Beyond Radio: New Music Assistant

BEYOND RADIO TIM: Your Personal Music Assistant 


THE BASICS

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHX6MeIjYo4


[video] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHX6MeIjYo4[/video]


THE HISTORY

For those who know me, the pursuit of new music has been a constant goal of mine and I am a certified music chart geek. I’ve created my own personal weekly music chart since I was 13 and have turned that passion into a yearly music party weekend, with the 33rd edition just completed, along with my website Beyond Radio.  With both pursuits I hope that I have achieved a level of giving back to my family, friends and followers, helping them to discover music they may have never known.

Beyond Radio was started in 1995 and produces music charts (similar in style to Billboard Magazine) based on the “personal music charts” created by music fans from around the world. The site boasts over 30 charts for different genres, focusing on multiple levels of information. The main genre charts show the biggest impact songs in each category, “Untapped Resources” track the songs with little or no radio exposure and the trending charts show the songs with the biggest upward movement. There are also hybrid charts like Rhythmic and Heartland that are based on panels of personal charters whose charts span multiple genres. One of my favorites, that I believe is one of its kind, is the Heritage chart that tracks current songs by long established artists.

Back in the late 90’s when the internet boom was in full swing I had the intention to turn Beyond Radio into a career. I have been in the restaurant/food service business my entire working life and back then there was flexibility with time so that I could spend countless hours on this work. I became friends with a DJ from South Africa through instant messaging and we met in London to work on a plan. He came to the States and we made some rounds in NYC and other places but to no avail. My take away at the time was that the “niche” of personal charting was too small to generate traction.

In the subsequent years I took on a bigger, managerial role in the restaurant industry, cutting my time substantially, in the pursuit of my “hobby”. I never fully gave it up but had to post much less frequently and sometimes go on hiatus for extended periods (I’m a gardener so I focused the summer season on that endeavor). I never gave up the idea of this becoming my career but did not have a clear creative path to reach that goal.

The restaurant path has not been a bad one but I definitely have come to a point of burn out. Not because of the clients I worked with and certainly not because of the employees I worked side by side with, either at my level or those whom I supervised. I believe they would all say I brought a calm demeanor, a mutual respect & a good sense of humor to my work. I believe respect works both ways and I created a sense of loyalty with my employees and clients. They would say “Thank You for making this so easy” and “Thank You for getting back to me so quickly”. And in my tenure as an event manager I had a proven growth record. Yet there was always something lacking

Fast forward to 2016. A recent layoff had me re-assess my priorities and not let an opportunity pass me by. I relatively quickly was offered an event sales job at one of the most prestigious restaurant companies in Boston and I decided to turn it down. I just saw the same pattern being repeated in my life. I had already been given the chance to learn the lesson numerous times although I know there were reasons that it was this time I decided to listen. You meet people along the way that become a part of the journey and hopefully will be pivotal in the moving forward or at the very least have enriched your life in special ways.

What I learned with the help of my friend Karen, one of those co-workers, is that I should be the one guiding the ship, and that my approach to life is infectious. I have the ability to touch lives and nurture relationships. She calls me SUNSHINE. I’d let her and others expound on that.

 


THE VISION

The internet has changed much in the last 20 years. Niches are common and information flows freely and quickly. In the bigger picture of the music universe the personal chart community is a small fraction, but their influence could be quite large. Because of their passion for current music, the community can act as tipsters and trendsetters for the larger music consumer universe. Important factors that make a distinction between 1999 (RIP Prince) and 2016 is the rise of YouTube and streaming services, where now music from all over the globe is at our fingertips. While Beyond Radio is a music chart website, its core product is information that can be valuable to the general public. WHAT KEPT ME FROM SEEING THAT LONG AGO? That’s inconsequential, sometimes things happen when they are supposed to.

I believe there is an underserved market out there that may or may not know they have a thirst for new music. It’s the adult market. In doing my music party for 33 years my friends and family have shown me they still appreciate new music. The fact is that as we get into our careers, families and other pursuits, things like staying up to date with music can fall lower on the priority list. People these days are time crunched beyond belief. Or maybe we just get stuck in the nostalgia of our youth.

Whatever the reason, the key to reaching this market is to make it easy and affordable.  What would be easier than your music obsessed friend (ME) providing you with information every week on what music you should check out?  You tell me the type of music you like and I provide a short, not overwhelming, list of songs to discover. And how would a cost of around 40 cents a week work for affordable? And what if some of the money was funneled into a worthy cause, in this case fibromyalgia research? My Mom suffered for 25 years before they called it anything and along with Rheumatoid arthritis, it wreaked havoc on her body.

Beyond Radio will use the resources of the weekly personal chart data to target songs not yet impacting at a radio level or perhaps never will. Though adults are the primary target market there will certainly be a trickle down affect on all ages of music fans. The goal is not necessarily to create the next radio hit but to more act as a parallel universe to radio.

Now there are other ways for you to discover new music. The algorithms of Pandora and Spotify attempt and succeed at doing this. An important distinction is that there are real people, passionately sharing their music tastes on Beyond Radio and another real person (ME again) analyzing that data, listening to that music and making it easy and affordable for you to once again be on the cutting edge of the music universe with very little effort. And what if, as my friend Selene suggested, it could help create a conversation with your children, about the music they are listening to? And what if, as my friend Madysen said, I could help you discover music from the past (she’s a 24 year old who likes classic rock) or re-discover songs from your past or old songs from that era that are “new to you”?

