MusicMaster Blog

By Jesus Rodriguez

Let’s talk about Attributes! Attributes are the codes you can give to a song to define its Gender, Genre, Era, etc.

Specifically let’s talk about Tempo and Mood attribute codes. As obvious as it may seem to what the difference is between these two, you would be surprised at how easily the lines are blurred. I get calls at times asking why so many slow songs are playing next to each other or sad songs playing next to a slow song. The common mistake is that many music schedulers use Tempo Slow as Sad rather than the speed of a song. For some reason the misconception is that if it’s a slow song it must be a sad song. So, in their head they hear a slow beat as they are coding and give a happy slow track a slow tempo code based on the assumption that if it’s slow it must be sad. However, not all slow songs are sad songs and this can also be the case with up-tempo dance songs that have a sad message about a break up for example. My best examples are urban records right now. There are many are in the 60-80 BPM range (Beats Per Minute) but they are not sad songs. Just listen to the lyrics or better yet go to a nightclub and see the crowd react to the hot new Drake record that is 71 BPM.

I notice that many music schedulers never consider also using Mood. Those same people are the first to say, “That station has a really bad tempo issue!” Maybe it’s never been a tempo issue at all but a mood issue.

Here is my solution to help your station flow better. Lets start using both Tempo and Mood attribute codes right away. If you don’t have one or either of these contact your Music Scheduling Consultant so we can add a field for it. You can create your attribute codes by going to Dataset, Library, Attributes.

First, get out of the mindset of assigning tempos based on feelings like sadness. If you have a hard time being disciplined and not letting your feelings get in the way of what you hear in your head when coding, download a free BPM counter app. This way you can get the actual speed of the song in beats per minute. We can’t change the Slow, Medium, or Fast tempo of the song so stick to what tempo truly is: a speed not a mood.

Now also code those songs based on Mood only! You have to get your mindset out of thinking speed and truly engage on the feeling the song gives you when it comes on the radio. For this example, we’ll keep it simple. Is the song Sad, Happy, or Exciting. When picking the mood of the song I like to think about how people react to the lyrics or rhythm while in their car or even at a nightclub. Is it going to make them drive off a cliff because it’s sad when they’ve had a terrible day? Is it a good listening, happy song for everyday leisure? Is it an exciting song I play at the club that packs the dance floor? I then code my mood accordingly based on feelings alone not tempo.

This is all great but how do we use these together if we’re no longer using Tempo to define both the speed and the way the song makes us feel? Well now that we have both Tempo and Mood defined on every song we can set up some basic rules to keep Tempo Slow songs from playing to close to each other or even back to back. We can do the same for Mood when it comes to sad songs or in reverse if we don’t want the station to be to uplifting.

Are we in agreement now that not all slow songs are sad? If so your stations mood will be better balanced because you can now have a Tempo Slow/Mood Exciting song like the new Drake that’s 71 BPM go right into an up-tempo song with sad lyrics to help pick up the pace rather than two slow tempo songs one of which you labeled as sad but was really happy back-to-back. When you play an actual sad song your mood rules can kick in to uplift the feelings of the listeners instead of back-to-back sad songs on a day they just got dumped by the person of their dreams.

Just remember that the next time someone says your station has a tempo issue, what may really be going on is a mood issue because it’s not being utilized. Ask them these same questions so you’ll have a better idea of what to adjust.

Call your Music Scheduling Consultant if you have any questions.

By Dave Tyler

Let’s face it, radio stations have two very different departments:  Sales and Programming. General Managers and Owners are famous for believing that the Sales Department makes the money and the Programming Department spends it. While there is certainly some fundamental truth to it the real fact is great programming will make your sales team better and everyone will make more money!

MusicMaster can easily pay for itself many times over by using one simple piece of programming, the Themed Weekend! When PDs and MDs hear Themed weekend they immediately try to schedule a dentists appointed so life will be less painful but the fact is MusicMaster makes Themed Weekends a piece of cake.  Imagine going to your GM or GSM and saying “I have a way we get a bunch of new money every week!”.  After making sure you haven’t been drinking the good stuff you explain that each weekend (perhaps over the Summer or all year long) you are going to present themed weekends on the air and they can either sell one title sponsor or multiple sponsors.  They’re going to love you.  Here’s how it works.

I like taking my weekend clock(s) and then adding in a “Saved List” position wherever I want a “Themed” song to play and I prefer the setting for “Use Session List”.  I will explain why below.

