Welcome to MusicMaster

MTV Africa – Johannesburg, South Africa; MTV Hits International, MTV Rocks International, MTV Dance International – London, United Kingdom; Sanctuary Baptist Church – Brunswick, GA; Texas A&M Dept of AG & Communication – College Station, TX; WJLU-FM, WJLH-FM – Port Orange, Florida; BrianFM – New Zealand

NAB Show Recap

With test drones flying over head and the very latest in broadcast technology on display, Team MusicMaster Worldwide spent time with a variety of global automation partners at the 2014 NAB Show®, April 5-10 in Las Vegas, NV.  Over 93,000 enthusiasts got hands-on experience with cutting-edge technology at the world’s largest electronic media show covering filmed entertainment, and the development, management and delivery of content across all mediums.

MusicMaster representatives demonstrated how our World Class Software interfaces with various automation, playout, research, traffic and other systems.

Special thanks to our automation partners: iMediaTouch, David Systems, Netia, SCISYS Deutschland, Wide Orbit, and ENCO.

After each day’s festivities, personalized demonstrations and conversation made the MusicMaster hospitality suite at Wynn Resorts a popular destination (shown below).

We’ll see you at the September NAB Radio Show in Indianapolis!

Here are some impressions from the show:

MusicMaster’s Jesus Rodriguez and Drew Bennett with On Air’s Max Mueller

Paul Ziino shows off MusicMaster and ENCO…

…along with Aaron Taylor

iMediaTouch’s Bill Baines, client Jana Sproule, iMediaTouch’s Renel Choiselat, Gary Kristiansen, MusicMaster’s Joe Knapp, and iMediaTouch’s Scott Farr

Canadian Music Week Sessions

MusicMaster 2020
Music Scheduling Innovations for the Future

The premier music scheduling service in the world will be offering this session during Canadian Music Week, showcasing the increased depth in programming services offered by their company. Company president Joe Knapp will moderate this session and will be featuring some of his key players to help you use MusicMaster into the future and to answer any questions you may have about using their system to its maximum effect. Join us at Trinity 4-5 on May 7 from 1:00 – 1:50 PM.

RADIO: NETWORKING SUPER SESSION
Radio Consultants Roundtable Meetings

This gathering of the top minds of the game, all in one place, is your chance to pick the brains face to face of those whose experience and knowledge can deeply enhance your own, including that of MusicMaster’s Joe Knapp. Join us at Trinity 1-3 on May 8 from 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM.

More Than Just Music – Scheduling Promos/Liners/Events with MusicMaster

More and more stations around the world are starting to use MusicMaster not only for music scheduling but also for the professional handling of their station’s on-air promotion activities. The benefit they see is in taking advantage of the already built-in and vast amount of functionality that MusicMaster offers when it comes to content management and scheduling. They use MusicMaster to schedule their jingles, liners, promos, and voice tracks.

Gunnar Astrup, Head of Music at Alsterradio 106.8 in Hamburg /Germany: “Thanks to the possibilities in MusicMaster, it was an obvious decision for us to start outsourcing and professionalizing the scheduling of our station’s on-air promotion.”

If you are interested in knowing more about the different options of using MusicMaster besides music scheduling, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

This picture was taken during a two-day MusicMaster “on-air promotion scheduling” training at Alsterradio 106.8 in Hamburg:From the left: Gunnar Astrup (Head of Music), Maike Sieber (Music Director), Hannes Erdmann (Music Director), Benjamin Kanthak (Music Director), Steffen Schambach (Head of On Air Promotion), Alexander Schenk (On Air Promoter)

All Access Worldwide Radio Summit Recap

Hundreds of radio pros, music enthusiasts and industry insiders converged on the legendary Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel for the 4th annual Worldwide Radio Summit. Team MusicMaster Worldwide co-hosted the Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood VIP Mixer (with our name in lights, shown below), featuring live performances by Zendaya, Christina Perri, and Daughtry.

Many world-class speakers offered the latest information on selling and making money in a digital world, proper utilization of social media, talent development, product branding, and how labels go about developing artists and releasing new music.

Hats off to Joel Denver, Matt Parvis, Tyler Polzin, and the entire Summit crew for an amazing event.

Here are some impressions from the show:

MusicMaster’s Drew Bennett hanging out with MusicMaster client George Cook, spotting  a familiar face on our video screen!

