MusicMaster Blog

A Golden Future

By Brian Wheeler

What’s happening with gold these days? As a person who grew up with music that is now considered ‘oldies’ by most standards, I’m pleased to see music from my formative years enjoy a resurgence in popularity. For me, these songs never stopped being relevant. Yeah, I know how it goes. Newer generations hear you mumbling about the music from your day and you hear “that’s nice, Grandpa…let’s get you to bed”.

But wait! What is this I see? Kate Bush enjoying a renaissance thanks to an appearance on Stranger Things? Even for fans of alternative music back in the day, Kate was never the darling she is right now. I, for one, think IT’S ABOUT TIME. The same phenomenon caused a spike in interest after Metallica’s Master of Puppets was used in another pivotal scene in the same popular show. A whole new generation of fans have been baptized with a simple and apt placement of a song. That’s brilliant placement of some great music.

Is an appearance on a hot television show the sole reason for the comeback of ‘vintage’ music? Evidence says otherwise. According to an article published in The Atlantic , a study showed that ‘Old songs’ now represent 70 percent of the U.S. music market. Other factors also come into play. Large libraries are getting sold to the highest bidder for tens, sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars. That music then becomes available for use in soundtracks, commercials and other modes of consumption. Savvy DJs also use gold cuts in their presentations, bolstered by the knowledge that these songs filled dance floors for decades. Let’s face it: we all know a good song or sample can go a long way. I recently attended a sold-out show at First Avenue in Minneapolis that was brimming with twenty-somethings. Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” began playing over the system prior to the headliner and the floor quickly became a singalong as the awaiting crowd bounced in unison. That song is THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OLD. Yet, it somehow still sounded fresh.

There is something to be said for good music being timeless music. I truly believe quality and not always popularity has a lot to do with songs that are timeless or at least timely.

What can we learn from this? I think a couple lessons can be learned. I believe presentation makes a big difference. Sure, good music sells itself, but an enthusiastic and informative jock that knows how to push that button and pique the listener’s interest surely can’t hurt. I also think finding a way to showcase your format and acknowledging the depth can pay dividends as well. Program Director Garett Michaels of 91X in San Diego recently embraced the station’s four decades of deep alternative roots during an epic A to Z marathon presentation and had a very positive response. In fact, the response was so positive that the station re-positioned their programming to celebrate that rich heritage and colorful tapestry that has graced their airwaves since 1983.

Can celebrating our roots be the ticket to a rich future? Time will tell. It can no longer be ignored that the music that ushered us through our youth and adulthood is now striking a chord with a whole new generation of listeners. Keep sharing the gold, there’s plenty to go around.

It’s About Time: Min Max Step Rule and Hour Target Rule for Song Year

By Laurie Knapp

How do you control the balance and flow of musical eras on your station? Some people may use categories and clocks to position songs by era, while others might assign time periods as an attribute and then use rules to control their flow.

However, there are also a number of interesting rules you can use with the Song Year if you have it stored in a numeric field. MusicMaster’s numeric rules work mathematically with the values in the field, allowing you to do things like set things like the minimum, maximum, sum, or average value over time.

In this blog, we’ll look at two examples: the Min Max Step Rule and Hour Target.

Question 1: I want to control the flow of my music so that back-to-back songs are at least 5 years apart, but no more than 10 years apart.

Both of these things can be accomplished using the same rule: The Min/Max Step.

The “step” the rule name refers to the difference in the Numeric year value for each song. So the step between 1975 and 1980 would be five. (Note that when using this type of rule with an Attribute field, the “step” will refer to the difference in values you have set in the Attribute Code Editor.)

When you open the rule, you’ll see you can fill in the Min and the Max step. If you don’t want to set a Min or Max, you can leave the value set to the default of 0. In this case, I want to make use of both bounds, so I’ll set things up as follows:

Notice under the next dropdown, I’ve selected Test All Transitions. Alternatively, I could set it to look at the upward step only, or the downward step only. To understand what all these options mean, look at this example:

Scheduled Song 1: 1980

Testing Next Song 2: 1977

Song 1 and 2 are only three years apart, which is outside my acceptable bounds for the minimum step. If I had “Test All Transitions” on, Song 2 would not be able to play.

However, if I were to select “Test upward step only” then Song 2 would pass the rule, because MusicMaster will only be testing songs that are a step above the previous song. In order words, Song 2 would have to be between 1985 to 1990 (within 5-10 years later). But if the song being tested is from any time earlier than 1980, the rule won’t apply.

The same concept works in reverse for “downward step only”.

Typically, you’d want to use the “Test All Transitions” option but in some situations, you might want to have different minimum or maximum steps depending on if you’re looking in one direction or the other. For example, you might find that you’d prefer a stricter or more lenient rule when looking into the past versus the future.

