MusicMaster Blog

Adding Songs to Stations

Unlike in the Desktop client, Stations are not yet able to import songs from the Enterprise library. However, songs can be assigned to Stations from the Enterprise level in the usual manner.

Enterprise Menu

The Web Client has a Manage Stations option directly under the Enterprise menu, where in the Desktop, this is a submenu under Enterprise > Stations. 

Add Station is available in the Manage Stations dialog, where in the Desktop it’s also available as a submenu item.

Station Options

The Web Client has a sub-option for LibraryEditorOptions, while the Desktop has Library Options as a toolbar option in Library Maintenance. 

The Clocks, History and Misc. will display a red angled line through areas where no color has been selected.  This is depicted as a gray box in the Desktop Client.  

Not Yet Available in the Web Client

Enterprise functions that still require the use of the Desktop Client include Automated Tasks; Create Database Backup; and Users and Roles.

by Paul Ziino

MusicMaster offers lots of options when it comes to Optimum Goal Scheduling. There are goals for song and keyword separation, goals for numeric fields to get the highest or lowest scores, goals for hour and shift exposure on keywords and songs, and more. Today we focus on the goal of Optimum Rule Performance.

In your rule tree you’ll find this goal under the Available Rule Types/Optimum Goal Scheduling/Song Goals.

Click and drag that goal into the Optimum Goal Scheduling folder under any of your categories in the MusicMaster Rule Tree.

Here’s how it works. Every song in the active library has a score indicated in its Performance field. This score is calculated by the average number of times MusicMaster has attempted to schedule that song before it is plotted in a log. The higher the Performance score, the more difficult it is for that song to auto-schedule. Open a category, add the Performance field to your grid, and sort by it. You’ll see the songs that are easiest to auto-schedule (lowest Performance score) and most difficult to auto-schedule (highest score).

In the images above you can see that “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Dude Looks Like a Lady” are much easier to schedule than “Already Gone, “Live and Let Die,” and “Listen to What the Man Said.”

Based on the songs we see in those images, if MusicMaster is given the choice between “Play the Funky Music” and “Crumblin’ Down,” and all other things are considered equal between the two songs, Optimum Rule Performance goal would dictate that “Crumblin’ Down” will be favored because it is more difficult to schedule. The goal gives preference to songs with higher Performance scores because those songs are more difficult to schedule (e.g. takes more attempts on average to schedule). With those two songs, it is likely more difficult to schedule the Mellencamp tune because there are more songs by that artist in our library than there are by Wild Cherry.

When you look at Performance scores, it’s all relative to the other songs in the category. If you have some songs with scores of 10 or 20 and others with scores of 2000 or 2500, what makes those with the higher score so much more difficult to auto-schedule? Is it an overabundance of that artist in the library and the separation for that artist is too great? Is it because you are limiting slow songs too much in a library that is heavily coded as slow? Is it due to incorrect coding, keywording, or dayparting? With all other factors considered and adjusted as you see fit, Optimum Rule Performance can help get those harder-to-schedule songs to plot a little more frequently.

Have questions on this or any other MusicMaster Scheduling Goals? Make sure to reach out to your MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant for help.

Test Results

The Test Results panel appears as part of the Infobar in the Web Client. It will automatically appear when you search for a replacement song as long as you have the Infobar active. You can also change the Infobar to other tabs while it is open, hiding it, but it is always available as the Schedule tab of the Infobar. The Schedule Editor has a Test Results icon on the toolbar that will also make this visible.

Schedule Editor Toolbar

Some toolbar options are not shown in the Web Client. Note, the order of icons may also differ from the Desktop.

Schedule Calendar

When you open this you will see options at the bottom for both the Schedule Editor and Automatic Scheduler.  The Schedule Editor only allows you to pick the date, while the Desktop Client has other options to load the number of hours and how the cursor is handled.

Schedule Editor Options

Shift-Insert is not a setting that is used in the Web Client.  Likewise, hot keys are not used, so the option to Emulate Hot-Keys is not here.

Other Functions Not Yet Available on Web

Direct Data Entry, Song Card Editor, Song Marking, Vicinity Viewer, Display Burn Spreadsheet, Check the Log, Export to Web, Key Mapping, Recap Report, and Traffic System Interface.

Display

In the Web Client, only the Grid view is available for viewing and editing songs.