Wrapping another incredible All Access Worldwide Radio Summit (left to right: Wide Orbit’s Jeff Dempsey, Joel Denver from All Access, and from MusicMaster Shane Finch, Drew Bennett, and Aaron Taylor).

Our good friend Steve Resnik “The Ramp” and Melanie Ross of MusicMaster.

RAIN Summit West Recap

MusicMaster President, Joe Knapp, gave a revealing presentation at RAIN Summit West, the premiere educational and networking conference for the online audio industry. While speaking at the April 6, 2014, Las Vegas event, Joe promoted the idea that personal Internet radio enthusiasts may become the ‘farm system’ for future broadcasting talent and explained how MusicMaster Personal Edition (PE) can help these hobbyists change the industry by giving them access to professional music rotation software for under $300.

Interested in learning more? Visit www.musicmaster.com or contact Joe directly at: joe@mmwin.com.

Garry Wall, Joe Knapp, and John Gehron

MusicMaster Get Together Tour 2014

The MusicMaster family is growing constantly all over the world. To meet as many of our Clients as possible, we decided to go on the MusicMaster Get Together Tour. We will kick it off with a 11 city tour through Europe in May and June.

Joe Knapp, President of A-Ware software and the European partners will be there to give you some insight of what is happening on the MusicMaster development side as well as on the exciting plans for the future.

But the main reason for the tour is to meet and share a nice evening with you, with some drinks and snacks and lots of good conversations.

We all are looking forward to this tour very much and hope to see as many members of the MusicMaster family as possible.

• May 22: MusicMaster Get Together Tour 2014 – Berlin, Germany
• May 26: MusicMaster Get Together Tour 2014 – Brussels, Belgium
• May 27: MusicMaster Get Together Tour 2014 – Paris, France
• May 28: MusicMaster Get Together Tour 2014 – Madrid, Spain
• May 29: MusicMaster Get Together Tour 2014 – Barcelona, Spain
• June 2: MusicMaster Get Together Tour 2014 – Cologne, Germany
• June 3: MusicMaster Get Together Tour 2014 – Munich, Germany
• June 4: MusicMaster Get Together Tour 2014 – Vienna, Austria
• June 5: MusicMaster Get Together Tour 2014 – Zürich, Switzerland
• June 6: MusicMaster Get Together Tour 2014 – Milano , Italy
• June 10: MusicMaster Get Together Tour 2014 – Amsterdam, Holland

If you plan to attend, please register at http://register.onair.de or send a email to office@onair.de.

See you all soon!

Genius Day Savannah

The MusicMaster road show continued this month when the lovely and talented Marianne Burkett, along with Joe Knapp tagging along, paid a call on our friends at L&L Broadcasting in historic Savannah, Georgia. With the song Georgia On My Mind firmly stuck in our heads the whole time, this MusicMaster Genius Day Workshop was jam packed with helpful hints and deep tips and tricks. Our gracious hosts, Allison (Zoey), Ryan, Tim, Tony, and Gabe taught us all about southern hospitality while we taught them a few things about MusicMaster. How cool is that? We LOVE live and local radio, which is why we’re so fond of these particular radio stations. Check out their Facebook page here.

Marianne Burkett, TC Michaels, Gabe Reynolds, Ryan Koch, Zoey Acker, Tony Bristol,  and Joe Knapp

Sean Ross on MusicMaster

They Were Intriguing, But Where Are They Now?

To make the “Intriguing Stations of the Year” column, a station doesn’t have to be a ratings success. “Intriguing” is a salute to those stations that were different enough to be notable, or at least indicative of a change in our industry’s programming mentality. But four months after ROR’s look at “Intriguing Stations of 2013,” some trends continue to gather momentum. At a reader’s urging, here’s a cross-sample of stations that made the “Intriguing” list for 2012 and 2013 and how they’re doing now. (Read more.)

Industry Event Calendar

There are industry events and conventions every month around the world. We always appreciate meeting our customers and finding out how MusicMaster is working for them. If you’re planning on attending any of these events, let us know. We’d love to meet with you if possible.

• May 6-10: Canadian Music Week – Toronto, ON
• June 17-20: BroadcastAsia2014 – Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

MusicMaster Pro-Team: Gary Berkowitz

For the past 20 years, Gary Berkowitz has been helping AC radio stations improve their 25-54 ratings.

