Why radio stations play the same songs over and over again

Have you ever wondered why commercial radio stations like KIIS and Nova play the same song over and over again?

Well, it turns out there’s one very important factor that decides which new releases get played: money.

The Australian radio business model, much like television, relies on advertising dollars to keep afloat.

Therefore, in order to make sure a radio station is profitable, music programmers need to appeal to the widest audience possible.

Radio stations do this by playing popular hits from major artists – who are usually based American – rather than indie bands with a smaller following. 

There are two primary ways that radio stations determine whether a song should be played on high rotation.

The first relates to how many times a song has been downloaded on platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music.

The other concerns licensing agreements between radio stations and record labels.  

Often, radio stations will enter into lucrative contracts with major record labels such as Sony and Universal.

As a result, the artists represented by these labels are given more airtime than artists who aren’t on the labels’ books.

The more a song is played, the greater its chance of becoming part of the public consciousness and making money.

People who are familiar with a song are more likely to enjoy it over time and eventually download it for themselves – therefore making the song ‘popular’ in its own right.

This cycle can lead to billions of dollars in music sales and radio advertising profits annually. 

Meanwhile, the Australian government has attempted to minimise how many songs from US and UK artists are played on radio stations Down Under in an attempt to preserve our local music industry. 

Stations such as KIIS, Nova and Triple M are all required to play 25 per cent Australian music between 6am and midnight.  

‘It’s important to keep the Australian music industry healthy, and it’s also culturally healthy to have Australian music on Australian radio,’ Chrissie Vincent, head of entertainment management at Collarts, told ABC.