Australian radio criticized for lack of homegrown acts

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A promoter Down Under is attacking the Australian radio industry for concentrating its airplay on imported music and ignoring artists born and raised in Australia. People saying they were in the radio business responded, taking issue with some of the promoter’s remarks.


According to Adelaide Now, Michael Chugg claims radio stations placed nothing but foreign acts on a recent top ten list, and that in general they’d rather bring in new artists from abroad – Adam Lambert was one mentioned – rather than boost acts that originated and play in Australia.

Chugg said musicians are relying on touring, merchandising and creative use of the internet to get by. He says that many are learning to survive that way, but clearly believes that a helping hand from radio stations would make the job a lot easier.

One person who claimed to have worked in radio said part of the problem might be that the Australian acts just are not as good as Chugg believes. Either that, or it is being promoted so poorly that radio stations simply do not find out about it. The respondent claimed that if there were ratings in it, stations would play it.

Another radio worker said that his station absolutely plays homegrown Australian music – new music – and dedicates key time blocks specifically to Australian acts. This respondent suggested that the problem of over-reliance on imports may be at some of the larger national networks.

RBR-TVBR observation: The subject of this piece is complaining about radio, but not about radio’s ability to deliver highly desirable promotional value. He simply wants more of it to go the acts he prefers.

Meanwhile, in the US, we have the labels saying that radio promotion is not all that big a deal. The claim continues to ring hollow.

The sooner the labels get to work fixing their business model – and scooping cash from radio stations is not going to do that – the sooner both industries can renew and strengthen their common search for prosperity.