You can add these positions wherever you want one of your themed songs to play in the hour.  This might be just after the top and bottom of the hour IDs or perhaps out of stopsets after the sponsors imaging. Once you choose the Saved List position in your clock, the dialog box will pop up and give you a chance to choose some options. As previously mentioned I prefer the “Use Session List” options because then I can make my weekend clocks once and use them for whatever Theme I want without having to change the clocks each week. Once you have these positions made and saved in your clocks you need to create those “Saved Lists”. In my example I am suing a Classic Rock database so I am going to go to Dataset/Library/Song List Editor.

This will pop up the Song List Editor and allow you to search for specific kinds of songs based on your criteria. In my example I am going to click Library Search and in the Query I am going to search for songs that have the word “Rock” in the Title. You can base you searches on Attributes like Mood or Energy too or Artists, etc.  If you can search for what you want in your data, you can make a Song List.

When I click OK I get a list of all of the songs with the word “Rock”! Awesome! Now I generally click the Add All Songs icon but the icon next to it will add just unique titles so in the event you have duplicate titles you will only get one of them. The danger there of course is you may have 2 different songs with the same title (example: You & Me by Alice Cooper and You & Me by Lifehouse). Now that those songs have been added you can look them over and remove any you do not want. You can also drag them around to arrange them manually or click the “Arrange Songs” icon to shuffle based on your preferences.

Once you are happy with the list and its schedule order give it a Title and click the Save icon because now it is time to schedule.

Open your Automatic Scheduler and select your weekend dates. Using the dropdown at the bottom of the editor select the session list you want. In my example I want use the one we just created called “Rock Songs”. Click OK and like MusicMaster magic you have scheduled a themed weekend.

Remember you can create lists based on all sorts of different things. You could Title themed weekends like I did here (Other title weekends could be songs with Highway or Driving or Summer or Hot in the Title) or you can create lists based on attribute codes you use on songs for British Invasion weekends or American Guitar Rock. Country stations can do Beer Drinkin’, Bro Country, Huntin’ n Fishin’ and Lost Love weekends if their songs are coded as such. It is fun to make the lists.  When you schedule each weekend, just pick a different list and start counting the cash being thrown at you by sponsors.  Heck a Sales person might even be so happy they’ll buy you lunch…ok…don’t count on that one!

Reach out to your Music Scheduling Consultant if you have any questions about the setup.

By Marianne Burkett

I was called on not too long ago to review a database and explain why segue rules were not working using the automatic scheduler.  When I opened up this databases rule tree, all the coding rules were repeated over and over and over again in each category.  The same rules, but multiplied and inserted within the folders of each category.   That’s a lot of work with no actual reward!

A good rule of thumb to consider when building rules for the automatic scheduler:  Inside the category, the rule applies to that category, not the others.   So, if a category is in each quarter hour and it is not next to itself, the “segue” tests in the rules within the category will not work like you might expect when using the auto scheduler.  The rules you should be inserting in each category should be: Minimum Rest, rotation rules (i.e., Day Offset Windows, etc), Max plays per day, shift rules, specific artist separation rules and any Optimum Goal Scheduling rules you decide on.  Why?  Each category rotates differently and normally requires some kind of different setting in the areas listed above.

What are you to do with the coding rules?  This is where the “All Categories” section of the rule tree comes in, and where you can build coding rules for specific categories using “Rule Groups”.

What is a Rule Group?

On the right hand side of the Rule Tree …the very first folder at the top contains Rule Groups.

Drag a Rule Group over to the All Categories section.  When it opens set up your parameters in the Rule Properties.

There are 6 areas within each Rule Group

1. Description: Give it a name so you know what coding rules should be applied.
2. Availability: This allows you to set the rules to always be tested,  never be tested, test only in the Auto Scheduler or only test in the Schedule Editor
3. Time Restrictions: You can daypart rules in the rule groups so if you have a Saturday Night Jam, you can apply a completely different set of rules to those hours. In addition to the time restriction you decide when and where the rules are valid.  Test against plays in ANY time period/Ignore FAILURES outside this time period or Ignore PLAYS outside this time period.