To accomplish this, you’d set two separate Min Max Step rules with different settings. One would apply to the “upward step only” and one would apply to the “downward step only”, as follows:

Looking back at the Rule Settings, the next option you’ll see is the “Segue Search Properties” checkboxes. I’ve checked both on because I want MusicMaster to look both forward and backwards in the schedule when determining if that minimum or maximum step has been met. Since my hour doesn’t get scheduled in chronological order, I want to be sure it’s comparing songs that have already been scheduled directly before and ahead of the current song position.

I also want MusicMaster to compare consecutive songs even if they are on the other side of an hour, sweep marker, break, or piece of imaging. This means I would not check on any of the Rule Cutoff options on the right. If I did want to use any of these options, it would just mean the rule gets reset at either of these points, so it wouldn’t matter if the previous song was outside the minimum or maximum step range.

Finally, I’ve excluded my Non-Music, so their years don’t skew the results.

Now when I look through my schedule, I can see that there’s never a gap of fewer than 5 years between songs in any direction and also never a leap of more than 10 years in any direction.

Question 2: I want the average year in each hour to be somewhere around 1980, give or take 5 years.

The rule you’d want to use for this is called the Hour Target rule.

The gauge helps you visualize the years you are targeting. The values on the gauge are derived from the range of values you have set in that field for your songs, from lowest to highest value.

Important note! Before using this rule with a Numeric Field, you have to set an upper and lower range in the Database Field Editor. This rule is also available for Attribute fields, but here, MusicMaster uses the values that are set in the Attribute Code Editor.

To figure out the lowest and highest year you have for the songs in your library, choose all the categories you plan to use and click the Year header to sort from lowest to highest. The first entry has your lowest year. Now click the header again to sort from highest to lowest.

Next, go into Dataset > Library > Fields and find your Year field. You can also sort this list by clicking on the header. In the section on the right, type in the lowest year into Lower Bound and the highest year into Upper Bound. (Remember if you add new songs to your library that come before or after these years, you’ll want to adjust the bounds).

Back in the Rule Settings, note that as you adjust the pointer, you can see the targeted year change. With the second slider, you can also decrease or increase the tolerance to make the target range wider or narrower. You can also use your arrow keys to move the slider. Don’t worry about any decimal values. Since we’re working within broad averages, the range can be a little fuzzy.

So for example, if I want each hour to have an average song year of 1980, give or take 5 years on either side, I’ll adjust my hour target to somewhere around 1980 and adjust the tolerance until its plus and minus 5 years, or roughly 1975 to 1985.

Now, MusicMaster will try to schedule songs in such a way that the average across the hour is somewhere between 1975 and 1985.

Notice what happens if I move the slider closer to the edge and increase my tolerance. Now, the target window includes years that aren’t even in my database! A little red square appears as a warning. This just means you should adjust the gauge to make more sense for your data.

It’s important to note that the range of 1975-1985 does not refer to the song years that are allowed to schedule. Rather, it’s the acceptable range for the average of all the songs in the hour. This means roughly an equal spread of songs that also come before 1975 and after 1985.

Min/Max Hour Average

If you’re interested, there’s an earlier version of this rule called the Min/Max Hour Average. It’s the same rule, but with less options. Rather than use a target slider or tolerances, you simply type in the range of acceptable averages.

So remember, when I used the Hour Target rule, my target was 1980 but I was okay with five years on either side, in other words, an average of 1975-1985? If I were using the Min/Max Hour Average Rule, I would enter 1975 as the Min and 1985 as the Max. I also would have the same option to exclude Non-Music, but no Rule Cutoff choices.

You can use one or the other of these rules, it’s up to you. Just don’t use both!

Dayparting Considerations

As you think about the overall flow of eras across your station, you might also want to set different targets or min max steps at different times or day or different days of the week. To do this, you would use Rule Groups that have Time Restriction Filters set. You can then apply different variations of the Hour Target or Min Max Step rules within each Rule Group.

Library and Category Considerations

A general rule of thumb for rules is to make sure that the settings make sense within the context of your library.

For example, if you play a wide variety of music from the 60s through the 2000s, your step and target settings should be wide enough to accommodate a larger range of values.

That being said, you might also want to exclude certain categories from being tested by those rules. For example, most of my music comes from the 1970s to 1980s, but I have a few smaller categories containing 90s and 2000s music that I sprinkle in less often.

If I set my Hour Target or Min Max step narrowly to keep all my songs within the range of the 70s to 80s, those later category songs are going to have a hard time fitting in. If I broaden my ranges to include the 90s and 2000s too, then it’ll skew what I’m trying to accomplish with the vast majority of the music I play.

