Pink Floyd: Pandora Asking us to Take 85% pay Cut.

6-24-13

The battle of how much should be paid for music to air over the Internet and on mobile devices continues to heat up. In a USA Today op-ed piece members of the band Pink Floyd say Pandora is trying to trick artists into supporting their own pay cut. And that Pandora is pushing the growth of their own business at the expense of artists. Pandora is asking Congress to Intervene and even out the rates for music played over the web.

The group writes, "We've heard Pandora complain it pays too much in royalties to make a profit. (Of course, we also watched Pandora raise $235 million in its IPO and double its listeners in the last two years.) But a business that exists to deliver music can't really complain that its biggest cost is music. You don't hear grocery stores complain they have to pay for the food they sell. Netflix pays more for movies than Pandora pays for music, but they aren't running to Congress for a bailout. Everyone deserves the right to be paid a fair market rate for their work, regardless of what their work entails."

The band writes, musicians are getting emails from Pandora ? even directly from the company's charismatic founder Tim Westergren ? asking them to "be part of a conversation" about the music business and sign a simple "letter of support" for Internet radio. "Of course, this letter doesn't say anything about an 85% artist pay cut. That would probably turn off most musicians who might consider signing on. All it says about royalties is "We are all fervent advocates for the fair treatment of artists." And the only hint of Pandora's real agenda is the innocent sounding line "We are also fervent supporters of internet radio and want more than anything for it to grow." The petition doesn't mention that Pandora is pushing the growth of its business directly at the expense of artists' paychecks."

Read the USA today piece HERE

(6/24/2013 6:28:47 PM)
Pink Floyd and other artists should demand money from broadcast radio stations or stop them from playing their songs. Do FM radio stations really sell a lot of albums for Pink Floyd these days? Pink Floyd does not need FM radio, but classic rock stations need Pink Floyd.
(6/24/2013 11:36:50 AM)
Fred, you are dead on! How ironic. Here's a big-name, big-money band complaining about "only" a 15% royalty from a service that didn't even exist in their heydey. What do they care about giving a leg up to bands with smaller followings that never meet the industry-set payout threshold? Never mind radio stations forced to contribute to the coffers of artists they don't even play. Can anyone say "status-quo maintainers"? Or maybe,"payola payback"?
(6/24/2013 11:15:52 AM)
The whole concept of stations paying to air music is wrong. Radio airtime is a gift to recording artists. Airtime cost money. The cost to produce and distribute a recording is small compared to the endless time that radio stations spend promoting groups and recordings without compensation. When I leased a station in Texas, I was billed for hundreds of dollars each month because I aired a Polka show while the bands said they got none of the money. Guess who really got their royalty!

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Boland And Williams Expand Roles At BIA/Kelsey

6-24-13

BIA/Kelsey says analyst Michael Boland is being promoted to Vice President, Content, and analyst Jed Williams is elevated to Vice President, Consulting. BIA/Kelsey Managing Director Rick Ducey said, "Mike and Jed have been valuable assets to BIA/Kelsey, our clients, and the industry at large, through their analysis and coverage of the trends, technology, and business models shaping the local media landscape. I look forward to working closely with each of them in their expanded roles as they contribute in new ways to the growth of our business."

Veteran digital media executive Warren Kay has joined the firm as executive-in-residence. Kay will provide counsel to clients of BIA/Kelsey's Custom Advisory Services and lend his expertise to the firm's coverage of digital media sales transformation.

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Kantar: Radio Down 1.7% in Q1

6-25-13

More confirmation that radio had a week quarter to start the year. Kantar Media, which is a strong indicator for how national revenue came in for all media, says radio declined 1.7% in the first quarter of 2013. Overall Ad Spending was down 0.1% in the first quarter of 2013, compared to 2012, according to Kantar. Marketers spent $30.2 billion on ads in the U.S. during the first quarter. That follows a 4th quarter of 2012 that was up 3% thanks to political and Olympic spending. TV experienced a 0.3% increase while Spanish language TV was up 13.5%. That's seven consecutive quarters of double-digit growth for Hispanic Television. Newspaper was down 4% with national newspapers dropping 9%. Automotive, the largest ad category, dropped 5% in the quarter, spending $3.4 billion in advertising.

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(WIZARD) Ad Strategy Vs. Ad Writing

6-24-2013

Ad strategy is more difficult to teach than ad writing. Ad writing, essentially, is to choose:
1. An intriguing angle of approach into
the subject matter and
2. The sharpest words and phrases to
make your point.

Ad strategy, essentially, is to choose:
1. The point you need to make.

Bad strategy happens when you:
1. Listen to an advertiser?s wishful thinking and then
2. Assume that a radio schedule that
3. Delivers great frequency and
4. Reaches the perfect audience
5. With really good copy will
6. Make that advertiser?s dream come true.

If you?ve been selling radio long enough, you already know that a client?s wishful thinking will help you sell that client a radio schedule, but it takes a lot more than wishful thinking to motivate the client?s customer.

