Thursday, November 14, 2013

Why Radio Needs A Song Writers Chart

You could tell from my last post:  I don't think David Ross' new songwriters top 60 chart should be used as a source of content on the air.

Why? 

When a song becomes a hit - which is to say that it's "a favorite, a song I like a lot and if it came on radio, I'd turn it up" - it no longer belongs to the writer. 

Now, it's owned by the listener, each one of whom has her own personal meaning to its message and story.

I don't watch music videos for that reason. 

They make the meaning of songs too literal, changing the perspective from the one inside my head to someone else's and it's almost always "less" than it was when I first heard it, projecting my own personal video on the screen inside my imagination.

Radio's power comes from intimacy and theater of the mind. 

The best music takes full advantage of that.  It is the basis of the art great songwriters practice better than anyone.

That is why all of the music business - including radio - needs a song writers chart. 

There's a lot to learn from those folks who rank at the top.

They possess a list with a lot of secrets worth studying.

A great performance by a sensational artist of an average song simply won't perform as well as an average singer doing a mediocre version of a simply terrific song.

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