Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” may be exactly that at the
moment, but what if top 40 had a crystal ball to predict which Dragons track
was next to breathe fire at the format?
For many PDs, reports Billboard, that crystal ball already
exists in the form of such research as SoundOut, HitPredictor, RateTheMusic and
Mscore. Some of that research predicts that Imagine Dragons’ “Demons”—which is
already a factor at alternative and adult top 40—has what it takes to
impact mainstream. “Demons” is already
playing on CBS Radio’s “Tomorrow’s Hits Today,” the Radio.com station based on
SoundOut’s research of music consumers.
CBS Radio VP of research and audience measurement Gary
Heller notes, “It wasn’t long ago when all radio had was callout, requests,
sales and gut to help determine a song’s potential.” How things have changed.
While using callout research to test music has been around
for half a century, the introduction of RateTheMusic nearly 10 years ago moved
the process online and keyed in on super-active database members in order to
get a read on songs well before what would normally be seen in callout, and
sometimes before release.
According to Mediabase/Clear Channel executive VP of
integrated music marketing worldwide Alyssa Pollack, who oversees the service
used by 200 stations, “RateTheMusic is usually four to six weeks ahead of the
curve. If PDs want to know what songs work with women 25-34 listening in
afternoon drive, we can get that deep.”
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