CLIENT: ?I wish I could sell these items.?
ACCOUNT EXEC: ?Let me help you.?
CLIENT: ?How can you help me??
ACCOUNT EXEC: ?We have a loyal audience.? (Insert success story here.) ?Advertising is an investment in your future.? (Insert schedule and contract here.) ?Now tell me exactly what makes these items different and special and better than the ones your competitor sells.? (You start taking notes like crazy. The client is animated. Sincere. Hopeful. Excited.)

You return to the station with a contract and a run order. Now all you need is great copy, right?

Let me pause here to say that it?s not my goal to discourage you. My goal is only to open your eyes. I want you to see the problem clearly so that you no longer walk into a trap from which there is no escape. We will now continue.

You work really hard and write a great piece of copy. Excellent copy. Miraculous copy. The greatest copy ever written. Your co-workers love the ad. The client loves the ad. High-fives all around and champagne for everyone.

The schedule runs. The ad airs. Everyone is commenting on it. Very little of the product is sold. Beyond generating those comments, the ad has minimal impact on the business.

What the hell?

Your copy, indeed, was fabulous. You employed an excellent angle of approach, held the listeners? attention, and made a powerful point in a clever way. Well done! But your fundamental strategy was flawed. Your ad answered a question that no one was asking.

You walked into the trap when you failed to question why the client was overstocked on the item he wanted you to advertise. The real problem is that no one wants the item. Your client assumed ? and you assumed with him ? that if people ?only knew and understood,? they?d rush in to buy the product. So you told the people, you made them understand. And they still didn?t want the product.

Advertising will only accelerate what was going to happen anyway.

Convince your client to let you offer the public what the public already wants. This is what drives traffic into a store. And many of those people will find other things to buy from your client. In other words, fish with bait that you already know the fish love. Don?t try to convince the fish to swallow bait they don?t really like.

The inexperienced account executive allows the patient to diagnose his own disease, then prescribes treatment under the illusion that the patient?s diagnosis can be trusted. If medical doctors did this, they would go to jail.

The treatment, the copy and the schedule, is the easy part. The diagnosis, the strategy, is the tricky part. A quick glance at the symptoms does not prescribe the cure. Identical symptoms can arise from many different causes.

The successful diagnostician knows the truth of a statement is not determined by the sincerity of the speaker. In other words, a deeply sincere, passionate client can easily be wrong in all of his assumptions. If you allow your client to frame the fundamental strategy and decide the principal point that your ad will make, you are at the mercy of your patient?s self-diagnosis. You and your station will be blamed when that patient fails to recover.

The solution is simple. You must separate the selling of the schedule from the creation of the strategy. Selling requires you to be warm, receptive, and empathetic. Strategy requires you to be cold, objective, and suspicious of the client?s self-diagnosis.

Ask yourself this question: ?Are customers not coming because they don?t know about this client, or are customers not coming because they do know??

Diagnose the real problem. Offer the client?s customers what you know for certain they want. Are you beginning to understand why it takes a few years to become a doctor? But stick with it. Don?t give up. Have courage. You?ll get there.

Roy H. Williams is president of Wizard of Ads Inc. E-mail: roy@wizardofads.com.

(6/24/2013 9:56:37 PM)
Phil, take the time to find and hire better reps.
(6/24/2013 9:56:36 PM)
Phil, take the time to find and hire better reps.
(6/24/2013 9:59:52 AM)
Roy,
No one knows his business like the client. His opinion that too few people know about him is probably correct and should be acted upon by the radio rep.
I like your analysis of the problem, but to ask the typical radio salesperson, age 23, 4 months into the business, previous career; bartender, drives an old car, to do a study of what this client needs competitively speaking, is dreaming.

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(SALES) Live Your Dream

6-24-2013

Life is too short to let it pass you by. Live your dreams. This one goes out to Vince Flynn. We lost not only a best-selling author this past week, but a fine individual. Vince passed away after two years battling prostate cancer. Vince Flynn was the best-selling, and I mean best-selling, author who wrote the Mitch Rapp counterterrorism thriller series. He sold more than 15 million books in the United States alone.

What made Vince special in addition to his keen writing ability was the fact that he was following his dreams in his chosen vocation. I had the opportunity to meet Vince at Rush Limbaugh?s wedding three years ago, which was only a few months before his diagnosis. Vince and Lysa, his wife, allowed me to join their group at the wedding. I still remember his infectious smile and attitude in the courtyard of the Breakers Hotel during an after party the night before the wedding.