One way to remedy this is to only use the rule on the 70s-80s categories. The quickest way to do this is to create a Rule Group in the All Category folder that excludes the categories you don’t want to be affected by this rule. You can do this with a Category Filter set to Does Not Match the selected categories.

Now a 90s song can freely play next to a song from 1970, even if the Max Step was set to 10.

Keep in mind, the reverse is not true. Since the rule still applies to my 70s categories, a song from 1970 will be unable to play next to a song from 1990 that has already been scheduled.

This is where you have to think about Schedule Pass Order. To avoid this, I’d need to make sure my 90s music is scheduled after my other categories. That way, the 70s and 80s music can live wherever it needs to, even if a 90s song later moves in next door.

You may also choose to only use these rules for your non-priority categories, which schedule after your priority categories. That way, your priority songs can lay down first without as many restrictions on them. Then when you fill in the rest of your music around it, MusicMaster will work with those songs to try and achieve the target year you’ve set for the hour.

Conclusion

These are just two examples of rules you can use with song year, but it’s worth taking a look at all of the Numeric field rules available in MusicMaster and think about how you might use them creatively.

Remember, numeric fields are also useful for things like chart positions and research data. For example, you could set an Optimum Goal for your minimum burn score. That way, in a tie breaker between several perfect songs, MusicMaster will favor the song with the least burnout!

For more ideas, feel free to get in touch with your MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant and pick their brain about what you’re trying to accomplish!

A-to-Z Weekend

By Brian Wheeler

Creating an A-to-Z weekend for your audience can be a fun way to celebrate your library and give your sales staff an opportunity to sell an exciting and fun programming event. Best of all, you have all the tools necessary to create this event with your music library and MusicMaster.

First things first. What songs do you want to include in your A-to-Z list? This is a chance for you to flex your library a little bit. You can go with a true A-to-Z list using only your active categories or if you have a spike/flavor category or two you can add those songs in as well. Go to Dataset, Library, Song List Editor and click on the Find and Add songs icon in the upper left corner. Select the categories you wish to include in creating your A-to-Z list. On the upper right, select Add All to add all your songs to the open area on the left. Keep in mind, you can cull certain songs out of the list after creating it.

Once you’ve got your list, you can sort this list by alphabetical order by clicking on the two arrows crossing over each other. This button allows you to perform various functions on your list, including sorting. I’m sorting by Title, ascending. That will get everything in alphabetical order.

Now you can go through your list and remove any songs you do not wish to include in the A-to-Z weekend. Perhaps you’ve got a regular and live version of a song and you don’t want to play both. You can click on the remove song icon (right next to the add song icon) at the top of the page to remove any unwanted songs. Finally, save this list so you can call on it for your scheduling session. I named my list A-to-Z (title). Pro tip: you may decide to leave some droppable songs in your A-to-Z list as ‘oh wow’ songs, but also as possible drops if you are running a bit long at some point. Just make sure your jocks don’t pre-sell them unless they’re sure to play.

Once you are finished picking out any undesirable songs, note the estimated total time at the bottom of your song list. This is going to give you an idea of how long it’s going to take to get through this list (not including spots, jock talk, imaging, etc.) so make sure you’re allotting enough time to complete the list.

Next, create the A-to-Z clocks. You can clone your existing clocks and replace fixed positions with song list positions or you can create new clocks from scratch. I’ve created some generic clocks from scratch in this case and placed special weekend imaging in as well. Note: You may simply use the ‘Next’ Import option when creating this clock, but if you want to guarantee the list kicks off with the first song any time you run the A-to-Z list, the very first element in the first clock used should utilize the ‘Import the first song’ option when applying the Saved List positions. If you schedule the A-to-Z weekend and you have a false start and need to reschedule, you’ll need to reset the pointer back to the first song if you’re not using the ‘First song’ option in your clocks.

Now that the clock(s) exist, you can create a grid or apply the clocks in the Format Scheduler. If your clocks are more specialized and still have benchmarks, etc. it may be advantageous to create a separate assignment grid for the A-to-Z clocks. If you are just going with special programming/static clocks, you can create generic A-to-Z clocks and simply assign them in the Format Scheduler, like this:

Now you’re ready to schedule your logs. Schedule out the days you wish to include in the A-to-Z weekend.

You may have noticed an option at the bottom of the Automatic Scheduler setup screen called Session Song List. This can be used if you set up your clocks a bit differently.

When you built your clock for the A-to-Z Song List, you use the drop down to pick that specific clock. You could have left it at the default, which is Use Session List:

If you use this option, the clocks become generic allowing you to use them for any Song List you have. As long as the clocks are either in the Active Assignment Grid or assigned in the Format Scheduler, you will then get to pick which special you are using when you automatically schedule. In that case, you would then use the option to select your list as you see here:

The beauty of this is, of course, that you have one set of clocks you can use over and over, simply changing the Session Song List setting for whatever special you wish to run.

