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Snowball effect for Christmas music, radio stations
By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY
Ears and cash registers are ringing non-stop to Silver Bells, Jingle Bells and other sounds of the season now that the annual flurry of Christmas albums has grown into a blizzard. (Related item: Holiday music notables) One reason is the expanding trend of radio-format flips to all-Christmas music. As of Friday, 275 stations nationwide had made the swap, according to 1000watts.com, a site run by Inside Radio that tracks the conversions. At least one or two stations pop up in every market, and there are four each in Omaha; Milwaukee; Columbus, Ohio; and the Norfolk area, among others. Some artists, particularly veterans shunned at most formats, see the Christmas release "as a chance to get back on radio for a month," says Sean Ross of Edison Media Research. "Beyond that, there's just more stunt casting. Veteran artists seem to need new marketing hooks, whether it's a Christmas album or standards." While new entries don't dominate playlists, the best of each season graduates to the next year's repertoire. "The playlist is not identical from city to city, but there's a common body of records at the center," Ross says. "The more traditional stuff, the '60s and '70s music, drives the format." Only a fraction of Christmas records reach platinum status, so obviously many artists are driven by reasons other than profits or exposure. Marah was drawn to the holiday's quaint charms, as the rock band notes in its 11 reasons to make a Christmas record: "Hip, cool, cutting edge, eyeliner, fashion, celebrity, after-parties, dope, auto-tuners, groupies, MTV2 ... all have nothing to lend to Christmas music, (which) should be played on pianos, banjos, acoustic guitars, sleigh bells and small cheap drum kits. We love AC/DC, but Mistress for Christmas is just a tad less seasonal than Silver Bells."
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