Being 36, I grew up listening to mostly 80’s new wave, old punk, early ska, and what is known as classic rock (i.e. Cars, Fleetwood Mac). Yes, I make more money now, but I have rent, car payments, insurance, and general socializing (I am single). Thus my music budget is smaller. When I go shopping for CD’s, I look in the used section first. Theoretically the music should be aimed at late teens to early 20’s, not the richest, but the most fleece-able.
But the absolute biggest music sellers tend to be Celine Dion or Kenny G (argh!!) Anyway, the most profitable target market should be the 20’s and 30 somethings who haven’t quite grown up. An older crowd may have more cash, but knows better how to spend it.
Being 36, I grew up listening to mostly 80’s new wave, old punk, early ska, and what is known as classic rock (i.e. Cars, Fleetwood Mac). Yes, I make more money now, but I have rent, car payments, insurance, and general socializing (I am single). Thus my music budget is smaller. When I go shopping for CD’s, I look in the used section first. Theoretically the music should be aimed at late teens to early 20’s, not the richest, but the most fleece-able.
But the absolute biggest music sellers tend to be Celine Dion or Kenny G (argh!!) Anyway, the most profitable target market should be the 20’s and 30 somethings who haven’t quite grown up. An older crowd may have more cash, but knows better how to spend it.
Here in Massachusetts there are some major changes going on in “Oldies” and “Classic Rock” stations:
“Oldies” stations, the ones that used to play basically Motown and early 60’s bubblegum pop, are starting to sound like “Classic Rock” stations. For instance, on 103.3 or 105.7 you can now hear the Doors, the Who, Zeppelin, etc.
2)“Classic Rock” stations are becoming, slowly but surely, more “Modern.” All three major Massachusetts (well, at least Eastern and Central Mass) “Classic Rock” stations now play REM pretty regularly, and just this summer I hear 98.9 play a “New Classic Concert”: Dave Matthews’ “Live at Red Rocks.” Now, I love the DMB, but he should NOT be played on a Classic Rock Station.
All this leads me to the conclusion that all the radio stations are moving forward 5-10 years in what they play. It must be because the Boomers, Classic Rock and Oldies’ core demographic, are getting older and slower and are therefore listening to Classical and Public Radio stations more and more. It’s just the evolution of the radio biz.
Classic Rock- 103.5 (the Fox)plays rock that is actually old (Beatles, Hendrix) and also newer stuff from old guys (U2, Stones)
99.5 (the Hawk)plays anything from the 70s and 80s, very little new stuff
Modern rock- 94.3 KILO out of Colo Springs plays almost anything with a guitar, new or old
93.3 KTCL plays more of the newer music, and 80s techno
Pop- 106.7 Alice plays mostly newer pop and 80s fluff, sometings going to classic disco
Classical-90.1 NPR
Undefinable- 97.3 KBCO plays anything they feel is good, they started out as rebel college radio
John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt. That’s my name too.
Wait, no it isn’t.
One thing I’ve learned, to my chagrin AND amusement, is that it’s a fine line between being too young to be of interest to advertisers, and being too old.
Different advertisers, obviously, have very different target audiences. If you fall into a desirable demographic, you’ll have LOTS of radio stations playing the music you like. If you’re in a demographic that’s NOT deemed desirable (either because you don’t have a lot of money to spend, or because you’re considered “set in your ways” and unresponsive to advertising), you’ll NEVER find a radio station that plays the music you like.
One of the demographic groups that appeals to a lot of advertisers is white males between 25-45. Those guys are old enough to make good incomes, and (in theory) young enough to be swayed to try something new. Thus, advertisers will gladly buy air time on a radio station with lots of twenty and thirty-something white male listeners.
What would be a “bad” demographic group to an advertiser? Well…
Blacks and Hispanics- s a group, they don’t have a lot of money.
The elderly. Old folks have a lot of money, so you’d THINK there’d be lots of radio stations playing Lawrence Welk or GLenn Miller, trying to appeal to them. But marketers assume that Grandpa is set in his ways, and won’t be swayed by advertising. The prevailing theory among advertisers is "Grandpa has been buying Buicks for 50 years, and if he ever buys another car, he’ll buy another Buick. Thus, it’s pointless to put Toyota commercials on “Murder She Wrote.” (For this very reason, the Lawrence Welk show was cancelled by CBS TV back in 1971, even though it was far and away the #1 show in America in the Nielsens!)
Blue-collar teenagers (I was one myself, 20 years back). These are the fans or heavy metal, punk and hard-core rap. Problem is, they have very little money to spend. The only advertisers who want to reach them are Clearasil, McDonald’s, Budweiser and Army Recruiting.
Now, “classic rock” stations have evolved a bit since they emerged in the late 70s. THey wouldn’t play Van Halen or the Scorpions in 1979, because their fans were too young to appeal to advertisers. But ten years later, those fans WERE old enough to be atractive to advertisers, so NOW you can hear “Jump” and “Rock You Like a Hurricane” around the clock on “classic rock” radio. Conversely, in 1979, “classic rock” stations played a lot of early BEatles. Today? They STILL play lots of Beatles, but only the LATER Beatles stuff. Why? Because a 16 year old who liked “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” in 1964 is now 51 year old. At 51, he’s considered TOO OLD by advertisers!
I’d LIKE to gloat, but I can’t, because it’s only a matter of time until I’M considered “too old” by advertisers!
– the Go-Gos had a 5 Top 20 hits, a number one album and a top ten album
– Blondie had several huge hits and albums
– The Cars weren’t as “synthy” as you think they were until the lateer part of the decade (“Just What I Needed,” “My Best Friend’s Girlfriend,” “Shake it Up” and most of their early hits are all known for their guitar riffs. Even “You Might Think” and “Magic,” from their last successful album, were guitar songs.)
– How about some of the other huge 80s acts: The Bangles? Rick Springfield? The Pretenders? Poison? Mötley Crüe? Bon Jovi? Van Halen? Were they “classic rock” or “synth rock”? Some of them may be classic rock NOW, but back then they were just good old AOR.
I just think you’re creating a false dichotomy, here. The general listening public prefers, well, these days it’s country and R&B, but in the 80s it was Top 40; and Top 40 was certainly not dominated by classic rock, nor, until the second half of the decade, was it dominated by “synth rock.”
“It’s my considered opinion you’re all a bunch of sissies!”–Paul’s Grandfather