Once your logs are finished scheduling, edit them to make sure you’ve got your list beginning where you want it to start and that your elements aren’t too sparse or too overscheduled. You can easily move songs from hour to hour by dragging them up and down the schedule while in the schedule editor. I found that my hours could be a little tricky due to really short or really long songs, but adjusting each hour wasn’t too difficult overall. *Pro Tip: If you included droppable records in your list, you can use the marking feature (F7) in MusicMaster to make those songs stand out in your list. When you’re editing, those songs will be easily seen and you can elect to manually drop those if you feel you’re running long. Another tip is perhaps putting an asterisk next to a song title that a jock can drop should they run long in their live presentation and/or if the shows are voice tracked and timing appears to be off.

That’s it! A-to-Z weekends can be very enjoyable listening and a great opportunity for sponsorships. We’ve had many MusicMaster users plan A-to-Z weekends with great success. Give it a try the next long weekend you have!

As always, should you have any questions please reach out to your MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant. We’re happy to help with any questions you have, from A-to-Z!

Which Library Field Type is Right for You?

By Jesus Rodriguez

In PRO 7, we introduced a way for you the user to be able to create more fields for your library by going to Dataset, Library, Fields on your Menu Bar.

Here is where you can add a field by clicking on the Add Field Button:

You can give your field a name, abbreviation, tag, length, rules or no rules and Field Type under Data Type.

However, the big question I usually get from a client is “Which field type do I select and what do each of these do?” Well, we have a field type for every occasion. The purpose of this blog is to give you a brief example of each of your Field Type options.

1. Attribute Combo – Great for coding for items like tempo beginning, middle, and end of a song where the song starts Fast but the middle of the song is slow then picks up to a medium or up-tempo guitar rift of energy at the end.
2. Attribute In/Out – While like the previous description this can be used for the opening and ending of a song. For example, if a song opens up-tempo but ends slow or sad with an A cappella.
3. Attribute Multiple – This version is great for sound coding because you can select multiple attributes for any one song. For example, a song may be pop but it’s also rock, and rap because of a featured artist. This allows you to have one song to have a very detailed list of codes so that MusicMaster knows it’s a R- Rock, P-Pop because it crossed over to the pop world and am R-Rap because there may be a hip hop artist doing a verse as a featured on the track. This field type will then allow you to control this track with your rules from playing too close to other rock, pop, or rap songs.
4. Attribute Overall – Unlike my previous examples this field gets straight to the point and only allows you to assign one code to the song when using this field. For example, this song is Slow, that’s if there is no concern by you about how it is in the middle or end only one overall description for its tempo.
5. Date – Exactly what you think. This field for placing a date on the song. This might be a release date or something similar about the song.
6. Keyword Multiple – This version of this field allows you to place more than one artist name into the artist keyword field but can also be used for other things like when using special sets and you need a keyword field. There are more blogs on special sets on our site.
7. Keyword Single – If you only plan to use one artist name as your separation then this one is for you but if you deal with many artists in your format featured on other songs at the very least may I suggest the previous keyword multiple field type.
8. Length – Great any duration needs. Keep in mind we have a built-in Runtime field.
9. Memo – A good one for any type of internal notes for yourself about the song or item. Pronunciations, birthdays, internal reminders, song lyrics, etc.
10. Numeric Currency – If you need to assign a dollar amount to your item this field is for that purpose possibly for items like promos. You can then include this dollar amount with your affidavit for this item. Feel free to search our site for how to create affidavits.
11. Numeric Fixed – Year is a good example for this field or any set of whole numbers.
12. Numeric Float – This field is great for items like music test scores that may not be a whole number like 88.7 or this song received a call out of 7.8
13. Text – One of our most used fields for meta data entry like cart numbers, artist name, title, album, record label, ISRC codes, etc.
14. Yes/No – This is highly used for items that can only be one of two things. For Example, Core or Non-Core, English or Spanish, Pass or Failed music test.

You might have noticed the fields in my screen capture above that had a Type of Internal. These are fields specifically created to manage the MusicMaster database. As such, you cannot create any new Internal fields.

For the fields you can create, there are certainly more possibilities for what you can do with these fields other than the examples I’ve shared. Be creative and think about what you’d like to control and then pick the best field for that purpose. If you can dream it I am sure one of these field types can do it.

Please feel free to contact your MusicMaster support representative with the result you have in mind so we may suggest the proper field to use should an example in this blog not completely answer your needs.

Configuring the Format Clock Display

By Laurie Knapp

Just like in other areas of the program, you can configure how the clock editor screen looks in MusicMaster. This article will show you some available customizations and explain what each display column means.

