Radio Vs. Internet: Interview with Jeffry-Wynne Prince
SacTV.com "Video of the Day" review by
Alex Cosper on April 21, 2012
Is radio still viable after nearly 100 years, or is it becoming a dinosaur that doesn't mix with the
modern world? Industry statistics continue to tout that 90-93% of the U.S. population (ages 12 and older)
still listen to radio, but it's mostly in the car during drive times. Then when people get home
they turn to other platforms for music. This discussion with recording engineer/musician Jeffry Wynne-Prince
examines both the pros and cons of radio as well as internet. Jeffry plays guitar for The Kimberly Trip,
an innovative storytelling do-it-yourself indie band fronted by his wife Kim. The band just released
a new single called "Drama @ the Coffeeshop."
His perspective is interesting because the band has made a living without radio airplay,
relying on shows and the internet. To date the band has enjoyed over 100,000 downloads of their music.
Radio vs internet? As a guy who worked in radio over 20 years, you'd probably think I were a biased
defender of radio, but that's not the case. I find that corpoate radio has become dull programming sponsored by corporations
that deliver harmful products to society from soft drinks to junk food to auto dealer rip-off artists.
Jeffry has a more balanced view, citing that he still listens to radio but
many times he can't find anything listenable on over 30 presets. We both agree that radio is not the same
as its golden age before new laws changed the face and sound of radio starting in 1996, in which regionalism
was wiped out by nationalism. Corporations, which are useful for infrastucture and computer companies,
have proven to be weaker than the overall market when it comes to radio, probably because it had become
driven by greed instead of serving the community like it was supposed to do. Overall, the industry's finances are stagnant.
While radio still represents high repetition of a short list of hits that are generally not as popular
as music from earlier decades, the internet offers a wider spectrum of consumer choice but hasn't quite developed a filtering
system for finding the best online music, although sites like Reverbnation and Playlist Research
(my other site) are moving in that direction. Radio still sells a lot of music, but clearly not to the
degree of earlier decades. What is the future for multi-million dollar radio stations vs. thirty dollar websites?
It's still unclear, although we do know the radio biz is declining in influence while the internet is rapidly growing.
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