power to the people
you did it! you voted me first place
The Q102 I Love Cincinnati Choice Award
for best singer of a local band. hurray!
presently 31,019 votes. the competition is supposed to be over but it’s still taking votes for some reason. thank you so much. i know you guys work your butts off supporting me and it means the world. i truly am not worthy. i am just a dude with some songs. the poll probably should have been “who has the most dedicated fans”. this is a really neat thing. i wish there was a way i could repay you. hey if you are ever in a poll or running for local election, let me know. i will campaign for you. i will design your campaign materials, and distribute them door to door. i’ll make your website. i’ll even make a jingle of your campaign slogan.
i also want to say hello to a most formidable opponent Oval Opus (who came in a close 2nd in the poll). great guys and a great band who we have known for years. we are trying to get together for a show with them at the end of january.
so i think i will be doing a phone interview with the radio station on-air monday morning sometime. in the cincinnati area that’s 101.9FM, WKRQ. Q102 is the biggest pop station in cincinnati. they were supportive of us as july for kings when we were with MCA Records, spinning “normal life” a few times, and we did a couple events for them. now it would be really great if we could get a station like that (or a few stations like that) to support a song from a record that was an independent release…but one day at a time.
as i understand it, radio (and media in general) is very much about selling advertising. and the best way to sell ads at a higher price is to play music that people want to listen to. so maybe something like this sends a message that we have passionate listeners out there in their market. listeners that may listen even more if they were spinning us… more listeners = more advertising revenue = radio play for me = everybody wins!
hey it seems simple to me, but it is of course tricker than that. otherwise there would be local bands on corporate radio stations already and we know that is pretty rare. i think we have at least a few songs that would do very well at top 40 if they were given a chance but i guess we’ll see. but by just doing a poll like this, the station has invigorated a base of people excited about local music and that is a great thing for everybody.
we now know, that if we need you guys to vote the crap out of something, or bombard someone with calls or demands, we can do it. that is real power in a free society. especially in today’s market where thanks to the leveling power of the internet, music listeners increasingly really do determine the music they listen to, rather than being content to consume whatever comes down the pipe. in 2 seconds you can hop on myspace and listen to whatever song you want, wherever you want. instead of waiting for somebody at a radio staiton to guess (incorrectly half the time) what you will like and what you will want to listen to at that moment.
so as consumers become addicted to their ipods and sirius radio and the internet and move away from traditional radio, i actually do think media would be smart to have increased local content. and that’s not just because i’m a “local” musician– what is the one thing that your local media can provide that national media can’t? well duh! local content!
anyway. my rant/opinion for the night
but i started this just to say THANKS!
monday morning when i do the interview i’ll be in new york my with friend and music video director Eric. we are going to shoot the last scene for our video in times sqare. i love new york, everything about it so i’m really looking forward to the trip. eric wants me to keep a tight lid on the content and our plans for it until it’s all done so i’m not going to say anymore. but it’s killing me. just so you know.
i’ll take some pictures in nyc. i’ll be back wednesday for the coopers show, then enjoy thanksgiving with my family.
then saturday i’ll be doing an acoustic set in columbus opening for a friend’s band The Brave Youngster.
thanks again guys!
you rock my casbah