First, the Show/Hide Pie View icon gives you the retro pie chart view, along with panels with information on category and element usage. Also in this panel is the Migrating Positions and FlexRules Analysis wizard, new in Version 8. (Read more about that feature here: https://musicmaster.com/?p=8220)

As you can see, you can split the screen to display both views.

To change the colors of the pie chart to be more meaningful to you, go to Tools > Options > Display Colors. As an example, I will change my Stopsets to be a bright red color.

If you’d like to add category and element information to the pie slices, go to the Clock section of Additional Properties and add the number 1 in the Pie-Clocks-Labels field.

Back in the Clock Editor, you can click the wrench icon to set Clock Editor Options.

You can filter what types of elements are displayed in your clock while you are editing. For example, you may choose to hide Lognotes when editing your music elements.

You can also determine which columns you see in your clock editor.

Some of these columns, shown under the Properties header, contain icon markers that represent element properties. You can double click the icons to edit the related properties. You can also hover over the icons to get a balloon tip.

For example, when you add a stopset that is a sweep marker, you’ll see a red stop sign with an S inside.

If you chose to lock the element, or hide it from export, reconciliation or printing, you’ll see a lock icon.

If you set a fill song for timing, you’ll see a clock icon.

You’ll see a filter icon when an element has an element filter or a session filter. An element filter calls for a song that meets criteria you set in the element properties. (Watch a walk through on setting up Clock Filters here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D76hqFv8nzc)

A session filter calls for a song that meets criteria you set later in the AutoScheduler, so you can use different criteria each time you schedule. (Read more about Session Filters here: https://musicmaster.com/?p=6702)

Other columns include the Element Type, or an Element Icon which represents the type.

The Quick Entry column gives you a place to quickly add and configure new clock elements using simple letter codes. You can look up the codes in Help, or by hovering over the element type in the InfoBar. (Learn more about Quick Entry here: https://musicmaster.com/?p=7440)

You can also check on the Element Counter, which allows you to see a secondary count of all elements that match the type you select in the box below. For example, you could use this to see at a glance how many music elements you have in your clock.

If you don’t see all of these options, make sure you’re on the latest version of MusicMaster. You can go to Help, Check for Update.

Should you have any questions or need assistance, reach out to your Music Scheduling Consultant.

HELP! (I Need Somebody)

By Dave Tyler

MusicMaster is a big powerful program. Robust is a good word for it. Don’t feel bad if you don’t know every nook and cranny of the program. I don’t either!!! The MusicMaster Help section, much like the program is, well, robust! If you’ve ever gone to a Help section in some software programs there is little to it and “Help” is certainly not offered. Let’s dig in and take a look at OUR Help section and what we offer.

When we first click Help we can choose from Contents, Index or Search. Each of these basically take you to the screen below. This is taking you to our full-on Help section but allows you to approach it in different ways. You can also see that no matter which you pick there are tabs for the others available as well. Contents lets you begin to open each section as it is laid out with your icons, Library, Clocks, Rule Tree, Scheduling, Analysis, History, Tools etc. Using it this way you can browse specific areas to find the information you need. Index gives you an alphabetical breakdown of popular features in MusicMaster Pro while Search allows you to type in specific words to find something that relates to that topic. If you have more than one word, put it in quotes to assist in looking for a match. I often get asked if there is a user manual for MusicMaster Pro and the answer is “YES”! Our Help section is the manual as it goes over each section of the software often with step-by-step setup and explanations. I know many Help sections for software offer very little but ours is detailed and complete! This is a huge and perhaps unused resource by many folks.

Another selection on the Help section is the Welcome Page. You may have already set this to open when launching MusicMaster already. If not, you can also find it here. Note that you will see recent station (Databases) that you’ve opened. In the bottom left corner there are three options on how you can manage when you see the Welcome Page. The Welcome page has LOTS of great info including our most recent blog articles plus special announcements too!

By clicking on the next option, MusicMaster Support, your web browser will open and you will be taken to the MusicMaster website where all of the options from phone numbers to opening a ticket to logging in to the Support Portal are available.

Next let’s take a look at the System Information option. This utility allows your Music Scheduling Consultant to determine if your operating system can run MusicMaster. It is likely you will only use this option upon initial installation of the software. Should it be needed, you will be able to Copy the information to the Clipboard and then paste it in an e-mail to your Music Scheduling Consultant.

