Landing a track on the prestigious BBC Radio 1 playlist is a major milestone in any artist’s career: a milestone that, for many aspiring musicians, seems unattainable and out of reach. In an attempt to demystify the process, Point Blank Music School‘s Sarah Glayzer recently sat down to chat with Karla Marie Sweet, Assistant Producer at Radio 1. And surprisingly enough, there is a method to the madness. Keep reading to find out just how a track makes it onto the acclaimed Radio 1 playlist, straight from the source.
“It’s an incredibly democratic, transparent process and we are keen for everyone to know exactly how it works”, said Sweet. In fact the decision as to whether a track is go or no lies mostly in the hands of a 12-person playlist committee whose members, all of whom are aged 20–30, meet every week in a conference room at Radio 1’s Broadcasting House. All of the committee members have a broad knowledge of music and particular expertise in a specific genre. And all wear sneakers. And jeans.
Each week the committee decides which of the current playlisted tracks to keep and which new tracks to add. 40 records are chosen each week for repeated daytime play after which they are placed on one of three lists. A-listed records are played 25 times a week, B-list 15 times, whilst C-listed records get between 8 and 10 plays a week. Guiding the committee is Radio 1?s Music Policy Executive (a position vacated last in June after 9 years in the role by Nigel Harding,) but the ultimate decision rests with Radio 1’s Head of Music, George Ergatoudis.
Monki, now with her very own weekly BBC Radio 1 show, previously studied Point Blank’s Radio Course.
When a new track is being considered, it is played to the playlist committee after which the group reviews the artist’s YouTube views, SoundCloud hits, Shazam ratings, number of Twitter followers and Facebook likes. For reference, 12,000 Twitter followers is considered a low number. However, a modest online following can be overlooked if an artist has some impressive festival bookings or an eyebrow-raising accolade such as a nomination for a Kerrang Award.
In June of last year, George Ergatoudis defended the assertion that Radio 1’s playlist is basically data driven, by saying: “Of course we look at data, but it’s only a small part of our decision making process and we have downgraded the value of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook considerably over the last two years. We’re back to a position where gut instinct and passion dominate our decision making.“
“Stats can be used to compare one act to another, but I have to make it absolutely clear that the playlist team’s belief in an artist or song trumps everything. We are fully aware that social networking stats and YouTube views can be bought or manipulated, but frankly acts that resort to manipulating or buying stats are on very loose footings. They will get caught out. The only way to cut through and survive is to build a real fan base.”
Another influence on committee members besides an artist’s online presence is the never-ending stream of label representatives and pluggers, who are paid to push particular upcoming artists. On average each committee member will listen to pitches from approximately 30 separate plugging teams a week as well as going to gigs and listening to new music online.
Radio 1’s B. Traits, who visited Point Blank to speak exclusively to their Radio Production students about how she’s made it in the industry.
Big labels like Virgin and EMI have more access to the playlist committee simply because they have a bigger repertoire but small, independent labels can still call up and ask to meet with Radio 1. Other avenues by which tracks can make it onto the hallowed playlist are via BBC radio shows such as In New Music We Trust and BBC Introducing. And it’s worth remembering that the Radio 1 playlist is only in operation between certain hours. Scheduled DJs and producers are entirely in charge of the music they play.
Before a track is considered for the playlist, it has to be relevant to the younger market. Radio 1’s demographic is 15-29 year olds, although the average age of their listeners last year was in fact 32. But how do they know what people that age are into? They have a panel of thousands of young people aged 12-29 in an overall research group and they pay a research company to test 400 of them a week. Those 400 are played hooks from 25 current songs and are asked to tell the researchers which ones they relate to. Radio 1 DJs and producers also go to gigs and view the age of an artist’s audience.
Despite these avenues it’s clear that in today’s music industry the onus is on the artist to establish themselves using the many digital platforms freely available for this purpose. Artists and bands are expected to build a brand that the public can connect with through performing live and marketing themselves online. If interested in more industry tips, click here.
Connect with Point Blank:
www.pointblanklondon.com
www.facebook.com/pointblankcollege
www.twitter.com/point_blank
Share On