When I heard that Vince had died at age 47, I went back to that evening three years ago in the courtyard. I was intrigued with Vince since I knew of his writings and best-selling series. Talking to him made me realize that he was fulfilling his dream to be a best-selling author. Have no regrets in this life. Play it to the fullest. When I ran across this saying the other day, I thought of Vince.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling. But in rising every time we fall.
--Confucius

I also thought of someone who started making their dreams happen at an early age. Lou Vito asked me to train the sales team at his radio stations in Bellefontaine, Ohio, back in the late 90s. When I stayed at his house, I noticed his son Louie only wanted to go snowboarding. I wondered, ?Who snowboards in Ohio?? His son did. Louis is now the X Games World Champion in snowboarding. Good work Lou and Louie! I am sure Louie fell down, literally and figuratively, a few times on his way to fulfilling his dreams of being a championship snowboarder. There is no doubt that Lou instilled in his son that passion of always rising each time after a fall while pursuing your dreams.

Sometimes, we meet people who missed the chance to live their dreams. On a plane ride about a month ago, I sat next to an 86-year-old woman who was quite incredible. What a great attitude! As we talked, she shared with me that her husband died one day before he was to retire at 65. His lifelong dream was to retire at age 65. He had just one day to go. He never saw that day. Life is too short.

The moral is to live your dreams in the here and now. Wouldn?t it be great if we could play first then work? Unfortunately, life is not set up that way. We need to learn to enjoy our dreams through our work, too. Have fun and love life while you are in your prime years! If life is not fun, and that includes work, then it might be time to find something else to do.

Here?s to you the infectious spirit of Vince Flynn! Thank you for the memories. You lived your dream!

Sean Luce is the Head International Instructor for the Luce Performance Group and can be reached at sean@luceperformancegroup.com or www.luceperformancegroup.com.

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Morning Team Makes Dream Come True

6-24-13

Now for an update on a story we told you about back in March. As part of their Bucket List, Magic 92.5 San Diego mornings duo Jagger & Kristi helped make a little girl?s dream come true by awarding 10-year-old Marisa Cox, who has Down Syndrome, VIP tickets to see Justin Beiber in concert. This past Saturday, Marisa, who also suffers from a life-threatening kidney disease, got to meet Bieber backstage. Marissa is a huge Justin Bieber fan. 

All Marisa wanted to do was meet Justin Bieber. With Jagger & Kristi's Bucket List, they made that happen. And nobody expected Justin to tweet this: "one of the best parts of the job. nice meeting you Marisa. stay strong for me!"

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(DIGITAL) Never Cold Call Strangers Again

6-24-2013

Did you know prospecting has been forever changed by social media?

You no longer have to cold call perfect strangers. Performing a client needs analysis during your first meeting with a prospect actually makes you looked unprepared. You should be using that valuable time to fill in gaps in your research. Calling a prospect after you heard or saw them advertise elsewhere demonstrates your lack of insight.

The old prospecting methods have lost much of their effectiveness. Today?s radio AEs need to start practicing social prospecting. Search, monitoring, and social media tools can now help AEs accelerate the sales process by gaining insights about the marketing needs of a prospect in a way they couldn?t even just a few years ago.

If you want to be the first one to get a prospect to buy advertising in your market, here?s how social prospecting can help you do it.

1. Find a Personal Connection

Social media has made it so much easier to find a personal connection inside any local company. Think about how much easier you?ll be able to pitch a company by having someone on the inside acting as your sales advocate. They can help you quickly identify the key marketing needs and decision makers.

Before contacting any local advertiser, get in the habit of scanning your social networks first for personal connections, especially LinkedIn. You?ll be surprised to find how many personal connections you already have within local businesses in your market.

2. Create Instant Personal Rapport

Forget small talk when you talk to a prospect for the first time. Creating instant personal rapport will both show the prospect you really understand their business, and that you are a person they'll like and trust. Search for information about them on Google, LinkedIn, Manta, and Yelp.

Gain insights by looking for recent quotes or interviews by someone inside the company in local publications or blogs. Scan reviews by their customers on Yelp.com to identify the primary reason people patronize them. Analyze the content they are sharing with their customers on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Visit their website to see what they are promoting.

Before you meet with an individual prospect, Google them or connect with them on LinkedIn. See if you have anything in common so you can quickly create a personal connection with them instead of talking about the weather.

3. Identify Sales Cycle of Prospect

Each year LifeHacker.com reports on ?The Best Time to Buy Anything During the Year.? This one report can help you understand the sales cycle for almost any advertising category.

If the best time to buy furniture for a consumer is July and January, then the best time for you to call on furniture retailers is four months in advance of those ?best times to buy? to help them maximize their marketing dollars. In this case, March and September.

Use search and social media to identify the slowest and busiest times of the year for each advertising category. Find out when they introduce new products and when they have to get rid of excess inventory. These insights will help you identify when to call on prospects well in advance of your competitors. Let them be the ones to call the prospect once their ad hits your air!

If you can get in the habits of finding personal connections, building personal rapport, and identifying optimum moments in sales cycles, you definitely close more sales than cold calling strangers ?asking? them to buy radio advertising.

Stephen Warley is the founder of inboundarts.com, a research and training firm dedicated to helping radio broadcasters use digital tools to generate more qualified sales leads. He is also the founded of LocalBroadcastSales.com in 2008. Email him at stephen@inboundarts.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.

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