Radio Killed The Music Star: How Does Radio Overplay Effect Music?

Hey Everyone!

So this week I had to watch a CBC Documentary for class called, The End. It discussed The End of media formats that we have come to love... one specific idea was the shift away from radio to digital and satellite sources. It got me thinking that yeah, I used to LOVE the radio. I used to have it playing in the background while I did just about everything. It was fun because you never really knew what you'd hear next... kind of like finding a mixtape on the street and popping it in as soon as you got home. But lately, my love for the radio has died out. I find that I will discover a song I love and within a month it will be played every 15mins by the radio stations to the point where I cant even stand that song anymore. Its awful!

Cobra Starship is a great example of this. I heard Good Girls Go Bad and thought, man they are gonna hit it big with this! Sure enough a few weeks later it was slowly being introduced to top40 radio. I was stoked for them, thats awesome that they finally found an audience but... if I listened to the radio for lets say, an hour, I probably heard the song two or three times! Are there not other songs to fill the time slots? There are soooo many songs out there!

The same thing happened when Green Day's American Idiot album. I used to love it but after a couple months of constant radio play, I had to put the CD on the back of my shelves. It was only recently that I was able to bring it back from seclusion. 

Heres the deal, traditional radio only plays a handful of songs. No matter how many awesome songs are out there, they only use a VERY small percentage of that to create their radio play lists. Also, things like MAPL and CanCon ensure that in Canada, at least 30% of content aired is Canadian. In order to adhere to these regulations, stations often choose some of the top charted Canadian artists and play those tracks constantly so they can say the requirements were met. College stations are some of the only indie friendly airwaves out there who look for newer songs. 

I love radio but lately I've had enough of the traditional style. Digital radio, podcasts, online stations, concerts... these are all great ways to discover new sounds. From there, I load them up on my ipod and hit the shuffle button. Not quite the community feel of radio, but it sure beats listening to the same stuff over and over again until my favorite songs make my ears bleed. 

What do you think? Are you a radio fan or have you had enough? What will you miss about radio, if anything?

Let me know what you think... did Radio kill the Music star?

Rock On,

- Girl At The Rock Show

Song of the Day: Spirit Of The Radio by Rush

Music Format: The Ongoing Debate

Hello Everyone!

So in a lot of my classes lately, the whole debate about changing music formats has become one of high interest. I mean, when you think about it, there are so many options out there old and new. Personally, my music collection is made up of a bit of everything... I have vinyl (both 7" & 12"), CDs, Itunes digital, cassettes, pretty much everything. I like to keep my mind open to different technologies. In terms of music, I feel like each format lets you interpret the tracks in a new way.  If I had to pick, I'd say I love vinyl the most. I always loved vinyl, but my parents were always too afraid to let me use their old school players for fear of me breaking it. But I got a record player for Christmas last year and its been a staple in my life ever since. I just cant get over the quality... the way it has its flaws, how it plays with little scratches and white noise. Its not perfect, not airbrushed and over edited, but its natural. Thats why its my favorite. There's just something about it that makes me feel like I'm in the studio, listening to the raw demos of each track as it plays... So now I turn the question to you, whats your favorite and why? Be it sound quality like me and vinyl, or maybe even wide availability like Itunes, I'd like to hear your thoughts!

Thanks, looking forward to getting some feedback from you guys!

Rock On!

- Girl At The Rock Show

Song of the Day: So Contagious by Acceptance : I saw these guys when I was in high school, one of my first (and certainly not my last) show at London's own Call The Office. Anyways, this song has been stuck in my head since then. Sadly, they've disbanded since then but I still love to play their CD. Hope you like it even half as much as I do.