TY - BOOK ID - 77888770 TI - Climbing the Charts PY - 2012 SN - 1280493984 9786613589217 1400842441 9781400842445 9780691148731 0691148732 9780691166711 PB - Princeton, NJ DB - UniCat KW - Popular music KW - Radio and music. KW - Music and radio KW - Music KW - Music, Popular KW - Music, Popular (Songs, etc.) KW - Pop music KW - Popular songs KW - Popular vocal music KW - Songs, Popular KW - Vocal music, Popular KW - Cover versions KW - History and criticism. KW - Social aspects. KW - Popular music. KW - Sound recording industry. KW - Music trade. KW - Radio broadcasting. KW - Diffusion of innovations. KW - Innovations, Diffusion of KW - Acculturation KW - Communication KW - Culture diffusion KW - Technological innovations KW - Radio KW - Radio industry and trade KW - Broadcasting KW - Mass media KW - Music business KW - Music industry KW - Cultural industries KW - Audio recording industry KW - Popular music record industry KW - Record companies KW - Record industry KW - Record music industry KW - Recorded music industry KW - Recording industry KW - Music trade UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:77888770 AB - Despite the growth of digital media, traditional FM radio airplay still remains the essential way for musicians to achieve commercial success. Climbing the Charts examines how songs rise, or fail to rise, up the radio airplay charts. Looking at the relationships between record labels, tastemakers, and the public, Gabriel Rossman develops a clear picture of the roles of key players and the gatekeeping mechanisms in the commercial music industry. Along the way, he explores its massive inequalities, debunks many popular misconceptions about radio stations' abilities to dictate hits, and shows how a song diffuses throughout the nation to become a massive success. Contrary to the common belief that Clear Channel sees every sparrow that falls, Rossman demonstrates that corporate radio chains neither micromanage the routine decision of when to start playing a new single nor make top-down decisions to blacklist such politically inconvenient artists as the Dixie Chicks. Neither do stations imitate either ordinary peers or the so-called kingmaker radio stations who are wrongly believed to be able to make or break a single. Instead, Rossman shows that hits spread rapidly across radio because they clearly conform to an identifiable style or genre. Radio stations respond to these songs, and major labels put their money behind them through extensive marketing and promotion efforts, including the illegal yet time-honored practice of payoffs known within the industry as payola. Climbing the Charts provides a fresh take on the music industry and a model for understanding the diffusion of innovation. ER -