The music business is changing fast and our little world, the smooth jazz genre has endured some serious growing pains over the last two years. This shift will ultimately be for the best because it is moving things out of the hands of a single big corporation and back into the hands of media people and fans who know it, love it, and really care. As these doors have opened, a lot of people have taken the initiative to become active in getting the music heard. It's not a matter of degrees or impressive resumes anymore. It's a DIY world now and we are going to cover as many of these new music activists as we can, starting with GrooveJazzMusic.com, a new online trade publication.

Fans have been affected by a lot of the obvious changes in the music industry - the big music retailers closing, big box stores cutting back on the variety of titles they stock, the shift from CD to MP3/iTunes, radio station playlists narrowing and all the format changes. Other changes have been more behind the scenes, but affect both fans and artists. The way charts compiled has changed dramatically and a lot of the major trade publications that published these charts have folded. There used to be multiple charts for retail and a whole array of trade papers for radio people. Radio and Records published the charts that had the most credibility within the industry because stations had to go through a screening process before they could report. By the turn of the century "R'n'R" was really the only radio oriented one left standing. We all raised an eyebrow when they were bought out by the company that owns Billboard Magazine and some of the elements were combined or assimilated. In the smooth jazz world their chart was the only one that counted, movement up and down it affected the artists' ability to book live dates, get their music on the retail shelves, and get the ultra conservative major market stations to start playing a song. This spring they cut back some of their niche format coverage and smooth jazz, with very few stations left,  was one of the first to go. Rumors buzzed that the chart would go away when the format column did but the chart lived on until a few weeks ago when, after almost 40 years, Radio and Records closed shop.

Around the time rumors started to fly about RnR's smooth jazz coverage getting kicked to the curb a lot of us got an email announcing a website and a new chart - the Groove Jazz Music chart. The remaining corporate stations in the format would be contributing to the chart but it would cover a much wider territory. Stations in smaller markets or on the noncommercial end of the dial and would be contributing to this chart too. Why "Groove Jazz" instead of "Smooth Jazz?" The press release explained that "Groove Jazz" better described the music and the stations they intended to include since many weren't bound by the narrow definition of the smooth jazz sound. A lot of the noncommercial and independent stations also include contemporary, fusion, and straightahead jazz as well as blues and R&B. Music that has falls under the wide umbrella of jazz and has a definite "Groove."

GrooveJazzMusic.com was founded by Steve Butler, Adam Leibovitz, and Seth Keller - three industry veterans who have experience in every facet of the business. I spoke with Seth Keller about how and why GrooveJazzMusic.com came about and how it fit in as we create new business models to keep the artists working and the music flowing. Keller said that when they began discussing the website they didn't intend to publish a music chart. With all the stations defecting from the format they wanted to create a hub for disenfranchised fans that would stream the music and help them keep up with the artists and music. They also wanted to support the live music scene with concert information for fans and provide a way for independent concert promoters to network. The idea for the chart came about because Leibovitz had a contact at MediaGuide - a company that tracks the music that radio stations play and compiles charts using that information. They felt that there was room for a chart that covered more stations than R'n'R was tracking and MediaGuide was willing to track some smooth jazz stations.  When R'n'R announced they were going to discontinue their smooth jazz chart the GrooveJazzMusic team pooled their resources jumped into the void, working two days straight to get the website and chart up and running. R'n'R then decided to continue doing their chart but GrooveJazzMusic now had an alternative chart up and running and were poised to become more prominent when that publication announced they were closing their doors.

After they had that chart launched they made a significant step into the future by creating a chart based on Internet radio airplay - an area that has experienced considerable growth as terrestrial stations have declined. The terrestrial radio chart's similarity to the extremely conservative R'n'R chart was surprising, but even more surprising was the fact that the Internet broadcasters didn't stray too far off the beaten path either. Keller noticed it too. "Adam's theory, which I think is correct," he noted "is that the big stations play the big songs that are by established artists and are well promoted. The small stations play the big songs and the little songs. They play the Boney and Rick Braun hits but they also play the newer stuff earlier and give more attention to artists who are not established big names yet. Since the "big songs" get spins on more stations they tend to dominate the top of any chart and as the developing songs pick up momentum they show up at the bottom and move to the middle. At the commercial level, the power of the individual programmer has been reduced so much because of media consolidation that even when they do get some power it takes a while to get comfortable with using it. With independent and Internet stations, it may take time to move beyond wanting to emulate the heritage stations and start trusting their own skills when they create their station's sound." They are hoping that they can help programmers expand their horizons by publishing both charts and featuring different programmers every week discussing the music they are excited about.

How are these charts compiled? In the pre-technology era the stations would call in and report the songs they had added and the most active songs on their playlist. This information was not always reliable because a station that wanted to do a favor for a promoter or record company could report a song then never play it or only play it overnight. Then it became possible to electronically monitor what is being played. Companies like MediaGuide have monitoring stations in the markets they cover and the software is designed to detect what is being played and how often it is being played. They compile that data into various charts which can show what is being played on a specific station, how often a song is being played on all stations in a market, or any number of other data configurations.

On the surface it looks like charts wouldn't matter anymore since they have very little to do with how the average person finds music these days. Teenagers used to look their favorite station's chart as a gathering place for their musical peer group but now they find their own music and share it with friends. The peer group mentality never meant much to adults, who basically listen to what they like. The role of the chart in adult oriented music is that it acts as a filter. The more conservative stations - terrestrial, Internet, and cable- often require a song to reach a certain point on a chart before they will play it. These are usually the larger markets and providers so when they start playing a song it gets heard by a lot more people. "All the fans need is to love the music, have access to it, go to the shows, and belong to the community that that artist has created" Keller noted, "Does the business need it? I think it does help people in the business gain traction for their artists because they can point to the statistics and say they sold this amount of tracks or albums, or they are getting this much airplay. It helps them when they are dealing with advertisers, sponsors, investors or concert promoters. Statistics are still invaluable in that aspect."

They have done a lot of work in a small amount of time but Keller, Butler, and Leibovitz already have expansion in mind. They are creating more coverage for local and regional concerts with a page where fans will be able to click on a region or state and find out about events in that area. They also want to have more business oriented news-coverage of what artists, promoters, and labels are doing to market the music and get exposure - something that has been missing since the print trade publications started to fold.

There are some excellent music magazines on the web that share information with the fans, but before we as writers or radio programmers can share it with you we need to find out about it. GrooveJazzMusic.com has jumped into the fray with the potential to become the first full-service online trade publication for smooth jazz programmers. They have a much more inclusive overview than traditional trade publications too since they cover everyone from the corporate biggies like The Wave to independent Internet broadcasters streaming from their home offices. Creating a community is their priority. "A lot of people are spending their time and their money promoting these artists and running these Internet stations, so everyone should have a voice and a forum. Taking this out from the underground and letting people know that there are others out there doing similar things is going to help everyone concerned."  Keller also believes, as I do, that the musicians in our genre can learn a lot about managing their careers in the new business climate buy watching musicians in other niche genres that are thriving, like jam bands and singer/songwriters, and doing what they have done. They have created communities that rally around the music. As Keller summed it up, "It's about a shared love of the live experience. They may not be selling tons of CDs but in this day and age it's more about exposing your music and growing your fan base. I think that if we make it about the music, this small community can grow and thrive. That's our goal with this site. To help that process as much as we can."