Finding the Rhythm

I still think it’s an issue of exposure

March 20, 2009 at 12:29 pm Leave a comment

When my friend Kevin, a former Sony Music exec, suggested that I sign-up for Bob Lefsetz‘ letter (an e-mail based blog, essentially), he told me that anyone who’s anybody in the music industry reads it. So, a few months ago, I did. And sometimes a couple of times a week, and sometimes a couple of times a day, I get an e-mail from Bob.

Lefsetz goes on about a lot of things music industry related. Sometimes it strikes me a bunch of hot air. Sometimes I have no idea who or what he’s talking about (insider industry references that go well over my head). But more often than not, Lefsetz is just telling it how is, and wondering why some people are so slow to accept it. I don’t always agree with him, but most of the time, it’s a great read.

How does this pertain to dance music? Well, I was a little surprised when one of Lefsetz’ missives landed in my in-box, quoting Filo & Peri’s lyrics to Anthem. This was the first time I’ve ever heard Lefsetz acknowledge dance music, let alone talk about it at all.

While he’s not yet posted it in his archive (as of this morning when I write this, but I’m sure it’ll show-up soon), Lefsetz apparently decided to tune around a bit on his Sirius receiver, and ended-up on BPM, Sirius/XM’s primary dance channel. Anthem was playing, and apparently the lyrics struck him enough to quote them.

Since I don’t have the letter in front of me, this will be an inexact quote, but Lefsetz said something to the effect that, ‘Apparently there are dance hits, but it’s a world most of us don’t see.’ (I may correct this blog posting later with the actual quote, but that’s the gist.)

I’d be hard-pressed to pick a song better than Anthem with which to introduce sometime for the first time to dance music (depending on which mix it is anyway). Well-written, well-arranged, well-sung, it’s just a great song, which is why it’s still getting played almost two years later.

But there’s the rub, right? Someone has to hear the music to know it exists really. It’s not pop, it’s not rock, it’s not country, where everybody already knows what it is, and whether or not they like it. And I don’t need a study to tell me that a significant percentage of the population don’t go to dance nightclubs regularly where you might hear dance music. I’d venture to guess that most have never been.

Which leaves satellite and Internet radio as just about the only way the general population might hear a dance song (unless it’s used on a TV commercial, perhaps), since there’s a mere handful of terrestrial stations that play it in the U.S. You don’t accidentally tune across an Internet radio station; it’s a destination, not a scene you run across at mile marker 156.

As for satellite radio, kudos to Bob Lefsetz for venturing above channel 30 on Sirius. Those 100+ channels are pretty intimidating, and one has to have a lot of time on one’s hands—or be bored to tears with the channels on one’s tuner presets—to go surfing. I’m guessing Lefsetz won’t be a BPM regular, but at least he knows we’re out here, and he knows what it sounds like. Go Bob!

Maybe if a few other people tuned around a bit, they might find something in our little world to like.

Entry filed under: Dance Music. Tags: Bob Lefsetz, BPM, Filo & Peri, SIRIUS, Sirius XM.