I have had a small focus group with which I have been sharing music picks weekly in the lead up to the monetization of Beyond Radio. Here is a sample list that is sent by email and posted on the website.

BEYOND RADIO AC picks July 8, 2016

 
BRIGHT LIGHT BRIGHT LIGHT f/ ELTON JOHN       All In The Name

Welsh born dance/electronic artist Rod Thomas. He has been releasing singles since 2006. The name comes from a quote from Gizmo in Gremlins (one of my favorite movies). He toured with Elton John in 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inoNKupmGl4

Symmetry Of Two Hearts

This song was just released today. Also supposedly featuring Elton John but not prominently.

https://open.spotify.com/track/6cH7wvMMXrh7EkijgS0JiI


 

 

CHANTAL KREVIAZUK    All I Got

Canadian singer-songwriter who had her first top 10 in Canada in 1996. Her style was similar to Sarah MacLachlan and she had 8 top 40 singles in Canada between 1996 and 2000.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCK6umbjGW8

In This Life

She had 2 adult pop top 20 singles in the  U.S. This from 2002 and “Surrounded” in 1997.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne_2SN4gGjQ

 

 

JOSH KELLEY       It's Your Move

Josh had 2 top 10 Adult pop songs in 2003/2004. Since 2010 he has dabbled in country and had a #17 hit with “Georgia Clay”. This song returns to his original sound, a nice pop ballad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcfX7RrgV6s

 

CHARLES KELLEY               Dancing Around It

Josh’s brother is one third of the country group Lady Antebellum and recently released a solo cd, The Driver. This has a breezy 70’s pop vibe with a guitar riff that is reminiscent but I can’t place it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xho9JZrldmQ

PARACHUTE       Kiss Me Slowly

I love what I learn in doing research. Kelley co-wrote this song with Dave Haywood of Lady Antebellum and the lead singer of Parachute, Will Anderson. It peaked at  #12 on my personal chart in 2012 and ended up as my #69 song of the year. It’s one of those songs that grew on me slowly, no pun intended.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXqYw_II6Pc


 

SWITCHFOOT     Live It Well

One of my favorite bands of the last decade. I believe in synchronicity and the power of coincidence. Their latest cd, Where The Light Shines Through, was released today. I did not know that. Also didn’t know that Bright Light Bright Light was releasing a song today, nor did I realize I had picked songs from the Kelley brothers for this list (I had Josh’s song slated over a week ago and decided on Charles’ this morning). There is also meaning to the cd title that I won’t get into here. The power of music fuels my life and the title of this song now has incredible meaning to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov_lnXy7tkQ



THE ASK

Now this is not a traditional GoFundMe plea for money. True I need money to upgrade the website, market and promote it and to keep me fluid during this initial phase but this is not a situation where money is being given for a carrot being dangled somewhere in the future or for something with no guarantee of a tangible result. There is an immediate return on investment, that being the information I will provide you on a weekly basis in order to help you create the soundtrack of your life.

The value of having your own personal music assistant, how much is that worth? You can be a part of this movement for as little as $20. That will give you a discounted subscription for the year that lets you choose 2 genres. Of course any amount of money is appreciated and you’ll get music picks for a period of time. In a year you’ll have the ability to discover over 250 new songs sent dirently to you, that may have never come across your radar, putting you at the head of the pack in your corner of the universe.

The concept here is about creating a grass roots movement that benefits the consumer while also hopefully aiding and empowering smaller artists to reach a larger audience. Different from Soundcloud, BandCamp and other sites that provide a platform for artist’s music to be shared, Beyond Radio will strive to reach an audience that does not frequent those types of sites or perhaps any music sites for that matter.  The music in the above video is from my favorite independent band, Manic Bloom. Hailing from Nashville they have put out three cd’s since 2008 and have a radio ready sound that is ripe to reach a larger audience. Many of my friends have become fans. As things progress, I believe feedback from this audience will lead to an evolution of Beyond Radio that will make it as important in the music industry as Casey Kasem and American Top 40 were 40 years ago.

One of the beautiful things about the basic concept here is that it is completely scalable. Whether there are 1,000 subscribers, 10,000 or 10 million the information being filtered is the same. Thus overhead can be kept to a minimum. That means this can grow at a pace that does not put the cart before the horse.

One way to reach people at that grass roots level is to have new music nights at people’s homes or at local bars. If you want to invite a small group of friends over I can provide the playlist and either be there live or via Skype or FaceTime in order to get the conversation going on the music and get people excited about the movement. I can tell you that my friend Cristina told me once I started sending out the music picks she has fallen in love with music, something she didn’t have before. The power of music is undeniable.

Now of course some of you may not need or want the information but still would be willing to help fund this initial phase. My sincerest thanks if you are one of those and if I can return the favor I am happy to do it when needed. Also there may be some of you are willing to give more or some of you that see the bigger picture and want to invest in a concept whose time is now. Wherever you are on the spectrum, I hope you’ll join me in this adventure of new music discovery.