The Music Scout (Alternative)

Author: Jay Goldberg

I am writing this column before my November column is published so I may get additional surveys back since I left October's survey open until December 20th. However, as a market research professional I am well aware that I didn't get enough responses to use the results to report statistically significant numbers (too high a sample error, too much sample risk based on the number of surveys answered related to the overall population of stations). However, looking at the results as I would data from a focus group rather than a survey (possible trends to look at in more detail to see if they are meaningful), I noticed a few things:

A little less than half the respondents don't play indie or small label artist songs
A little more than half would or might be interested in checking out a syndicated indie/small label artist show for potential airplay I produced (not bad since a majority of the respondents had stations in a different genre)
Of the respondents that read my column only 1 person did not find at least some of the business content helpful
The music (which was the initial intent of the column) was secondary to the written content (not surprising given the combination of respondents who don't play indie/small label artist songs and/or play different genres than the ones contained in the column)

I don't know if the trends would be different if stations that play indie/small label artist songs and alternative and mainstream rock were predominate among respondents.

I will wrap up this write-up for now by stating that I believe some stations are passing up the potential to find a niche and meet listener and artist needs by not playing indie/small label artist songs. Since this is holiday time, I will save my explanation as to why I believe this until January's column.

Now on to the music.

“Storm” by Minna Ora

Ora is from Finland and previously released a Finnish version of this song. In Storm, Minna takes on human selfishness, greed, and the abuse of power. Everything where people act primarily out of their own self-interest, focusing on themselves, acting ruthlessly, and overlooking the suffering of fellow human beings.

“Heart Break” by Numa Echos

Numa Echos is from Italy. This song is off their album Descending Consciousness. While still maintaining the characteristic elements of Numa Echos's previous albums, ranging from rock to dark, from industrial to trip-hop, this new album presents a more graceful guise, leaving more space for electronics and melody.

“Party of Little Giants” by Blax

This finishes the mini tour of indie/small label artists of Europe. Blax defines themselves as a “hard goth-rock” band. This song of off their album Meravilia. The band has songs in both English and Italian. This one is in English.

“The Long Haul” by Black English

After touring the U.S. and Europe for three years as NO, they changed their name to Black English. One reason for the change was the difficulty people had finding them when searching on NO. And thumbs up for them titling their album NO to connect to their previous audience.

“Normal Town” by Better Than Ezra

Finally, a band you'll know. This song was released as a single but didn't chart. It's one of my favorites from this band from New Orleans, Louisiana. They took their name from a childhood rivalry of lead singer Kevin Griffin, who is a distant cousin of Peter. Just kidding.

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