?  Yep, this investor is fucking awesome...