Here at Bn'R we still have our finger on the pulse of the radio (except for Bob Wettner, who has his finger in little Asian soccer players).  Terrestrial radio used to be an important outlet for new bands to have their music distributed, but has lost much of it's importance due to newer channels, such as Satellite Radio, iTunes, and other online distribution sources.  As such, the radio industry is starting to feel the burn, just like the rest of the economy.

The Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) has released total industry revenue figures for both the fourth quarter of 2007 as well as the full year. In Q4, total local & national revenue was down five percent compared to the previous year, with local down three percent and national falling by 11 percent. Network revenue grew by one percent, with off-air revenue (aka Non-Spot revenue) increasing by 12 percent. In total, radio brought in just over $5.4 billion in Q4.

There are three things that a new band used to have to do to build up their name and image: get radio play, tour constantly, and release a great first album.  Now, due to the widespread distribution of singles through iTunes, Amazon, and sometimes band websites, a band doesn't have to get radio play, they don't need to tour as much, and they definitely don't need a great first album.  Look at the best bands from the nineties and how they stuck to the formula:

Band	Radio Play	Tour Constantly	Great First Apple
Nirvana	Yes	Yes	Yes
Alice in Chains	Yes	Yes	Yes
Green Day	Yes	Yes	Sort of (Dookie wasn't their first album  but was the first mainstream effort.)

What do we get these days?  Crappy bands that put together 12 song albums with 3 radio friendly songs and 9 mediocre fillers.  I was on my way home from Target today (irrelevant, but I'm the one writing here so screw you!) and I heard the new Three Days Grace song "Riot".  This was one of the most abysmal, boring pieces of swill that I've heard since the Y2K bug didn't strike.  How are we supposed to get fresh, new music, when this kind of crap is polluting our airwaves.

Since Bn'R reader Dave decided to chastise Craig Wettner for his speculation on Sevendust yesterday, I have decided to allow you, the reader, to decide how you feel about riot.  To create a valid argument, I will also post the video for a random Alice in Chains song from the nineties just so we can see how far the music industry has fallen.



VS.

Source