After Revealed Family’s project, we are here with our unrequested opinion.
A few days back, I happened to notice about initiation of a new radio show from our friends over at Revealed Family, making me muse about the last time I actually cared about one. Their marketing for the show pitched the very first line as “Radioshows suck”. Here’s why I second their thoughts.
Except for rare exceptions, the realization that these recurring shows haven’t got my attention as much is all thanks to Spotify’s near outstanding automation, with thousands of playlists, exclusive songs and artists radio features. Not that there’s any intentional promo being done here for the Swedish conglomerate, as I also acknowledge that there will always be fans who loves them and there’s nothing wrong with that. For example, if I had a long drive that wouldn’t require constantly nudging my phone, an uninterrupted radio show would be my preference.
There’s only one way to trap the interests of the audience wooed by the streaming algorithms: exclusive IDs. Yet most of the time, they are already leaked by dedicated channels on the web. Additionally, I highly doubt that the bigwigs who go on the air are even dedicating hours weekly for listening to demos and fine-tuning the curation. Even they probably know the shift in the current market, as Spotify curators would definitely know what is trending better than Don Diablo’s or Nicky Romero’s “assistants”. And branding? Not really that interesting.
Labels such as Spinnin’ and Revealed aren’t oblivious to this as well, so they set-up 24 hour live-streams that aims to please the niche actively tuning in, not allocating the time required for mixing, broadcasting and marketing the show. Definitely not ideal or creative, but a practical and transparent move in the long run.
Ironically, the only people invested are other upcoming artists, who look for gaining valuable exposure and support. Any under-the-radar song getting played would let its producer add the tag “Supported By” to their release. PR agents are devoted to this stuff (I wonder who else). From what I gather, there is an unnatural curiosity about these supports, with “placements” being exchanged (if not sold) dubiously. Of course, that doesn’t mean that every song is forcibly placed and there’s still a place for the smaller acts, yet this alone ruins the magic of “only deserved getting the spotlight”. Promotions is (almost) everything these days.
That’s why I see Revealed Family’s notion of a genuinely laid-back show as a good sign, and hoping it picks up the traction.
What do you think?
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