You have to just love this time of year. The weather starts to cool down and the leaves begin to fall. We’ve gotten through the Summer without too much drama and it is time for a new chapter. For radio programmers it’s also time to clean out some of the Summer jams and start looking for new fresh music to compliment this wonderful season. It is also safe to say that we are getting ever so close to the holiday season and from the look at the stores in the malls, they are already on top of it and ready to sell for that time of year.

Looking back musically to the Summer of 2016, it was a bit of a mixed bag with no real Summer songs to speak about. Heavy hitters came to the plate with Britney Spears joining with a rapper for a new single that was for many a bit of a bust. Pink came back this Summer with a song from a Disney feature that did pretty well but it did not come off like  much of a Summer song. Justin Timberlake had a red hot single that was already in bloom and it really took off over the past months getting plenty of airplay at both the Top40 & Hot AC arena. Still not much of a Summer song but it did rather well for JT.

Country gave Summer a shot of sorts with 21 Summer from the Brothers Osborne. Although that single was not really a big time #1 it did rather well. Jason Aldean had a late Summer entry and that has sort of stalled a bit.  Back over at Pop radio it seemed that Rihanna was out there with everyone from Drake to Calvin Harris. If you include several of her own efforts she was all over radio in the Summer of 2016.

Looking back over the past few months it seems that many independent artists and bands took advantage of the lack of Summer music by just trying to fill the radio slots with their
own original music and good for them. Many of those singles are still “alive and well” and can be found on many of our Indie charts from Top40, Country to Hot AC. Just take a look at the number of those artists that are still making progress at radio. We really salute all of them for their strong efforts.

It might be a smart move to plan ahead for next Summer and come up with an original song that could become next Summer’s music anthem. There are most certainly opportunities as the field is wide open. We are also getting holiday music this early on and that makes sense. A good many music and radio consultants are already looking ahead to this time of year and planning to set their programming schedules. If you are sitting on one of those potential gems than it may be time to dust it off and think about making your move at this early stage of the game. As we’ve mentioned before, holiday music that works for radio gets put in their music library and is brought out every holiday season.

It won’t be long before award season is upon us once again. We are already looking closely at the charts here and getting an early idea of artists and bands that should be in consideration for our annual New Music Awards. This time of year gives us a good indication of the songs and acts that faired best in 2016. For our readers please take a close look at the charts in the issue as a good many artists will be in contention for the up and coming award season at numerous trade publications and especially right here.

For those of you that are getting ready to release new music or those that already have a single at radio, New Music Weekly is your very best support system. With our weekly charts, tracking and publication, NMW can pretty much help you launch a single and improve your chart standings just by the sheer magnitude of our vast number of radio stations that participate. Many of these stations are totally open to the independent artist or band and are always looking for good new music as the major labels continue to falter and bring us some rather mediocre music. Take advantage of this void and make things happen for yourself. The time is now and New Music Weekly is here to help you every step of the way.