Is Your Playlist Ready for the Fall Book?

The fall book starts September 16, meaning there’s still time to order a fresh library test to impact the book. We’re seeing some interesting movement in song rankings in the NuVoodoo OMT’s (Online Music Tests) that have come back so far this summer. In a number of cases, titles that had been pushed out of airplay contention back in 2019 and 2020 have climbed through the ranks. We can theorize that those titles are less burned, with many listeners working from home – and not commuting – during the pandemic.

With many people set to resume commutes as kids return to school, this is an important book to have fresh music data to guide playlist decisions.

With lots of music test hooklists on our desktops, we thought it’d be interesting to toss the titles from different formats into word clouds. You’ll probably guess right away that the one below was generated from hooklists for a number of Country OMT’s. The bigger the word – the more times it shows up in the combined hooklists.

It’s not surprising to see that the word “Country” itself shows up prominently in this word cloud. “Love” shows up as well, happily larger than the words “Beer” or “Whiskey.” Of course, the vocabulary of song titles changes across formats. You get a much different picture from the word cloud painted by a number of Alternative format hooklists fielded this summer.

And, while the word “Love” appears prominently, there’s an entirely different vocabulary at work in the word cloud below generated by hooklists from a number of Hip Hop/Urban stations.

“Love” dominates the word cloud representing hooklists from a bunch of AC OMT’s, along with a strong representation of “Heart.”

And while there’s obvious overlap with AC, the word cloud from a number of CHR OMT’s below reveals a very different result. CHR clients often take advantage of our NuVoodoo “OMT Lite” product. OMT Lite features a full-size sample, but with no question groups and no more than 400 titles, we can deliver for under $10,000. It’s a great option for tight budgets or when you just don’t need to test 600 titles.

“Library formats,” those with no current rotations, generally require a full 600-title hooklist. Our full-size OMT’s, complete with question groups included, top out at $18,500 for a 100-sample, and are usually less. Here, I’m showing a word cloud composed from the Classic Rock hooklists we’ve had in the field this summer. “Love” is prominent, but so are “Rock” – and “Roll.”

With so many sources for people to listen to music these days – and radio habits interrupted by the pandemic for too many – it’s critical that your playlist is dialed-in for the fall book. Get more information about NuVoodoo OMT’s with an email to tellmemore@nuvoodoo.com.