Grid Editor

Once you’ve opened a category, the Library toolbar will be shown. The layout icon has a drop down arrow for editing, saving and loading a grid.

NOTE:  This Edit\Save\Layout display is used throughout the Web Client and will be shown this same way everywhere.

Currently Only Available in Desktop

Library Toolbar functions that currently require the use of the Desktop Client include Song Marking Options dialog, Song Highlights, and Import Enterprise Songs (Note: songs can still be assigned to a station from the Enterprise section of the Web).

Other Library functions that require the use of the Desktop Client include AutoMove, Category QuickMove, Key Mapping, Library Export.

By Vicky James

Not long ago I had a client call me after noticing his coding within an entire field of the database was M-I-A… Missing. Gone!

After sharing the devastation of the missing coding that he’d worked on for so long, most importantly, that coding would affect majority of his rules in place. Luckily, he had a recent backup from the Friday before and a simple restore fixed the problem. However, my client was still puzzled by who accidentally cleared that field. I then asked him if he was aware of the Dataset Security feature. He wasn’t, so I led him straight to it. We enabled security and set up user log in and assigned rights. Here’s how we did it….

Select Tools. Options. Dataset Security. It will prompt you that the security system is disabled in red as it is here, so go ahead and click Enable Security.

Once the security is enabled it will turn green and a prompt will appear reminding you to set up your users and rights along with adding a password for the Administrator. I strongly advise you to do so and save your password in a safe place, or make it something you remember, as the next time you access your database you will need that password.

Click Ok. Select Users and Rights. Create User.

As seen below you will start by assigning the Username and Password as I have done for the Music Director.

Next, you will need to select the rights that will be granted to each user for the following features. Keep in mind that you can also select Administrator, which will grant the user those same admin rights. However, it doesn’t give that user access to the current users’ passwords, but it does allow them to create new users and passwords.

Another option is ALL which is obvious; if selected, that user has access to everything listed.

Notice an option to Copy which allows you to copy selections from one user to the next user created. Once the next user is created, it will disable paste so that you can grant this user the same rights as the previous user.

Below is the full list expanded for each section. In this example, I chose not to select all rights for the Music Director, but specifically what I believe he or she will need to access to work as efficiently as possible.

Be sure to review the list after you’ve made your selections. Once you’ve created the users, click Apply.

Now let’s give it a test run!

Go to File. Close Dataset. Then Open Dataset

You will now be prompted to Log In. Enter your Username and Password.

Voila! Your database is now officially secure!

Now, go back to Tools > Options > Dataset Security

Displayed will be the System Entry Log for WHO accessed the database and when.

Now, if you see any unexpected changes in your database and want to know who was responsible, you can go here to see who was recently logged in before you!

I hope you enjoy reading about the Dataset Security feature as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you. If you have any further questions about securing your database or need further help, don’t hesitate to reach out to your favorite music scheduling software support team, or directly to your dedicated Music Scheduling Consultant!

Ta-ta til my next blog… Vicky

…

by Jesus Rodriguez

In my previous life before MusicMaster, I was tasked with scheduling up to eight radio stations that were under my watch in one day. As you can imagine, that can take hours to do, especially if you have some strict rules and unscheduled positions. In this brief blog, I will share one of my favorite tricks to get the job of scheduling done quickly and accurately by using two different rule group setups. When you walk away from this, I hope you tell yourself, “Why didn’t I think of that, genius!”

I first created two rule groups, one for the Automatic Scheduler and the other for the Schedule Editor. Let’s begin with the first one, the Automatic Scheduler rule group.

Place this group in your Unbreakable section of the All-Category folder at the top of the Rule Tree. You can name it anything you like, as the name is not essential. Just make sure it’s something you can easily remember. The key settings here are the ‚Availability‘ dropdown, which should be set to ‚Rules are only available in the Automatic Scheduler’ and the ‘Group Mode‘ in the upper right, which should be set to ‚Test rules as if they are not in a rule group.’

In this Rule Group, place all your most restrictive rules that would be perfect in a perfect world. If you had enough music, genres, artists, tempo, etc., this rule would create your perfect radio station for the entire day. However, yes, I am hearing you. “Wouldn’t this create some unscheduled positions?” Yes, so now let’s move on to the second Rule Group.