User Registration is our next option in Help. When clicking here it may take a moment to populate with your information. If you needed to update your license you can do it here and you can also Renew your license. This process normally happens automatically but if ever you need to manually renew you can do it here. At the bottom there is a Tools button. You can test you connection. You can also copy this information to a clipboard or even Delete your License. Let’s discuss what this means. If you are using our new keyless licensing then your license is granted a certain number of “Installs”. If you have two licensed installs and load MusicMaster onto a new machine and enter your code it will tell you that you are out of license installs. If you need an additional install just contact your dedicated Music Scheduling Consultant. However if you are going to stop using MusicMaster on a machine because you are moving to a new machine you would want to delete the license from the old machine and then you can use the code on the new install and you are good to go!

Check for Update is our next selection. Clicking here will tell you what version you are clicking on. By clicking on “Next” it will let you know if there are any available updates to the software ready for you. On a side note you can always log in to our website, MusicMaster.com, and download the latest version from there as well.

When you choose our next selection “Release Notes” you will get a Notepad file that includes all of the changes, adjustments and fixes for each release within the version of MusicMaster Pro you are using.

When you select “View License” you will see the agreement that you agreed to when you installed MusicMaster on the computer.

Our final selection is “About MusicMaster”. There is a lot going on here when you open this:

There are some options like the Release Notes, License and System Info buttons that will give you the same information mentioned above under those areas. The Options and Temp folders are there mostly for your IT dept or if your Music Scheduling Consultant requests information from these. The two main players in this area are “App Folder” which will take you to the folder where the MusicMaster Program is installed. This is the folder that would also hold any “ini” files for deeper functions within MusicMaster. The most commonly used button here is the “Data Folder”. Clicking here takes you directly the folder where your actual MusicMaster database is located. If ever you need to send your database or backup to someone (i.e., Radio Consultant, Operations Manager or MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant) but you’re not sure where it lives, this is the spot. The Data Folder is also where you will house any definition files for functions like manual Reconciliation or Traffic Imports.

As you can see the Help Section in MusicMaster is an awesome and robust resource from information on licensing, step-by-step setup information and our Support Page for contact and downloads. Just about any question you may have about the MusicMaster program can be found here. As always, your dedicated support person is always available to help too!

You can go to Help, Check for Updates to get MusicMaster PRO 8.0.6.  Among the highlights:

The History Browser now has an option on the Categories tab to determine the Category Type.  You can select either Song Category or Scheduled Category.  Song Category is the category the songs are currently in or the category that the songs were in when they were scheduled during the specified time period. If you set this to Scheduled Category, songs that played during the time period in any of the selected categories will be included no matter where that song currently is located.  The Scheduled Category can also be included as part of the display when using the Individual Plays option.

New query operators are available when searching Multiple Keyword and Song fields.  With Multiple Keyword fields, you can use “Primary Keyword Does Not Equal” and “Primary Keyword Does Not Contain”. With Song and Keyword fields, you can use “Trivia Does Not Contain”.

The Hour, Sweep and Record Target rules have been adjusted to make the gauge bigger, especially helpful when the values it has to display are large numbers.

Please contact your Music Scheduling Consultant if you have any questions or need assistance installing this version.

Library Query Filters in Version 8.0
by Paul Ziino

We’ve introduced some new library query filters in version 8.0 that may come in handy for you. Here’s what you can expect.

In Date fields like Add Date, Edit Date, or Move Date there are new queries for

• Matches Current Date
• Within Current Week
• Within Current Month
• Matches Last Scheduled Date
• Within Last Scheduled Week
• Within Last Scheduled Month
• Within Last X Days
• Within Next X Days
• Within Last X Scheduled Days
• Within Next X Scheduled Days

For example, you could do a query for songs with an Add Date within the last X number of days or within the current month. Or you could look for songs that were moved into their current category within the last X number of days.

In multiple keyword fields like Artist Keywords there are new queries to include

• Primary Keyword Equals
• Primary Keyword Contains
• Primary Keyword Does Not Equal
• Primary Keyword Does Not Contain
• Count Equals
• Count Does Not Equal
• Count Greater Than
• Count Greater Than or Equal To
• Count Less Than
• Count Less Than or Equal To
• Trivia Text Does Not Contain

So you can query Artist Keywords and ask for only songs where the keyword in question is the first (primary) keyword in the field. Or you could request a list of songs for artists where their keyword appears at least X number of times.

And if you use the Trivia system in MusicMaster we can query in that field more easily now with the following options.

• Trivia Text Does Not Contain
• Trivia Start Date Equals
• Trivia Start Date Does Not Equal
• Trivia Start Date Greater Than
• Trivia Start Date Greater Than or Equal To
• Trivia Start Date Less Than
• Trivia Start Date Less Than or Equal To
• Trivia Kill Date Equals
• Trivia Kill Date Does Not Equal
• Trivia Kill Date Greater Than
• Trivia Kill Date Greater Than or Equal To
• Trivia Kill Date Less Than
• Trivia Kill Date Less Than or Equal To

Which can help you find trivia that is current, outdated, or has yet to go into effect.

