The Pressure of a Radio Single

Over the past few years, fans of music have seen artists take charge of the release of their music.  Beyoncé started the trend selling over 800,000 copies in three days with her unexpected album and many artists followed suit.  The old album campaign is slowly fading away, although it is not completely dead.  Usually when artists are about to release an album, huge promotional tactics are used, one usually being a single for the radio.  Now artist are doing it the other way around, putting out music and letting the fans decide the hit records.  It has shown to be very effective and has produced quality music.  I recently came across an article,  “Are We Witnessing the Decaying Relevance of the Radio Single?” that inspired this post.  In the article, it highlighted J. Cole and Lupe Fiasco and discussed how they struggled making a radio single.  Both artists were pressured by their labels to put out a catchy song for the radio.  J. Cole was quoted saying that in attempt to make a radio hit “I was making some of the worst uninspired music of my life.” Lupe Fiasco felt the same struggle, the President of Atlantic insisted that he make a pop song or no album would be released.  J. Cole’s last album 2014 Forest Hills Drive had no features or radio singles and went platinum. 

We are living in a time where radio singles should not be mandatory to release an album.  It takes away from the creativity and it takes away from the fan enjoying good music.  Instead of being fed watered down music chosen by the labels, why not allow the fans to choose? As a fan of music, I have noticed that the music that last always has a message.  Not saying catchy “radio songs” are not an effective way to market, but at what expense is it to the artists’ craft.  This same issue affected Prince in the early 90’s.  He felt that he did not have creative control and it caused his work to be sub-par due to him being forced to make certain songs.  Most fans gravitate to artist because they are authentic and feel that they can relate.  The “radio songs” are only usually successful for party or for feel good moments, but why should the radio portray that small portion of life all the time?  We are seeing a shift in the music industry.  Artists are now becoming business people.  It is necessary, and this is why we see the record companies looking into other avenues to generate revenue. 

Below is a promotional tactic used by Jay-Z for his album Magna Carta Holy Grail.  He released the commercial during the NBA Finals with no prior singles.  Jay-Z struck a deal with Samsung and sold 1 million records when the album released. 

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