Like the first Rule Group, you can give it any description you like. The name does not matter. Make it something familiar to you. The most critical parts are the dropdown under ‘Availability’ set to ‘Rules are only available in the Schedule Editor’. Also, like with the first, put your Group Mode on the upper right to ‘Test rules as if they are not in a rule group’.

Copy the rules from the first Rule Group and paste them into the second one. You can place this group in your Unbreakable or Breakable folder in the all-category section. I personally like mine in my Breakable section for this group. Now, go through your rules, and relax those you usually break when manually filling in unscheduled positions. For instance, if your rule is set to not play more than two rock songs in a row, but you occasionally allow three in a row to fill in the unscheduled position, set it up that way here. This way, the next step does it for you, eliminating the need for manual adjustments. This applies to any other rules you tend to look past or relax in your decision-making when you have to fill unscheduled positions. Think of what is ok and not that big of a deal for your station’s listening experience; hits are hits!

Now that these two Rule Groups are ready, run your Automatic Scheduler by going to Dataset, Schedule, and Automatic Scheduler. You will end up with unscheduled positions because of the stricter rules of your perfect radio station scenario in Rule Group One. When the Schedule Editor is opened after your Automatic Scheduling is complete, hide everything but your unscheduled music elements from the log by going to the Show/Hide Elements tab.

This will open the following window, and you can hide these items temporarily by unselecting them.

Your log should look something like this with all your unscheduled music elements. To turn all those positions blue, click on the top left corner box, as shown in the image below.

Are you ready for the magic? Press Shift + F9. This will now fill in all of your unscheduled positions with the more relaxed rule settings you created the same way you would select your songs manually for unscheduled positions, should you decide to break your rules.

Now, I will get my occasional third rock song in a row, which is not the end of the world for me, and any other rules I felt were worth relaxing. On the plus side, I only have a handful of unscheduled songs, an almost 100% perfect log based on my ideal radio station rules. It also allows for filling in unscheduled positions in seconds rather than taking much longer to go through each position.

I highly recommend restoring all the hidden elements and reviewing your log for any adjustments you may want to make.

This trick is helpful and saves time while getting you closer to a perfect log in minutes. If you need any assistance, please contact your support representative at MusicMaster.

By Joe Knapp, President/Founder – MusicMaster

Bringing your research scores into MusicMaster lets you do a very detailed analysis that can uncover some interesting trends.

For example, I’ve found that the audience prefers songs that are not “begging” or “desperate” sounding. They prefer songs that have a “happy” or “charitable” mood. Unexpectedly, they also seem to prefer songs, at least in the oldies format, that have an “angry” tone.

Clicking on the header of each column instantly sorts the list by that field, allowing you to make comparisons and observations.

I’ve also discovered that the audience prefers medium or up-tempo songs over slow or down tempo songs. The gender of the singer doesn’t matter at all when it comes to audience favorability. There is a slight correlation between Era, however. The newer songs are preferred over the older songs, in this case being 1964-1973 versus 1955-1963.

These results, of course, will vary greatly from one format to another. But, if you’re doing music research, bringing those scores into MusicMaster is easy and quite valuable. You can learn things about your audience that you cannot see by looking at the same numbers in the research analysis software alone.

With your scores in MusicMaster, you can easily establish Rules and Optimum Goals to help the AI scheduling engine select the ideal song for each position in your log.

If you need help with this, we’re always here for you. Music scheduling is all we do, so we tend to do it very well!

(For Part 1 of Joe’s series on Music Research, view this article: https://musicmaster.com/newsletters/0224.php#coj)

by Vicky James

I recently had a client who needed help with the major task of building a library, but he wanted to take it back to the sorta’ old school and use all CDs to complete the project. He was overwhelmed at the idea of how much time it could take. I asked if he wanted them ripped in no time… His answer, “YES, but how??!!!”

He had no idea that MusicMaster even had a feature to Import Audio with CD under the Tools tab. When I introduced him to the feature, he was thrilled!

I then wondered about those of you who may also have overlooked this feature as he did… Allow me to show you how!

Click the Tools. Import CD Audio. Allow the CD Audio Importer a few seconds to initialize and read your CD.

Once the Importer launches, this box should populate with data if the CD is readable. Next, select the songs you want to rip. Here in the example, all 12 songs are checked. If your CD’s metadata doesn’t automatically populate, click the Read Disk button on the lower left and nearly immediately, the metadata should appear.

