hi otto
basically hot 97 is what makes or breaks tracks. so nothing is going to marketed distributed overseas by the record companies until it makes it on hot 97. hence the time lag. lest anybody should get the wrong impression--hot 97 bascially plays the most commercial pap imaginable (think endless slow jams for the 'ladies') interspersed with equal time given to ads. they used to have frankie knuckles spining from 2-4 on saturday nights. i have a pile of great tapes. but that was a few years back now. let me take the chance to say radio sucks in new york. james =============================== Otto Koppius <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on 02/10/2000 03:45:22 PM (trust me, it will make sense below (well, hopefully anyway)) Andrew Duke wrote: > [Bobby] Konders has always been a big fan/proponent > of roots and culture. He has a show dedicated to it on Hot97, the main hiphop/r&b radio station in New York City, on Sunday afternoon. Also, I seem to remember that around lunch time on weekdays they have a 'classics' show with lots of great old electro, but I'm not sure whether that was Hot97 or another station. Anyway, about Hot97: I was in NYC from July-September last year and listened to it quite a bit. One thing that struck me in the last one/two months or so, is the number of hiphop and r&b tunes that are new in the charts or on the radio here in the Netherlands (and I presume in most of Europe) that were in heavy rotation on Hot97 three to six *months* earlier. Some examples, some slighty more recent than others: Donell Jones - "U know what's up" (v. good r&b tune, btw) Montell Jordan - "Get it on tonite" (ditto) ODB - "Baby I got your money" 702 - "You don't know" (313 relevance courtesy of TP: Mark Kinchen produced this) Kelis - "Caught out there" aka 'I hate you so much right now' This several-month-lag between the US and Europe surprises me. With house and techno, if a track is not just on promo/white anymore and is out officially, it's *out*. Worldwide. There may be a delay of a few weeks, but certainly not months. Why this difference? I can think of a few (partial) explanations: - Hiphop and r&b are much more controlled by major labels. They probably have a marketing strategy in which this lag is purposefully built in. The rationale for it is unclear to me though. - House and techno rely much more on grassroots marketing through word-of-mouth, reviews on mailing lists like these and others. Word travels fast (especially in an IT-savvy community like this one), so this creates instant demand for a track. Hence stores everywhere ordering it. - Word travels fast, but so do DJs (got any more travel stories Alan? :) Get a hot track in the right hands and within a few weeks it will have enough frequent flyer miles to forget which timezone it is in... Again instant near-global demand. Any thoughts? Otto