(i.e., this might be used to ignore plays from weekdays to weekends)

4. Group Mode: You decide on how to handle failures.  I personally always select “Test rules as if they are not in a group” so I can see specifically which rule failed when reviewing the “Recap Report”.
5. Clock Restrictions: Rather than using dayparting rules you can apply rules inside a rule group to specific clocks.
6. Song Restrictions: This is where you can select which categories your rules inside the rule group would apply to.  You can also create Filters.  For instance you can select a Specific attribute code(s) or Keyword(s) and apply specific rules to those items.

One last thing:  Making sure the rules you want are actually IN the Rule Group!

I see the scenario from the image below a lot, during support calls.

None of the rules you see in the image above are actually in the Rule Group.  You need to drag the rules INTO the Group.  Drag directly over the Title of the rule group and release your mouse.  The rule should INDENT so the little lightning bolt next to the actual rule is slightly to the right, like this:

Of course, you can use Rule Groups inside an individual category as well.  Say you are plotting more Light Currents in the overnights than you are plotting during the day.  You can use two Dayparted Rule Groups within the category, each with its own distinct Minimum Rest and rotation settings.  You may need a one hour rest during overnights and a three-hour rest setting during the day.   That will just depend on your clocks and turnovers.

Here is to happy, healthy Rule Tree’s in the land of MusicMaster!

If you have any questions or concerns, contact your Music Scheduling Consultant!

By Paul Ziino

I want to schedule my music in an unpredictable pattern. But I don’t want to create a bunch of different clocks to handle it. Do you have any advice?

The answer to this question is “Format List.” The Format List allows you to schedule a sequence of items that repeats itself over and over. A Format List can contain Category items such as Fixed positions, Combos, and Library Query elements as well as non-category items like Traffic Merges and Lognotes. You build your Format List, and then schedule it in the clock like you would any other element. Here’s an example.

I have 5 music categories. A-Heavy, B-Medium, C-Light, D-Recurrent, and E-Gold. I want these items to schedule in a pattern like this: EDADEBEDC. It looks like this.

See how the first position is highlighted in blue? This is where our Format List will start next time we schedule using it. Let’s say our clock has 13 format list elements in it. That means we’ll go through the format list one full time, plus four more positions, so the next hour would pick up on element 5. The pattern just keeps repeating itself so that you never know for sure what’s coming next in the list.

I worked with one customer who decided to use the format list for his station. His list was over 60 elements long when all was finished. He spent time, did the math, and figured out all the different acceptable segues based on category and made a Format List to do it for him. That same customer also had a bunch of non-music categories that he wanted to rotate through, coming up with every possible combination of items. That list was over 50 elements long. His clock looks something like this.

(In MusicMaster version 6 and earlier, Format Lists display with a default length of 3:30, which is why this clock looks long. But here’s a little sneak preview for you…in version 7, MusicMaster does calculate the average runtime of items contained in the Format List, giving you more accurate timing!)

Looking at that clock, we bounce back and forth between two Format Lists and MusicMaster just keeps on chugging along. The customer loves it because he went from needing dozens of clocks to just three. His drive time clock has an extra Traffic Merge position, and each is six minutes long, so he schedules eleven Music Format List positions in that clock. Overnight has 1 three-minute traffic merge position so that clock schedules fifteen Music Format List positions. The rest of the time he uses the clock like the one above. It’s a very clean and easy way to keep things sounding fresh from one hour to the next.

If you have questions on Format Lists or any other MusicMaster features, make sure to call your MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant for advice.

Dave Tyler

As one of the Music Scheduling Consultants here at MusicMaster I get calls from Programmers from all across North America on a daily basis. Every day is different and so are the questions. I enjoy the challenge of finding solutions for our clients to unique questions.

Recently on of these terrific programmers called and said that because of great numbers in a recent book they are sold out! Great news! He also said because of this their stopsets are full and sometimes even over what they are set for and he knows as a result they are playing less music. His boss wanted to know how many songs are being played each hour given this “Sold Out” situation. With Turnover Analysis we can easily see the average song count and the actual calls for the category per hour. In the screen shot below you will see that I click on the Turnover Analysis icon (2 blue arrows) and in my example we are looking at the B category (Secondary 70s) in the top part of the graph we can see how many songs are in the category how many times the category is scheduled weekly, how many hours the category is used in, the average plays per hour and a whole lot more information that pertains to the category. I can also see exactly how many times per hour, specific to the hour, that category is being used by clicking on the small musical note in the bottom half of the screen for “Format Clock Category Usage” then using the dropdown I select my B category and there is a grid with the exact clock calls.