You’ll notice in the below image is the option to configure your setup, if necessary. This includes the CD drive where the disc is located. Audio Filename Format is where you specify the audio’s format as an MP3, WAV file, or if you simply want the Metadata Only. If you select the MP3 or WAV, you will be given the option to choose the channels and frequency, which is also set by default for you already. Audio Filename/ Location shows where the audio is stored and how the filename should be ingested into your filename field, if needed. In the example below, a track might be stored as Anthony Hamilton – Still.mp3. The Additional Options allows you to show the CD Player or Disc Info.

We’re getting closer to the fun part. Once you’ve adjusted your settings, selected the tracks, and reviewed the info, you’re ready to start rippin’! Click Rip Tracks and within moments, a box pops up indicating ripping is complete!

Once things are ripped, you can go to the right-hand tab to Import the Song Information directly to your database.

You will need to identify what metadata goes from the Target (the CD) to the Source (your MusicMaster database). Click the drop down option for each line needed under the Target, then next to it, drop down each line selecting the Source for the field in which you want to store that metadata in the database. Depending upon your format, you can set the target for artist to the source of your preference. For example, a Classical format may want the Target of Artist going to the Source as Composer. This is what makes this feature so resourceful for users who need to expand their library, catalog projects, or clean up songs with bad metadata.

After you’ve adjusted your settings and reviewed the sample, you can click Import and you’ll see this prompt to confirm the number of songs selected.

It’s All Done!

… and here are the imported songs in the MusicMaster database.

For more information about the CD Audio Importer, contact your Music Scheduling Consultant!

by Jerry Butler

Introduction:

In the world of radio programming, staying ahead of the curve is paramount. As program directors are now stretched thin managing multiple stations and formats, promotions, and corporate reports, time is a key element we are all short on. Programmers strive to maintain a fresh and appealing sound for their audience, but the process of managing a library can often be time-consuming and labor-intensive. However, with a properly formatted library sync, the task of refreshing your library just in time for ratings has been revolutionized. In this blog, we’ll explore how utilizing a library sync can streamline your workflow, saving time and effort while ensuring your programming is finely tuned for success.

Efficient Import of Research Numbers, Music, and Imaging:

One of the key features of library sync is its ability to import various elements seamlessly into your library. Whether it’s the latest research numbers, your competition’s spin count, new music releases, or updated imaging, a well-configured sync can ensure that your library is always up-to-date with the latest content. This means no more manual data entry, saving you valuable time and reducing the risk of errors.

Categorization Made Easy:

For program directors tasked with organizing their library for ratings, categorization is crucial. Traditionally, this process could be arduous, requiring hours of manual sorting to ensure each songs are placed in the correct categories. However, with a library sync in place, categorization becomes a breeze. By creating a sync definition file that specifies how songs should be categorized based on various criteria such as genre, tempo, or mood, you can automate this process. The result? A meticulously organized library in a fraction of the time it would take to do manually.

Case Study: Transforming Workflow Efficiency

I worked with a program director who programmed multiple stations and formats. Before implementing a library sync, he spent days preparing his libraries for ratings. Running through reports from his consultant, sorting through hundreds of songs, updating metadata, and categorizing each track was a daunting task that consumed valuable time and resources. However, with the introduction of a library sync solution, this process was streamlined. By creating a sync definition file tailored to his specific needs, the program director was able to automate the process. What once took days to complete could now be accomplished in a matter of minutes, freeing up time to focus on other aspects of programming and ensuring the library was finely tuned for ratings success. So why spend days manually managing your library when you can accomplish the same tasks in minutes? Embrace the power of library sync and take your programming to new heights.

If you want to import or update music, coding, imaging, research numbers, your competition’s spins, or just need a library refresh where all songs move to specific categories, your MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant can help you get a library synchronization file set up to streamline your process.

Some quick tips to make sure your synchronization works flawlessly:

• Standardize your reports with the same columns and format.
• Use a unique identifier – Cart Numbers work great as a unique identifier.
• If no unique identifier is available, you can use the artist and title to match, but your MusicMaster data must match your source file exactly. Just make sure your Artist and Title match your research report, MediaBase report, or report from your consultant. This can be a bit of work the first time, but the reward is worth it.

Contact MusicMaster support today to get your library ready for ratings.

