Fans Form Petition to Help Madonna Gain Radio Ground
The Queen of Pop may have unleashed her “Confessions On A Dance Floor,” but top 40 radio couldn’t be less interested in hearing it.
“Hung Up”, her first release from the dance record, got a fair amount of play, however, by the time “Sorry” hit airwaves, radio was apologizing for the small splash it made. “Get Together” has been basically ignored, and the fourth song to try to bounce Madonna back onto the charts, is crowd pleaser and commercial friendly, “Jump.”
Fans have been left wondering if Madonna is losing her reign. One reason behind the apparent boycott is that mainstream radio is more hip hop driven and Madonna’s latest album is a combination of techno-disco-dance-pop. Many fans love the sound and are fighting to get her Majesty back to her rightful place.
On petitiononline.com, over 6,200 followers have virtually signed a petition, aimed at Mark P. Mays, CEO of Clear Channel Communications, the largest radio conglomerate in the United States. This “End the Madonna on U.S. Radio Boycott” is an appeal to cease the real or imagined refusal of top 40 radio to play Madonna songs. The petition suggests that since her video for the single “American Life,” which was riddled with controversy, radio has banished her from their play roster. It also accuses Clear Channel of being largely run by republicans supporting the war in Iraq, unlike Madonna, who has been outspoken about the war.
Addressed to all pop music lovers, it also calls for everyone, not only Madonna admirers, to sign and make a stand against radio’s disinterest against artists whose label refuses to pay-for-play, referencing the payola scandal the four major labels and various radio stations have been involved in. The form says how unfair it is that mainstream radio is hip hop and rhythm & blues based, blocking the chances of alternative musical styles from reaching the listeners. Consequently, the audience at large is denied these songs and the charts do not fairly represent what today’s top music is.
Message boards on Entertainment Weekly, VH1 and others are flooded with support of the “Material Girl,” and wonder over conspiracy theories regarding the exile of Madonna’s music. Critics suggest that while artists such as Nelly Furtado and Mariah Carey have changed with the times, Madonna has gone retro. Furtado and Carey have gone in a new musical direction, infusing more r&b and hip hop into their songs, while Madonna has chosen to drop back to her dance roots. Though the Queen of Pop can be called the queen of reinvention, this time around, she may lose.
While some radio program directors feel Madonna needs to be taken on a track by track basis before adding it to their play lists, others say that her tracks haven’t been given the chance for the audience to warm up to them. The album, despite poor radio presence, has sold 1.5 million copies, double 2003’s “American Life” flop, which only sold 666,000.
Internationally, her success is a different story. According to Warner Bros., since its release last November, “Confessions On A Dance Floor” has topped the charts in 29 countries, selling more than 8 million copies worldwide. On American soil, “Get Together” had fewer than one million listeners, while overseas in the United Kingdom, she’s garnered 38.4 million listeners.
Warner Bros. remains optimistic for her fourth single, “Jump,” which has already been used in promotional radio and television ads for the movie, “The Devil Wears Prada.” Currently, Madonna is in the midst of a sold-out North American tour and is set to break records with its earnings as the top grossing tour ever by a female artist. The tour has already raked in over $200 million.
To sign the petition ending the Madonna boycott on U.S. radio, please visit: www.petitiononline.com.