This was all good information but this particular Music Director said his PD actually needed to know not how many songs were scheduled from each category but how many songs were actually playing on the air each hour. Like most of us they overschedule the end of their hours in the event that they run short and songs get bumped and being sold out is only amplifying this in their case. Finding this information is different but totally doable in MusicMaster Pro. This client reconciles their music against their aired log from their automation system on a daily basis so MusicMaster knows what actually played. To see this very specific information simply open any day you wish to find this information for then click on the Schedule Analysis button.

Now click the “SetUp” button and enter the settings below. We want to test the current day and test just the Song Elements (which are Music from the dropdown) the against setting would be “[None]” and the Display is count.

Now click OK and you will see exactly how many actual songs played during that hour.

This very specific data about actual “Aired” plays is very important especially if you are positioning with “We Play The Most Music” or “12 Songs Every Hour GUARANTEED”. This particular feature also requires a reconciliation.def file. If you do not have one just contact your MusicMaster rep and they will create one for you based on your automation system.

Musicmaster Pro is developed by radio people for radio people and this is just one of many functions to help you better know and program your station.

By Jesus Rodriguez

Some may call them “Powers” others may refer to them as their “A” category. Call them what you wish but for this blog I want you to think about the most important category you have in your library. One of my frequent calls are concerning the question, “My Powers are not scheduling right I need them to schedule every X minutes the way I have it designed in my clock!” Is this currently happening to you where you have an amazing clock but your Powers aren’t scheduling perfectly and naturally?

Here is a trick that will seem very unorthodox but it works. Get rid of all of your rules in that category! Ok now just take a breather and put your computer screen down before you throw it out the window.

Rules are there to protect items from scheduling too close to other items already in the log. Assuming that your most important category always schedules first there is nothing in the log yet to conflict with where it wants to place itself. If it is not already scheduling first or you need to confirm that it is, go to Dataset, Schedule, and Schedule Properties. Here you can drag the category to the top of the list while pressing down on the blue arrow to left as you move it into position. You can organize your order for all of your categories here too by doing the same, but that’s for another blog.

You may be asking yourself, “Jesus what about my rotation rules like rest and previous play rules to make sure things don’t schedule in the same place as it did yesterday?” Well if you know your clocks are a beauty that category will lay out perfectly every time based on the amazing clocks you created giving you the perfect spread day after day following that schedule order every time with no conflict. If our Powers or main category of your library is the best of the best I think we can agree that we need to make sure they are always scheduled perfectly.

So you removed all of your rules from the category but there is one other thing to check. Although your category rules may be empty you also want to bypass this category from your “All Categories” section of the rule tree so that those rules do not affect it either. You can do this by right clicking on the bold heading of your rule tree “MusicMaster Rule Tree” and selecting “Rule Tree Properties”.

You will now get a box where you can select which categories should not be effected by the “All Category Rules” as shown below I selected my “A” category by placing the check mark in the box to the left of it.

“Wait a minute Jesus how will my category know not to play a specific tempo, sound, or other attributes to close to other songs?” Remember rules are there to protect items from scheduling around things that are already present. If your category is the first one scheduled there will never be a conflict and when that second, third, fourth, category comes after it, they will respect what is already scheduled. Essentially making its decision on what can or cannot schedule next to the Powers allowing you to still have the sound you want while maximizing your most important songs.

I want to add a couple other things that may be of assistance if you use this little secret. One of which is the “Schedule Order” where you can adjust the order in which the songs will schedule. This is very important if you have an artist with two songs in your category to spread them away from each other. You can go to this through your menu bar at Dataset, Schedule, and Schedule Order. Here you can drag your song order up and down to organize your category or use the cool category arrangement tab to open an additional window for some fancy ways to shuffle your category. In my example, Optimize by Field where you select Artist or perhaps the Artist Keyword field would keep the two songs apart from each other as much as possible.

If you are still uncertain about your results it may be do to inconsistency with your clock usage if some hours you play the category more times than other clocks which will result in a math issue. You can add some band-aids to fix any math issue using our “Auto Burn” feature as show in the video below or contact your support representative for assistance.

I hope that you found this useful and results with your most important category scheduling perfectly every time. If you would like some assistance with getting some perfect Power rotations please contact your MusicMaster support representative.

