Austrian radios don’t play enough Austrian music
Austropop should live on. But in the eyes of the Austrian radios, there’s not much to offer so what’s the big deal?
More and more imported music is in and it comes from the United States.
Statistics show that Austrian musicians don’t get enough airplay in their own country in spite of the many “cultural contracts” they have from the Austrian main broadcasting company, the ORF, which pretty owns many TV and radio stations here.
The ORF works like a monopoly until it loosened up its grip a few years ago. But despite the many attempts of private individuals to establish their own stations, ORF still gets the higher ratings and audience number. That’s why it makes sense that many local musicians are looking up to ORF to promote their work.
ORF’s pop radio station Ö3 in particular plays less and less Austropoppers. Compared to its sister station, the indie/alternative FM4, still regularly promotes domestic musicians or German-speaking bands/musicians. Still, the news isn’t flowery.
And no, present darling Christina Stürmer can’t save it too.
While the portion of Austropop amounted to 1997 still 23.3 per cent, the Austrian ratio sank to .06 to 14.3 per cent … As of 2005 and 2006 the portion of Austropop sank from 6.2 per cent to 4,97 per cent.
“An obvious discrimination,” said the trade unionist and musician Peter Paul Skrepek.
Not only the the musicians complain of the radios it is rare that their songs used as jingles or background music. One politician from Graz suggested that all radio stations should allot 40 per cent of the airplay to the local artists.
Perhaps the lounge pop Saint Privat is the exemption. A couple of the band’s singles are used as musical accompaniment–from Austrian women’s magazine to coffee.
The band’s music appeals to non-Austrians as well. And no, they don’t sing a lot of times in English. In fact, singer Valerie Sadjik croons often in French. But they have style and they don’t use the tied-and-tried formula unlike other musicians who refuse to explore beyond their limits.
Sample “Tous les Jours” from Saint Privat.
Saint Privat, Austropop, Christina Stürmer, Valerie Sadjik, ORF
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