The Industry

Sure Shots Round 6

You ready for another awesome round of Sure Shots? As always I’ve picked four new songs, shared my thoughts about them and of course made my predictions as to when I think they will be heard on the local airwaves. You can also click on the title of each track to hear it in full.

4. LMFAO ft. Lauren Bennett and Goonrock - Party Rock Anthem
     - I don’t want to say that this sounds like “classic” LMFAO, because in my books you have to be doing this for awhile before you can be classic anything. Regardless, this song will be pumped up and played in every club in the near future. Not my favorite track this week, but it’s getting rave reviews online, so who am I to judge.

Countdown to Air: 2-4 Weeks. I give this song a short window, because I believe it will be a track that will be massively overplayed and there is not an overly “unique” quality to this song which will make the audience get tired of it quickly.

3. Matt and Kim - Cameras
     - This song is fantastic. I really like the alt/pop genre. It has a catchy hook and great beat, but it also doesn’t rely on auto-tune. As I mentioned in the audio, they also have a wicked music video to this track, which you can see by clicking here. I want to hear this on alternative stations immediately!

Countdown to Air: I give this track 3-4 Weeks. Plain and simple I think it will continue to grow in success, it’s just a matter of when it would be best to add to rotation.

2. Jessie J ft. B.O.B. - Price Tag
     - I’m really happy that Jessie J decided to make a more radio-friendly track. Her first single “Do it Like a Dude”, even with the clean version was a little out there. However, if this track does well, it might revive “Do it Like a Dude”… might!

Countdown to Air: 3-4 Weeks. This is a fresh track, with a big name (B.O.B.) and radio stations would be silly not to play this upbeat and family friendly song.  

1. Two Door Cinema Club - What You Know
     - What I wouldn’t do to hear this song on the airwaves. It’s fun and I think it’s a fantastic example of alt/pop, just like Matt and Kim. It’s fun, catchy and has one-of-a-kind vocals that I can’t stop listening to. The trick with this one is to find out what station will end up playing it. Tricky. Is it more pop then alternative? I’ll leave that up for music directors to decide, but I do challenge you to add it, I think you will be surprised at the results. It’s been featured on MTV and MuchMusic and doing well. Think about it.

Countdown to Air: 4-5 Weeks. This one has a larger window, because they are a newer group and music directors are going to have to work a little harder to push this track to their programmer… I believe in you!

With that said, that wraps up this round of Sure Shots! For the next round, I want to know what songs you think are going to be big in the next couple weeks. I challenge you. Send me the song title, an mp3 (if you have one), and a little blurb as to why you think it will be big and in return I’ll promote your twitter or blog or something. You can send your submissions to share@theradioindustry.com

Have a great one and share this with your friends!

-Mitch

Sure Shots: Round 5

There’s a procedure to this post, as with all Sure Shots. First press play on the audio above this post and then come back and read this… seriously, click it. Did you click it? Alright, wasn’t it awesome?! So now that you know all of the songs and hopefully had a good head bob, you can read my predictions on how long it is going to be before we hear it on the radio. You can also click on the title of each song to hear the full track. 

4. Rock Mafia - The Big Bang
      - This song has a ton of potential. I like to think there are two branches of top 40 music. The first branch is your dance-pop. The songs like Rihanna and Lady Gaga that are crazy popular and played in clubs all over the world. Then you have the ballads. Also popular, but perhaps only played in public at grade seven dances to entice the genders to mix and do that awkward zombie dance… This is the latter, but also a great song. However, once it get’s on air, I don’t think it will last long, so enjoy.
Countdown to Air: 2-3 Weeks.  

3. Adele - Rolling in the Deep (Jamie XX Remix)
     - I want to meet Adele so bad. Her music is mind blowing. Every single stands on it’s own, but the great thing about her latest single is that it can be played on both lite A/C stations as well as Top 40, just by chosing to play a remixed version like this one. So stations, ya I’m talking to you, what are you waiting for? Seeing as how it was just released less then a week ago, I’ll give this a bit more time then normal, as they might choose to wait for the full album to be released.
Countdown to Air: 5-6 Weeks.

2. Natalia Kills - Mirrors
     - This is a short and sweet one. She embodies everything that is Top 40 right now. She’s got the looks, and a catchy hook. That’s all there is to it… oh and she is already doing massive tours with UK pop icon Robyn. This is an easy one.
Countdown to Air: 3-4 Weeks

1. Martin Solveig and Dragonette - Hello
     - This one is hard because it is a little too techno-esque to be traditionally played on a Top 40 station, however like I said in the audio I’m issuing a challenge to all radio stations. If you play this song, I will personally call you to tell you what a fantastic taste in music you have. That’s a great prize if I do say so myself. It’s almost to awesome…almost.
Countdown to Air: I would be surprised if it ends up on air so I’m going to say it will take 15-16 weeks, because by then we will all already have it on our iPods and be growing tired of it… Sorry Martin. 

YAY!

Remember to leave a comment with what songs you think are going to be a big hit, or just your favorite song on your iPod right now! Or send me other feedback about this post or others to feedback@theradioindustry.com

-Mitch

Sure Shots Round 4

Click play above to hear the Sure Shots in Countdown form. To hear the entire track click the title below.

4. Deadmau5 - Sofi Needs a Ladder

Countdown to Air: 2-3 Weeks.  This one is a little tricky. Yes it does have some catchy vocals and a really great beat, but is it to much techno? I think that the best outcome for this particular song will be used as transitions and fill-in for live on-air mixes. That way they can use just the hook without the 2 minute intro. 

3. Flo Rida ft. Akon - Who Dat Girl?

Countdown to Air: 2-3 Weeks. This song, although it sounds exactly the same as every other Flo Rida song out there, it will still get massive amounts of air play. It’s just a matter of when to bring it into rotation seeing as Flo Rida has the song “Club Can’t Handle Me” out right now and it is doing very well. 

2. Taio Cruz ft. Kylie Minogue - Higher

Countdown to Air: 4-5 Weeks. I would love to say that this track is going to be played right away but like I mentioned in the clip Taio is still near the top of the charts with his song “Dynamite”. Once that comes down, this one will be added for sure.

1. David Guetta ft. Rihanna - Who’s That Chick?

Countdown to Air: 3-4 Weeks. Of all the songs this round, I want this one to be played immediately the most. Although I would deem this a pretty “safe” song (meaning nothing unique about it), there will be some stations that will hold out, again, because Rihanna has “Only Girl in the World” out right now and it’s rare to have more then one single out at a time.

Make sure to leave me a comment in the section below about what you thought about the audio version of this round of Sure Shots and also what songs that you think are going to become number ones! 

-Mitch