By Drew Bennett

I schedule music for a few stations in my spare time. I really am passionate about music scheduling and different formats offer different challenges. When I have the opportunity to work one-on-one with a radio station and their music log, I get to learn a lot of great nuances about the format. To me, it keeps me knowledgeable about the current music landscape and it allows to me relate to just about any programmer out there who is tasked with managing a brand and a list of songs.

Each format comes with its own set of issues, challenges and things to monitor but they’re all the same at their foundation. Each database schedules music against a 24 hour period or some chunk of the day. When you build a database, there’s a way of going about it that ensures a good product. It can be easy to jump around and find yourself out of order and lost in the process. Today, I am going to give you steps to take to build a music database from scratch.

Step 1: Decide what the cume of the station will be.

In other words, what music are you going to play and how much of it are you going to rotate? Decide how many songs you want to spin. There are many deciding factors that come into play here; your competition, your market, your market’s size, your format choice, your consultant’s ideas, etc. The main thing is that you come up with a list of music to import into your music scheduler. Once you’ve imported things, you’re ready for the most important step in the entire process.

Step 2: Decide on turnover values.

The turnover of your library and how perfect that is or not, will determine a lot once you begin to schedule logs. It can determine anything from how long it takes you to get a perfect log to what your listeners think about your station. If that sounds like a tall order, it is. Turnover is the most important thing to get right when you build a database. We won’t spend too much time on what it means to achieve perfect turnovers but know this: If your clocks aren’t naturally scheduling your music correctly, there isn’t a rule in the scheduler that will correct that for you and not cause problems elsewhere. Use your hourly category calls and the number of songs in your category to get a great turnover throughout the day and week. Stay consistent with your math.

Step 3: Apply rules that complement the turnover and create the spirit and the sound of the station.

Too often, this step happens before step 2 and that’s where a lot of problems arise. After you’ve come up with a great list of music and you’re naturally scheduling that with some solid clock math, it’s time to create the station’s sound with attribute rules. Decide the sonic needs at the station and create rules that meet those needs. Keep nothing in the rule tree that doesn’t need to be there. If you’re unsure of a rule and/or what it does for you, remove that rule. Come up with a rule tree that catches unacceptable choices and plays nice with your great turnover. You will find that, when done correctly, the log will schedule with ease and your editing time will diminish.

Step 4: Schedule a day to see how it goes. Schedule a week to analyze the library.

Once you have a library, a turnover for those songs and rules to mix them together, you need to schedule several days to see how things look. Schedule several days and look at some metrics. What’s the most played song? Who is the most played artist after seven days? Is that what you want? If it isn’t, revisit your inventory.

When you’ve completed these steps you’ll have an excellent database that is ready to go. Keep these steps in mind when you build new databases. Perform them in order and you’ll keep your databases in great shape every time. Do you have other tips you like to use when creating databases from scratch? I’d love to hear them. E-mail me at drew.bennett@musicmaster.com.

By Marianne Burkett

I’ve been seeing a lot of databases lately using Special Sets in the clocks to match up liners to intro times of their music. While there is nothing wrong with using the Special Set clock element to do this, there is a way to do this without adjusting the clocks.

Using an “attribute multiple” field in MusicMaster makes this a slick, but simple method.

First, go to Dataset/Library/Fields. If you have an available “Attribute Multiple” field that is Tested in the rules… rename it to whatever name you want. In the example below, I’m calling mine Intro Match.

Now that we have a field to work with, go to Dataset/Library/Attributes.

We’re going to create just a few codes. One for 00-02 second intros where you would play a fully produced liner. Another for a Quick liner, Short Liner and Long Liner.

So far, it’s taken maybe three minutes to put this together.

Now, get to work coding your Liners and Music with the applicable codes in the IntroMatch field. You can sort by intro time and make quick work of it, or use Queries to isolate intro times and then use the mass changer.

But, once you’re done coding, there’s just one more thing to do.

Open your rule tree.

Go to your Liner Category and go to Available Rule Types – Attribute/Intromatch and drag in the IntroMatch Segue Protection Box.

You want to make sure you are testing forward. The song schedules and the liner that comes before it will just look at the song intro ahead. Really, the only thing you don’t want happening here is a long dry liner playing over a short intro, so put the X in each box where those codes intersect. I’m allowing Produced liners to go into everything, I’m allowing short and quick liners to go over the longer intros as well.

That’s it. Easy as pie and no work in the clocks.

If you have any questions, contact your MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant.