How Country Radio Handles This ‘Problem’

When Warner Music Nashville launched Cody Johnson‘s collaboration with Carrie Underwood, excited programmers took observe, giving the ballad sufficient first-week spins that it debuted at No. 21 on the Country Airplay chart dated Oct. 12.

Parmalee took observe, too, however the band was far much less enthusiastic. Guitarist Josh McSwain texted lead singer Matt Thomas about what appeared a possible risk. Johnson’s single, “I’m Gonna Love You,” had virtually precisely the identical title and lyrical hook as “Gonna Love You,” a Parmalee ballad that had reached the highest 10 on that very same chart, simply 11 slots forward of Johnson and Underwood. Thomas was mildly careworn about it till he was in a position to give it a pay attention.

“I think I would have been a lot more concerned if we weren’t moving up in the top 10 and the song’s researching and doing well,” Thomas says. “If we’d have heard it was coming out right before ours dropped, then it’d be like, ‘Shit.’”

There’s no authorized concern at play — songwriters dwell by the final rule that titles can’t be copyrighted — however the programming ramifications are important. Country broadcasters make an effort to maintain the sound of their stations altering, whereas staying throughout the perceived boundaries of the format. Playing the identical title back-to-back is the other of selection. Programmers have periodically confronted the problem for years, although many outdoors of radio could not have contemplated it earlier than.

One harsh situation from 1982 illustrates the potential penalties. The music scheduling software program at WKHK New York inserted a Dolly Parton & Willie Nelson duet, “Everything’s Beautiful (In Its Own Way),” subsequent to Ray Stevens‘ “Everything Is Beautiful.” The programmer eyed the comparable titles and ran a line through Stevens’ single, costing it a spin.

“That is heartbreaking right there,” Thomas says.

That situation is a bit totally different, although, than Parmalee’s scenario. The Parton/Nelson single was present in ’82, whereas Stevens’ document was 12 years outdated. A gold title dropping a single spin wouldn’t harm anybody’s chart place and was unlikely to make a lot distinction in Stevens’ royalties as a songwriter. In truth, programmers typically make an effort to maintain their present singles’ spins at their assigned rotation, even when similarities in particular person singles create separation hurdles.

“A great example, maybe more so than title separation, is artist separation,” WWWF Farmingdale, N.Y., PD Patrick Shea says. “When you’ve got 14 Morgan Wallen songs and 14 Post Malone songs, how do you make them work? You don’t want to lose spins, because they’re all good and they’re all researching really well, so you juggle to the very best of your ability to make sure that those songs are all getting heard.”

The concern arises extra typically than one may count on. Jelly Roll‘s”I Am Not Okay” is sharing space on many current playlists with Megan Moroney‘s “Am I Okay?” Meanwhile, Johnson’s “Dirt Cheap” and Justin Moore‘s “This Is My Dirt,” two songs with plots and sentiments that have been much more comparable than their titles, rose via the chart on the similar time. KUZZ Bakersfield, Calif., had each of these titles among the many seven singles that have been concurrently in heavy rotation. 

“If those are the two of the seven best songs we can play,” KUZZ PD Brent Michaels says, “we’re going to do it, even though thematically — and even sonically, a little bit — they’re sort of the same.”

Labels take note of these sorts of particulars, significantly if the titles emerge from the identical agency. Triple Tigers issued a Jordan Fletcher focus observe, “Fall in the Summer,” to digital service suppliers in July, simply two months after releasing Scotty McCreery‘s “Fall of Summer” to radio. Executives thought-about the issue, then shrugged it off.

“How many times has the song ‘Gone’ been written by how many different artists?” Fletcher asks rhetorically. “Or ‘Wasted Time?’ Or, you know, ‘Love Me Tomorrow’? How many times have those names been rewritten and connected with different people in different ways, and nobody gave it a second thought?”

Likewise, Warner Music Nashville launched Tyler Braden‘s “Devil You Know” while it was already working Ashley McBryde‘s “Devil I Know” earlier this year. It wasn’t the unique sport plan — consumption spurred WMN to ship Braden’s “Devil” to radio — however programming companions didn’t protest the transfer.

“If I’m being honest, that shocked me,” Team WMN vp of radio Anna Cage says. “I myself thought that there might be an issue there. But at the end of the day, they’re two completely different songs. Obviously, one’s a female vocal, one’s a male vocal, even though they have the same anecdotal ‘Devil You Know,”Devil I Know.’”

It may create some branding points, she permits, if shoppers seek for the tune by title on-line and don’t know the artist’s identify. It’s not a priority with Braden and McBryde.

“It wouldn’t take long for them to realize, ‘This isn’t the one I was looking for,’ ” she says.

Programmers are ready to manually create separation if the titles seem in the identical window. Shea would need them in separate quarter-hours, although with the 2 “Gonna Love You” singles, their tempo already solves that downside: His rotations solely permit one ballad per 15-minute sweep. Michaels has even much less of a problem — each songs are among the many 11 titles KUZZ has in medium rotation, and so they play so as. One is slotted at No. 1 in that tier, whereas the opposite is entered at No. 6; they routinely seem about 4 hours aside.

“Right away, we tried to separate those,” Michaels says, “so they didn’t come up too close to one another.”

So although these repetitive titles get seen on Music Row and in station music conferences, they is probably not the impediment one may count on.

“I don’t think it’s a radio programming problem,” Shea says. “I think it’s a radio nerd problem because I don’t think your average listener is going to notice anything at all.”

Still, one music nerd understood the conundrum in a heartbeat. Asked about “I’m Gonna Love You” mirroring the Parmalee title, Johnson was instantly sympathetic.

“That was not intentional,” he says. “If you know those guys, tell ’em, ‘My bad.’”

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