Did you know you can create saved queries and then designate one of them as your favorite in the library? When you’re in the query window, click Save As to create a new saved query in the library.

Now that you have your query saved, in Library Maintenance click the binoculars icon with the little heart next to it—that’s where you can pick your favorite query. And by the way, if you don’t want a favorite query, you can select No Favorite Query.

There are lots of great new features in version 8.0, available now for MusicMaster Pro subscribers. Have questions? Reach out to your MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant.

Using Schedule Ready Check: Hour Timing, Airplay Contracts and more!

By Laurie Knapp

MusicMaster has several tools you can employ after the Scheduling process to ensure your logs meet your standards and are good to go. One you may be familiar with is Check the Log, which makes sure you aren’t sending out a log with any remaining unwanted rule violations. You can learn more about here (https://musicmaster.com/?p=8115).

Another tool, called Schedule Ready Check, will help you see if other important criteria have been met. For example, you can check for missing audio or loose traffic spots, ensure your Airplay Contracts are being met, and that your hours and days are timing out as you expect.

If you don’t already see the Ready Check button in your Schedule Calendar operations toolbar, you can add it. Right click the toolbar and select Customize.

Then, find Ready Check in the left-hand list of Operation Buttons and use the > arrow or drag it into the list on the right. You can place it anywhere in the list you’d like.

You can also right click on any day in your Schedule Calendar and select Perform Ready Check from the context menu.

When you launch Ready Check, you can see the various options available in the window below.

First, you’ll select a time period for the logs you wish to examine. By default, it will pick the day that was highlighted on the calendar when you opened Ready Check.

Then, use the check boxes to select the various criteria you want to look at. Let’s look at each in turn.

The first two options are helpful if you are looking to control hour or day timing. Your format clocks will predict the length of your hours based on average runtimes, but when songs are actually scheduled, you may find your hours are over or under time.

This can add up over time and cause time creep, so that things you’ve programmed to happen at certain times of day (like a top of hour news bulletin) may be off the mark. Of course, your automation system may be set up to correct for this by dropping or squeezing songs as needed. However, some users would prefer to take control in MusicMaster first, so they have a better idea of what’s happening with their log before it goes to air. That’s where Hour Timing comes in.

This can be done by adding a Time Marker element to the end of your format clock and specifying that you’d like it to fall within some window of time. In this example, I’m telling MusicMaster to try and keep this marker within 58:30 to 61:30, or a 90 second window on either side of the 60-minute mark. This gives me some wiggle room that I’m okay with.

Next, to make sure this actually happens, I need to apply the Clock Hour Timing rule. This is found in the Format Clock Rules folder. I’ll add it as an Unbreakable Rule in my All Categories folder and then Save changes to my rule tree.

Now, when MusicMaster is scheduling, it will lean towards songs that help satisfy the length of my hour, picking shorter or longer songs if needed. If the hour ends up too short, I’ll see rule violations as a warning. If the hour time is met or exceeded, MusicMaster may leave some remaining positions unscheduled.

Furthermore, when I’m editing the log, I’ll see a rule violation if I try to swap in a song that throws my hour timing off. If I filter the Replacement Songs (F9) window to display only perfect songs, or songs that don’t violate my Unbreakable Rules, I can be assured that all the choices will fit in time.

Just as with any other rule, some users might prefer to have very strict hour timing settings, while others may allow a little more wiggle room so that the natural rotation of their songs aren’t inadvertently skewed, with some songs being favored or overlooked. You can keep an eye on your spins using History Analysis and adjust as needed.

Looking back at Ready Check, I can use the first two options to make sure my hour timing is happening as expected.

I’ve set my first check to make sure that my hours are between -1:30 and +1:30 of an exact hour.

Since some hours may be more accurate than others, I want to make sure the whole day is coming out okay by using the second option. Here, I’ve asked MusicMaster to check whether each day is coming within 15 minutes under or over the 24-hour mark. You can select any values which are acceptable to you.

Moving on, the third option will warn me if there are any Unscheduled elements left in the log I might have missed. I have the option to “Ignore if the hour time is satisfied”. As mentioned above, you might expect MusicMaster to leave some elements unscheduled if you’ve already met your hour time. If you haven’t already deleted them from the log, you can tell Ready Check to ignore them.

The fourth option checks for missing audio files, or files that are not found in the path you specified in your Audio Filename field. You also have the option to ignore Non-Music, since you might not be concerned if a piece of imaging is missing and doesn’t play.

The fifth option checks for Loose Spots. This has to do with your Traffic Merge. When you run Traffic Merge, it will insert spots into the buckets of time you’ve specified as Traffic elements in your clock. Generally, this should happen as expected, because you’ve coordinated with your traffic software and accounted for appropriate start and end times in MusicMaster.

