Local alternative-rock station Q101 kicked up some dust late last month when it allowed an afternoon DJ, Electra, to play the new White Stripes album, Icky Thump, in its entirety, well in advance of its June 19 release date. What she played wasn’t a promo; it was a leak that the station’s music director, Spike, had downloaded off the Internet. The broadcast immediately drew the ire of Jack White, who called Q101 two hours later–from Spain, no less–to chew out Electra. “I felt like I was going to throw up,” she later wrote on her personal blog. “Weirdest, most surreal conversation of my life.”
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Listening habits have changed dramatically in recent years, due in part to the rise of on-demand media and the popularity of products like the iPod, which allow people to choose not only what they consume but when they consume it. Satellite radio networks XM and Sirius both offer upwards of 200 commercial-free channels, and there are countless Internet radio stations and podcasts catering to even the most esoteric niches. If none of those options suits you, and you don’t have any qualms about copyright infringement, downloading music illegally has never been easier.
The entire radio industry is struggling to adapt, but for stations like Q101, geared toward audiences between the ages of 18 and 34, it’s an even bigger challenge. “Alternative is under an immense amount of pressure at this point,” says Fred Jacobs, president of Jacobs Media, a nationwide consulting firm that helped popularize the classic-rock format in the mid-80s and advises both Q101 and its sister station, the Loop 97.9. “The Gen-Y audience in particular has a tremendous amount of media and tech options available to them. When it comes to the use of FM radio as the primary medium for exposure to new music, those numbers are lower for alternative than for mainstream rock or classic rock. I mean, it’s still the number one source by a long shot, but a lot of other factors are coming into play: everything from social networking sites to iTunes to sites like Rhapsody.”
Spike claims he could probably point to 300 instances of commercial stations playing leaked material in the last six months. In that time Q101 has aired leaked tracks from Linkin Park, Marilyn Manson, and Nine Inch Nails, all with minimal fanfare, and Spike says they’ll continue the practice. “Tool songs leak on the Internet on a Friday and we’re told not to play them until Monday,” Spike says. “Why? It’s almost like they’re slowly trying to make us less significant in terms of new music. They’re asking us to lead but not giving us tools to do so. So if we’re not going to be given the tools, I have to go get them myself.”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photos by Autumn de Wilde and Robert Drea.
