Just Stop Giving a F**ks About the Radio - Problem Solved Posted by Nathan S. on 12/17/12 | Filed under Downloads, Opinion, Podcasts, Combat Jack

Maybe you heard about the "controversy" surrounding Hot 97 program director Ebro Darden's comments about "minor league vs. major league" rappers, maybe you didn't. Frankly the details aren't particularly interesting. Or rather, they're not nearly as interesting as the big picture, a big picture Combat Jack got Darden to lay out in detail on his latest podcast.

Frankly I can't think of a time I've heard someone on the radio, especially someone with more control than a DJ like Darden, speak so candidly about how radio works. I think most people look think programming a radio station is some version of creating a playlist or DJing a party; you play the shit you like and you think people will like.

In short, instead Darden reveals that, on his level, radio's essentially one big mathematical formula:

* Radio stations are for profit companies that only care about making money. They make more money when more people listen.
* They test every song they consider putting on the air, the songs that get the most listens make it to air, and the songs that get the most listens once on air, stay on air.

That, in a nuthsell, is the whole game. Song A may be "better" than Song B, Song B may be "better" than Song C, it just doesn't matter. If a song has better stats, it wins.

In my younger years I would have been far more angry about this, ranted about how radio is destroying the culture, but now that I'm older, wiser and, perhaps most importantly, lazier, I just don't really gives a fucks about the radio. And I'd advise most artists who are angry stations like Hot 97 won't play their shit to stop giving a fucks too.

To use an example Combat Jack brings up, complaining about Hot 97 not playing Roc Marciano's new album is like complaining that a strip club doesn't have poetry night. Like complaining that McDonald's doesn't offer kale and wheat grass juices. Like complaining....you get the point.

Mainstream radio is geared towards a very specific kind of hip-hop. If you make that kind of music, then you've got a shot. And if you don't, well then forget about the radio, that's not where your audience is, and changing your music to fit that audience will only make your music so boring radio won't want to touch it. Spending time waiting outside of Hot 97 hoping they'll take your demo is like that poet waiting outside King of Diamonds hoping to get onstage.

There was a time, even as recently as ten years ago, when radio was essentially the only way a national audience could hear your music. I don't know if you've noticed, but now thanks to the interwebs, that's not true. There's a long, long list of artists with great careers that never get played on radio (Tech N9ne, Macklemore, Mac Miller, etc.), a long list of people who got big radio play who are essentially gone (Kreayshawn, Cash Out, etc.), and a long list of new artists that blew up on the interwebs first, then radio followed (Trinidad James, Chief Keep, A$AP Rocky, etc.).

That doesn't mean radio isn't important, it's an exaggeration to say that "radio is dead", or that bloggers are the new radio. Of course getting major radio play can mean massive exposure for artists. It can have a big affect on your career.

But it feels like the amount of energy artists, and fans, spend complaining about and fighting mainstream radio is wasted energy. Radio won't play your shit? Fuck em, reach your fans via live shows and digitally. In the time you spent trying to get a radio station fundamentally built to not play your shit you could have recorded an entire new album. Fans, radio doesn't play the music you like? Fuck em, stop listening to radio; I haven't in years. It's really not that complicated. (On the flip side, don't like the shit RefinedHype posts? Fuck me, turn on the radio. The point is there are so many options in 2012 it feels ridiculous to complain about any one option.)

Anyway, obviously a lot to dig into here for those citizens of RefinedHype Nation who really care. And if you really care, I highly recommend taking a listen to the full podcast below. Enjoy...

See Also: It’s a Marathon of Podcast Goodness: Combat Jack, Freddie Gibbs, Bun B & Despot (Listen & Download)

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