However, if a mistake happens and MusicMaster can’t fit a spot into the available buckets of time, that spot will be unscheduled and considered “loose”. MusicMaster keeps track of these loose spots, and when you run Ready Check, it will tell you if a spot from your Traffic Merge did not actually appear in your scheduled log.

Finally, Ready Check is used to ensure your Airplay Contracts are being met. Airplay Contracts are used if you need to control when and how often a certain song or promo should play. For example, maybe during the month leading up to the 4^th of July, you need a certain concert promo to air at least three times every weekday within 5pm-10pm. That’s a lot to keep track of!

Fortunately, you can double check yourself by setting up Airplay Contracts.

In the library, right click on a song and select Airplay Contracts from the context menu. If the item already has a contract, it will be listed here and you can Edit it. You can also create one by selecting New.

In the settings, you can set the contract Start and End Date, or when this contract will be in effect.

Next, you’ll set the Daily Requirements, like the minimum plays you need in a certain time-period. You also have the option to select days of the week where you want this contract to be applied. What you’re essentially saying is that you want to be sure the Daily Requirements are met within this hour window and these days, and outside of them, you don’t really care what happens. Here’s my example for the Fourth of July promo described earlier.

It’s important to point out that Airplay Contracts are not a rule. They don’t actually force the song to play when and how you’ve specified. You’ll have to set that up yourself using your clocks and dayparting. Likewise, a song will not stop airing just because the Airplay Contract period ended. Instead, you’ll need to remove the song from active rotation yourself, or use an automated tool like AutoMove to transfer it to a holding category on a certain date.

Instead, Airplay Contracts work hand-in-hand with Ready Check to warn you if you haven’t met the criteria you intended to during that contract period. If so, you’ll see a warning in Ready Check that you’ve violated your Airplay Contract, with details on what was overlooked.

Now that I’ve checked all the criteria I want to test in Ready Check, I hit Begin to start the process. In a moment, the results appear in the right-side panel.

The results show that despite the best efforts of Hour Timing, there were two hours that were under timing and one that was over. However, my day is still timing out within 15 minutes of 24 hours, so no problems there.

I also accidentally left two positions unscheduled in the 6pm hour, have one audio file that’s missing, and neglected to play one of the two required Fourth of July promos during the specified time slot.

Armed with this information, I can make any changes I need to satisfy my standards. But just as with many things in MusicMaster, this will be up to my individual preferences and needs.

Contact your Music Scheduling Consultant if you have any questions.

Assignment Grid Patterns

By Jesus Rodriguez

I often get calls from clients who want to get creative with their clock assignment grids, whether for competitive purposes or having different clocks with different categories every hour. The challenge at times before MusicMaster PRO Version 8 was implementing the clocks in the grid quickly when not positioned in hours next to each other. You may recall in our previous versions that you can still drag your mouse across the grid to select multiple hours and then type the clock code to see those hours assigned with the clock. What if you wanted to do the same quick task, but your clock needs to be across the grid in multiple hours that are not next to each other?

We have some great new shortcuts built right into the Assignment Grid. Let’s start with the first fantastic solution to select multiple hours anywhere on the clock. Press down on your Control button on your keyboard, then use your mouse to click on any hour square, even rows, and columns.

We also added a new tab in the assignment grid to help you quickly select any pattern you prefer based on your broadcast week, specified hours, shifts, match current hour, and the ability to invert your current selection.

With the Select Days option, you can select the hours of the week based on odd days, even days, and even both possibilities with and without the weekends included.

We can even make patterns based on hours. You can quickly select all your odd and even hours.

As they say, AND THERE’S MORE!!! We get crazy and quickly select your odd and even hours in a diagonal pattern.

Next, select your format clock to implement it into any of your desired patterns.

One common thing I see by many of our users is clocks specific to a daypart shift. You may have particular clocks for mornings, afternoons, nights, etc. Now you can implement them right away by selecting the shift pattern option.

You can also select a group of hours and apply any patterns only to that selection.

Did you decide to create a new clock to replace another used randomly throughout the week? Did you know that as of version 8, you can now select that clock no matter which hour it is on the grid and replace it in a couple of clicks with your new clock? Now you can! Simply select Match Current Hour from the pattern options.

This option will select all the same clocks on your grid to then select and replace them with your new clock.

This option will replace your old clock on the grid with another.

Whether you are the type of scheduler that enjoys different clocks every hour, you do not have the same clock at the same hour every day, or you are super competitive to prevent anyone across the street from figuring you out, this new feature will be a significant time-saver and workflow enhancement.

We hope you enjoy this new addition to MusicMaster PRO Version 8.0!

Contact your Music Scheduling Consultant with any questions.