How do radio stations decide which songs to play?

Why do radio stations only play certain songs?

Songs are placed in rotations based on the song's popularity, and how well it works with the genre of the station. Depending on the jockey or radio host responsible for a specific show, you may hear a wider variety of songs. Some hosts have a lot more freedom when it comes to choosing what they play.

Can radio stations play any song they want?

As a noncommercial broadcast radio station (that might also stream over the Internet), you cannot simply play any music you want legally; you need permission. Fortunately, you don't have to go around cutting checks to every band whose music you use.

Do radio presenters choose the songs?

Despite being on the front line of the BBC's musical output, Radio 1's DJs do not choose the vast majority of the tracks they play. Now, a top boss at Radio 1 has explained why: because the station would lose listeners.

How much does it cost to play a song on the radio?

“In Hot AC and Top 40, could be anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 depending on the competition.” Two other radio veterans estimated that the total cost of promoting a song to “urban” radio and transforming it into a hit was between $100,000 and $125,000.

How DO Radio Stations Pick The Music Anyway?

How do DJs decide what songs to play?

Reading the Crowd

Making this quite possibly the biggest single factor in how do DJs know what song to play next. Very quickly after starting their set a DJ will gauge their audience. Then, depending on the direction the DJ wants to go, and the crowd's energy, they will select tracks they know will get a good response.

Do artists get paid every time their song is played on the radio?

As we've mentioned earlier, in most markets, both songwriters and recording artists are typically paid royalties any time their music is played on the radio.

Why are some songs not played on the radio?

The amount of time that's available to listen to the myriad of music submissions is often not as much as they wish they had. For this and other reasons, there's a chance that a song will be given a certain amount of time in that first listen.

Why do radio stations only play the same 5 songs?

They are really trying to appeal to the casual listener by making sure they hear that hot song the one time they might tune into the station. The top 5 songs or so will usually be played about once an hour.

How often do radio stations play the same songs?

“Each hour we have one golden rotation track, which is usually something a little more memorable from the last year, to the last six or seven years. Most people tend to listen for 15-25 minutes, so yeah, it's about striking a balance.”

Do radio stations have to pay royalties?

It's important to note that royalties are not always payable from radio broadcasts; some radio stations (like BBC stations) have to pay out for every piece of music they use, whereas some smaller stations only need to report the music that they play on certain sample days, in order to represent the music they play on a ...

Why does radio keep playing the same song?

So to ensure people hear their favourite pop hit anytime they might be tuning in, stations play the odds and keep repeating it throughout the day, regardless of how many times they've already played it. It's simply part of the radio business model.

Why do radio stations start with K?

Following a practice inaugurated in 1912 when the federal government first licensed radio stations, beginning in 1921 broadcasting stations have generally been assigned call signs beginning with "K" when their community of license is located in the west, and with "W" in the east.

Why do radio stations play the same Christmas songs over and over?

But the main reason for the tunes' ubiquity is that people want to hear them. Folks who are already tired of the stuff can take heart from the fact that there are people working hard to make sure you don't hear another joyful note after New Year's Day. That is, until next December.

Why are radio edits so short?

Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. In music, a radio edit or radio mix is a modification, typically truncated, intended to make a song more suitable for airplay, whether it be adjusted for length, profanity, subject matter, instrumentation, or form.

How do radio stations make money?

The listening audience, similar to a TV audience and social media users, are the product being sold to advertisers. This is how radio stations make money; through advertising. Extra income also comes from sponsored content and events (however, this is also a form of a advertising) as well as charging callers.

Which song generates the most royalties?

Fast forward 120 years and "Happy Birthday" is by far the richest and most profitable song of all time. The Ownership of "Happy Birthday" has changed hands a few times in the last 100 years. Music holding company Warner Chappell bought the rights for $15 million in 1990.

How long do music royalties last?

For artists in the US, the copyright protection of a song lasts for the lifetime of the copyright holder and an additional 70 years after their demise. This law applies to all bodies of works that have been published since 1978. The payment on these royalties also lasts for the duration of the copyright protection.

Do radio stations speed up songs?

Most commercial radio stations spend big money (well, big to me) for song compression equipment - commonly, they compress songs to get 1-2 "extra" minutes in every hour.

How are top 40 songs determined?

The chart is compiled by detecting the songs played on a select panel of top 40 radio stations. The songs are then ranked according to popularity. Songs that rank below #15 on the chart and have spent more than 20 weeks on the chart overall are removed and placed on a recurrent chart.

Do Pro DJs prepare their sets?

More proficient DJs don't prepare sets in advance in such way but select tracks right during the set looking at the crowd in front of them. Most often, they use tempo as a plain simple criterion for choosing the next track. Obviously, the energy on the dancefloor went down; people going out.

Why do radio stations end in odd numbers?

Because each channel is 0.2 MHz wide, the center frequencies of adjacent channels differ by 0.2 MHz. Because the lowest channel is centered on 87.9 MHz, the tenths digit (in MHz) of the center frequency of any FM station in the United States is always an odd number.

Why do American radio stations have weird names?

According to the American Federal Communications Commission: "Since the early days of wireless telegraphy, starting with marine use, radio stations have had their own identification. Under international agreement, since 1927 the alphabet has been divided among nations for basic call sign use.

How do radio stations get their numbers?

This band of frequencies is completely arbitrary and is based mostly on history and whim. Inside that band, each station occupies a 200-kilohertz slice, and all of the slices start on odd number boundaries. So there can be a station at 88.1 megahertz, 88.3 megahertz, 88.5 megahertz, and so on.

How many songs do radio stations play?

On average each radio station plays about 116,800 songs any given year.