According to a new study from P1 Media Group, a majority of Country Radio listeners are unaware that there’s a ban on Morgan Wallen’s music and they are split on Radio’s airplay ban.
Wallen was suspended indefinitely from his label and his music was pulled by most radio companies, Sirius XM and CMT after a video surfaced of him shouting a racial slur. After the incident many of Wallen’s songs were still on iTunes and fans were still buying them.
P1 Media Group conducted the online survey on Wednesday, February 10, 2021, one week after the ban began. They sampled 200 18-54-year-old Country radio listeners in PPM markets. Participants were required to be Country radio listeners. One hundred percent of the sample were familiar with Country Artist Morgan Wallen.
One week after the ban began, only 18% of Country radio listeners are aware of the industry ban removing Morgan Wallen’s music from Country radio stations, streaming services, CMT and Sirius XM.
More details from the study…
– 18-24s are more aware of Morgan Wallen’s comments and negative publicity than 25-54s.
– 18-24s find Morgan Wallen and his music less appealing than older Country listeners, which is likely driven by the higher awareness of his controversial outburst among 18-24s.
– 18-24s are much more likely to say their opinion of him has changed for “the worse” over the past few months
– 18-24s are as likely as other age groups to say the banning of his music is “too severe” of a punishment.
– Country radio listeners are split on the Ban. 26% of the Total Sample said Country Radio should “discontinue the ban of Wallen Morgan’s music immediately” vs 16% who say the ban should “continue indefinitely.”
– The sample does agree on the course of action Morgan Wallen should take: 66% say “he should make a public apology, take steps to understand how his words were hurtful and change his behavior.”
“It’s remarkable how few Country radio listeners were aware of Morgan Wallen’s music being removed from Country radio one full week after the ban began, signifying Country radio has not communicated its position on Morgan Wallen with its listeners” said Ken Benson, co-Founder and Partner, P1 Media Group. “The sample overwhelmingly agreed on the course of action Morgan Wallen should take, but what role can radio actively play in leading the national conversation on racism?”
I am damn tired of this “cancel” culture and the censoring, etc. on Facebook, etc. Sooner or later the internet will be regulated as a “utility” (which it is), and treated just like telephones…we don’t get censored or cut off talking on telephones, the same needs to happen with the internet, and blog users assume the risk of participation on forums, etc. Radio had to put up with a “fairness doctrine” for years; this could reoccur if this “cancel culture” doesn’t stop immediately. I don’t care about “politically correct” at all, the most outstanding feature of the radio, TV, or computer is the OFF switch. CLICK!
The best place to start is with Congressional reform of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, since the FCC won’t do it.
Former U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr said it best: “For too long, Section 230 has provided a shield for online platforms to operate with impunity. Ensuring that the internet is a safe, but also vibrant, open and competitive environment is vitally important to America. We therefore urge Congress to make these necessary reforms to Section 230 and begin to hold online platforms accountable both when they unlawfully censor speech and when they knowingly facilitate criminal activity online.”
Another Justice Department official said: “[W]hen interactive computer services willfully distribute illegal material or moderate content in bad faith, Section 230 should not shield them from the consequences of their actions.”
Get on with it, Congress. Statutory action by Congress would be preferable to regulatory ruling by the FCC.
The guy has a total of four hits. So what? Sure downloads are up because he just released a new album a few weeks ago with 20 songs on it. But radio was only playing four songs. No big deal.
Or perhaps (pardon my sacrilege) it’s an indicator of radio’s waning influence. Wallen’s streams increased 3%, downloads spiked 67% and overall sales increased more than 100% in the wake of the ban.
Doesn’t say much about your “career” now when you can get pulled from radio and dropped from your label with nobody noticing.
As a side view of this, it’s also interesting that that much of the audience didn’t realize that Wallen’s songs were off the radio. ie: They didn’t miss his music. Perhaps it’s a glaring reminder that listeners don’t pay as much attention to us as we think. Or, that with listeners listening in short bursts, it goes without saying they’ll miss songs being played, and think nothing of it. It’d be normal. They’d just assume they’re played but they missed them, if they thought about it at all. So to miss the songs of someone banned would mathematically fit into that scenario too.