Will the Record Industry Make Nice With The Internet?

Apparently, mean girls finish first. The Dixie Chicks were the big winners of the evening last night, taking home five 2007 Grammy awards, including Album of the Year for Taking the Long Way and Song of the Year for “Not Ready to Make Nice”. The Chicks have been attacked by nationwide radio-station boycotts and a considerable drop in concert attendance in the United States in recent years, as fans and radio djs responded to a comment made by lead singer Natalie Maines in 2003 in regards to President Bush and his stance in Iraq. Check out the trailer for the documentary Shut Up And Sing, which followed the Chicks in the heat of their scandal and gives a overview of the story.

Not willing to censor her opinions, Maines and the Chicks stuck by their opinion and suffered financially as many of their more traditional fans were offended by her comments. However, the Chicks didn’t care, and told their fans as such through their unapologetic single, released on March 16 of 2006 in advance of their album. The chorus:

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go 'round and 'round and 'round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

Many radio stations still refused to play the single and promote the new album. However, “due to digital sales the single hit the Billboard Hot 100 at number 28, the week's highest new entry for the week ending May 6, 2006.” (wikipedia.com) Without the single being readily available on radio stations, consumers were clearly turning to alternative methods of discovering and enjoying new music—the internet and online music downloading stores.

Even despite the positive single debut on the charts, many stations still refused to play the song, but their latest album Taking the Long Way debuted at number one on the U.S. pop and country albums chart and went gold within the first week after the May 23 release.

And now the Chicks have won five Grammy’s, earning a hat trick with the Academy, taking home the award for the song, record, and album of the year. By looking at radio airplay, apparently the academies behind the making of radio playlists aren’t on par with the academy who determines who should win awards.

I’ve learned in my Public Relations classes that any publicity is good publicity, so I will agree that the gossip surrounding the Dixie Chicks did promote their new album, albeit in a scandalous light. But the fact that the single was clearly lacking in radio promotion (which is supposed to be the number one music promotional tool) begs the question as to the importance of radio today as the number one tool to promote a new song. Listeners didn’t have easy access to the song via traditional methods, so they turned to the internet and digital downloading in order to listen to the tune.

It seems as if the Academy has decided that what the Chicks said about the war four years ago is actually starting to make some sense, and if low Presidential approval ratings are any evidence, the country is starting to agree with the Chicks too. Although it took us some time, its still reassuring that after a while people are willing to evolve and change their opinions in response to a changing world.

Now if only the record industry officials were willing to embrace a changing music industry and evolving technology like Americans and the Academy have embraced dissenting opinions and changing national sentiments. The radio industry needs to change its traditional ways and viewpoints and give the consumers what they want in order to survive. I assure you ultimately it will benefit them in the end if they are willing to be open minded to change as an industry. When will they will be ready to make nice with growing technology and less traditional viewpoints?