The Berkowitz difference:

AC IS MY ONLY FORMAT
I am a specialist

BERKOWITZ CONSULTED AC’S WIN
Our stations are consistent 25-54 winners.

I WORK FOR THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AC’S
WMJX, Boston; WWFS (Fresh 102.7), New York; WKQC, Charlotte; WLIF, Baltimore; and WEAT-FM, West Palm Beach are an example of our highly rated 25-54 AC client stations.

WHEN YOU HIRE GARY BERKOWITZ, YOU GET GARY BERKOWITZ!
No associates. No “second stringers.”

Contact Gary at 248-737-3727 or garyberk@aol.com

The MusicMaster Pro-Team is comprised of experienced broadcast consultants and programmers who are available to assist MusicMaster clients with programming advice. Their services are available under this cost effective program with no long term commitment required, and can be added to your existing software support plan. Information on each MusicMaster Pro-Team member is available below. If you would like to retain the services of one of the MusicMaster Pro-Team members or have questions about the specifics of the program contact Joe Knapp, President/CEO at +1 (262) 786-6519 or JoeKnapp@A-Ware.com.

See the complete MusicMaster Pro-Team Roster.

Quick Tip: Scheduling Goals

If you’ve been in the Rule Tree and opened the Optimum Goal Scheduling folder and wondered what all those targets did, you’re not alone. Here’s a quick primer on what they can do for you.

If you had all the time in the world, would you look at every song and determine which is the best possible one at each specific point in time? Sure, why wouldn’t you if it would make your station sound great. Now, let’s be realistic. That isn’t going to happen. You’ve got a list of rules in your Rule Tree and MusicMaster picks the first one that meets all those rules. It doesn’t consider that if it had looked at a few more songs it might have found an even better song.

That’s where Goals come in. We think of them as tie-breakers. We’ll look at your whole search depth to find the best testing songs. Then, we’ll take a look at what Goals you have in place and use those criteria to break the tie. For instance, if Song Rest was your Goal, we’d look for the song that hadn’t played the longest and schedule it. If the Goal was Artist Keyword Hour Exposure, we’ll determine which artist keyword hasn’t played in this hour in the longest amount of time. You get the idea.

Interested in learning more? Check out past blog articles like Optimum Radial Spread and read more at How Goals Work.

Recent Feature Articles From the MusicMaster Blog

Filling in the Holes with Optimum Radial Spread
By Paul Ziino

In MusicMaster 5.0 we introduced a new Goal in Optimum Goal Scheduling™ called “Optimum Radial Spread.”  The MusicMaster Readme.txt file defines Optimum Radial Spread by stating, “This Goal attempts to favor replacement songs that have rested the longest in the region of the day being tested.”  So what does that mean?  Basically, Optimum Radial Spread fills in the holes in your history graph. (Read more.)

Linking Song Cards to Audio Files in MusicMaster
By Drew Bennett

Lately, we’ve received a lot of support calls about setting up audio in a database so you can listen to segues  or whole song files. Spring is here and it’s a good time for a refresher on setting up audio in MusicMaster! After all, music is why we all do what we do and being able to listen to it while you schedule is a great feature to have in MusicMaster. (Read more.)

Music Master of the Month

Alex Benedetti
Head of Music Programmer
Virgin Radio Italy
Milano, Italy

“Virgin Radio Italy began broadcasting July 12, 2007, and since its planning, which lasted some months, we used MusicMaster as music scheduler. Before then I had never tried it and, to be honest, I had never even seen it. During that time, Virgin Radio, having to start from scratch, was made as a driver for the Finelco Group on MusicMaster test. There was no better opportunity to try it and I must say that the choice was very appropriate.

“It has an intuitive and fully customizable interface, with drag and drop, copy and paste of single and multiple fields, inline or even in rows and columns like a classic spreadsheet.

“It has an infinite amount of functionality for customizing rules, clock, lists… I’m not overdoing it by saying, from my point of view, MusicMaster is the best music scheduler on the market!

“Its flexibility and its customization options allow me to save a lot of time in conducting the operations of both preparation and scheduling of a radio day. MusicMaster is not a simple scheduler… it’s so much more!”