By Dave Tyler

I say it all the time, MusicMaster is such a robust and powerful piece of software, and it can do so many things that are likely underutilized by a lot of users. I am the same way. I have a Korg keyboard/synthesizer and I always figure at some point I will get around to really digging in further to see what it can really do…but most of the time I just wind up putting it “Grand Piano” and playing for 20 minutes and I’m done. However, I know that thing has vast, magical capabilities that I don’t know about. Today we may unearth one of those for you in MusicMaster!

In the song “Control”, Janet Jackson exclaims “Control, I want a lot of it”!!! Me too, Janet. So let’s talk about keywords.

Almost all programmers will be familiar with Artist Keyword separation. It keeps the same artists from playing again for a specific time frame that we set. It is one of the most important and most used rules in MusicMaster. But did you know you can also set up “Custom” separations for specific keywords? Let’s take a look at how and why we would do this.

If you are a Classic Rock or Classic Hits station, you probably have a ton of songs by The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Eagles, The Doobie Brothers, ZZ Top and more. While these are certainly core artists to the format, they have so many songs that it would be easy for them to schedule in a majority of the hours in your day. Let’s say you have a general Artist Separation rule of 1 hour and 10 minutes (kind of the industry standard), then those artists would be available to schedule just about each hour. Of course, you have other rules and goals in play that may nudge them around a bit, but simply because there are a lot of them, they always seem available.

I understand we are also getting into programming philosophy here and it is completely up to you to make your station sound the way you want it, and you may want these artists to play every hour, and it might be why you are the market leader. Then again, you might not want to be known as “Rolling Stones” station and choose to stretch the time between their plays a bit more, or you may want them to play more often because they test so well in your market that you feel you can’t play them too much! If you want that level of added control, you’ve come to the right place…let’s talk custom settings.

Before we get started, it is important to note that for custom settings to work you must already have a Keyword Time Separation or Hour Rotation rule (depending on which you are making custom settings for) in place for that category (either in the All Category Rules or in that particular category’s Unbreakable rule folder).

In MusicMaster, you can go to Dataset/Library/Keywords to open the Keyword editor.

From the dropdown, I will choose Artist Keywords and then scroll down to the Rolling Stones. We see two columns to the right. One for Separation and one for Hour Rotation, and most will have a check in the box. If the box is checked this means that it is using the general overall value (in our example the 1:10 we mentioned earlier) as its time separation. If you uncheck that box, then you can set your custom time separation for that artist. In my example below I have set the Stones to a 3 hour 15 minute custom separation to keep them from playing too much. You can also use this tool to speed up the availability of an artist by shortening the length.

Another good example of using custom separations is for One Hit Wonders. I programmed an A/C station in the 90s, and I recall there being three artists that were trouble for me. Nothing against them but Dan Hartman “I Can Dream About You”, Matthew Wilder “Break My Stride” and A-ha’s “Take On Me” tested great and were an easy pass for my rules because they were all male, medium/up-tempo songs, and the fact that they were one-hit wonders meant they didn’t have any other songs to compete with. So once they met their Minimum Rest time, they were back up to the bat. Great songs, but they were getting way too much exposure. A custom time separation rule would’ve been a dream come true for me at that station!

This idea can also be used Novelty songs. A good example is Elmo & Patsy’s “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer”. I remember it was about a week and a half after Thanksgiving and we were already playing a few Christmas songs an hour and we were getting calls that we played that song too much. I checked and it was literally the second time the song had played in the two-week period, but it is a polarizing song and it really needed to be relegated to a much longer rest as well as hour rotation so it wouldn’t make an appearance during the same shift. This is a good example of using a custom setting on your Title Keyword but also leads us to the other checked box: Hour Rotation.

Here is an excerpt directly from our Help section in MusicMaster that expertly explains this feature. Hour Rotation refers to the rotation of the keyword, not the song. For instance, you might configure a Keyword with a one day, one hour rotation rule. This would mean that if a song with that keyword played in the 6am hour today, no song by that Keyword would be able to play in the 6am hour tomorrow (provided the test is configured as unbreakable). This can be a very restrictive rule and is typically not placed on keywords that are core to your database.

Using these custom settings provides you with an additional layer of control over your library and the sound of your station. As always, if you have any questions just reach out to your MusicMaster dedicated representative.