Airplay

In radio broadcasting, airplay is how frequently a song is being played on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay.[1][2] Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in nightclubs and at discotheques between the 1940s and 1960s would also have airplay.

This article is about the radio term. For the Apple software, see AirPlay. For other uses, see Airplay (disambiguation).
A radio DJ playing music

Background

For commercial broadcasting, airplay is usually the result of being placed into rotation, also called adding it to the station's playlist by the music director, possibly as the result of a Pay for Play sponsored by the record label.[3][4] For student radio and other community radio or indie radio stations, it is often the selection by each disc jockey, usually at the suggestion of a music director.

Geography

Most countries have at least one radio airplay chart in existence, although larger countries such as Canada, the United States,[5] the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia,[1] Japan, and Brazil have several, to cover different genres and areas of the country.[6][7][8]

A song which was successful in the airplay charts but weak in sales was commonly known as a "turntable hit" when radio stations played only vinyl singles.[9] Airplay can be a crucial element in securing a singer's 'hit', and alongside social networking websites it is an effective method that artists use to make their name known.[5][10]

Aaliyah's "Try Again" (2000) was the first song ever to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 based solely on the strength of its radio airplay.[11]

Radio airplay is monitored through audio fingerprinting technology with the help of automatic content recognition service. World recognizable music airplay service providers are Radiomonitor, ACRCloud, BMAT, and Soundcharts.

References
  1. "Aussie acts buck airplay snub". news.com.au. April 21, 2008. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  2. Sharbutt, Jay (December 10, 1977). "Sunday's Billboard music awards: Records sales, airplay the key". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. p. TV9. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  3. Abbott, Jim (December 19, 1998). "Radio deal puts spin on airplay". Orlando Sentinel. p. C1. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  4. Leeds, Jeff (December 27, 2001). "Middlemen Put Price on Airplay". Los Angeles Times. p. C1. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  5. DeKnock, Jan (August 6, 1986). "Billboard's numbers game can make or break a record". Chicago Tribune. p. 3. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  6. "Sales and airplay decide what counts as a hit". USA Today. October 24, 1994. p. 4D. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  7. Barnes, Ken (January 3, 2002). "Country rules on the radio; There's not a Britney in this airplay bunch". USA Today. p. D1. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  8. Trevett, Claire (March 15, 2006). "New Zealand music achieves record level of local airplay". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  9. Posniak, Alan (October 2, 1968). "Badger Beat: Wisconsin Bands and Combos". The Milwaukee Journal. Retrieved February 26, 2010. Consequently, what we ended up with was a turntable hit (so called because it received lots of play on disk jockeys' record turntables).
  10. DeKnock, Jan (July 17, 1992). "The case of the airplay-poor hits". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  11. Ramirez, Erika (August 25, 2011). "Aaliyah's Top 10 Billboard Hits". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.