[JPL] Broadcast Architecture press release on "their newest innovation"

[Jim Wilke]

Ed,

Overlooking the "smooth jazz" aspect of this story and considering it 
in relation to radio music in general...

Many of us were told years ago not to pay attention to individual 
listeners calling or writing in to say they like this song, or hate 
that one... or when they've heard a particular song too often.  Instead 
of relying on our own expertise and voluntary responses received from  
"active fans", we were led to believe someone should be paid big bucks 
to conduct "music tests" in auditoriums or focus groups.

I like the positive reference to active fans who "lead the general 
market rather than simply following."  Perhaps one of the problems 
plaguing radio today is there's too much input from people who follow 
the crowd rather than lead it!  A lot of research is to find out what 
people who don't know a lot about music like, and then implementing 
that.  Meanwhile the crowd may have already moved on to the next set of 
simple tunes and rhythmic hooks, and radio music gets dumber as the 
experts and musically hip are excluded.  Would alternatives to 
traditional radio have been so successful if traditional radio had been 
more of a bellwether instead of just part of the flock?

I'll wager the great jazz radio djs we all respect and revere never did 
much market research outside of talking to listeners and musicians and 
hanging out in bars listening to live music.  This press release sounds 
like BA has re-discovered something... without hanging out and 
listening to music, but maybe that'll come later.

Jim Wilke
Jazz After Hours, PRI
www.jazzafterhours.org


On Thursday, May 29, 2008, at 09:33  PM, Ed Trefzger wrote:
>
> Below is a press release sent out on Thursday by BA. I'm interested as 
> to what you folks think of this:
>
>
> HEADLINE: Broadcast Architecture and Rate The Music roll out online 
> research for testing new smooth jazz music.
>
> Broadcast Architecture® announces today the launch of their newest 
> innovation in music research for the Smooth Jazz radio format, APMM™, 
> the Active Personal Mix-Master™ online music test. In conjunction with 
> Rate The Music® / Mediabase®, BA rolls out the first ever weekly 
> tracking on new smooth jazz music.
>
> BA President Allen Kepler states; “Smooth Jazz, one of the few adult 
> radio formats to play a significant percentage of new music, has 
> really been flying blind when it comes to the new songs we play for 
> the entire 20+ year history of the format. Typically, we do not see 
> solid feedback from listeners until we come through the market to 
> conduct semi-annual music tests. Our new partnership will combine 
> local feedback with a national panel of active smooth jazz fans, 
> giving us a perspective on new songs directly derived from active 
> listeners.”
>
> Kepler continues: “The active fans of smooth jazz radio are really the 
> trend setters for the format and thus who we want to hear from in 
> regard to new music. Other formats utilize expensive ‘callout’ 
> research, which includes active panels of listeners that are recruited 
> by local or national firms. This system of research was developed by 
> Rich Meyer and Mediabase® several years ago and our enhancements to 
> their scoring scale, respondent selection and data interpretation will 
> mold their extremely well regarded product to perfectly fit the needs 
> of our smooth jazz partners.”
>
> Meyer shared; “We have conducted parallel studies with Mediabase® / 
> Rate The Music® data and standard call-out feedback. Typically, we see 
> little difference except that our participants who ‘opt in’ tend to be 
> more connected with the music and sometimes more deeply opinionated 
> when it comes to brand new songs and/or songs that might be showing 
> signs of burn. The research leads the general market rather than 
> simply following.”
>
> The APMM™ is set up to replicate the standard scores depicted in BA’s 
> well-known ‘dial’ technology and methodology developed for auditorium 
> testing 20 years ago and includes enhancements recently released in 
> BA’s new online PMM™ - Personal Mix-Master™ online music testing.
>
> The new APMM™ is available through a barter program developed by 
> Broadcast Architecture® and Mediabase®. The company is set to begin 
> waves of research in June of this year and several smooth jazz radio 
> stations are already on board.
>
> Broadcast Architecture®, creator of the Smooth Jazz Network® is the 
> world’s leading smooth jazz research, consulting and syndication firm 
> working with smooth jazz radio stations in over 35 markets across 
> North America. Allen Kepler can be reached for comment and information 
> at 818.461.8016.
>
>