20 Years of "U.S. Radio Hangs Up On Madonna"

[27monster27 15,837]

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/us-radio-hangs-up-on-madonna-57759/

Twenty years ago today, Billboard released the infamous article talking about how Madonna was not receiving airplay for Confessions on a Dancefloor singles in the US, while elsewhere she was was one of the most played artists of 2005-2006. The article followed a petition signed by more than 3,000 fans demanding that Madonna receive adequate airplay in the US; the petition featured an accusation that she was being boycotted. The boycott rumor was denied, but it did not quell conspiracies. For example, many people questioned why SOS by Rihanna could get strong airplay, yet Hung Up by Madonna couldn't. This list followed on growing controversies and accusations of avoiding artists through boycotts and blacklists like with Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, and more.

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I refuse to forget and forgive iHeartMedia (then known as Clear Channel) for this. Censoring Madonna because they couldn't handle her calling out the US on American Life. It was just her either. Britney was censored because her management chose to do a deal with Pepsi instead of iHeartMedia for the Dream Within a Dream tour, Janet because women don't have the same rights as men when it comes to being topless, Rage Against the Machine because they boldly and loudly call out fascist policies in the US at every turn, The Chicks for a singular on stage statement against Bush, etc. I think the petition partially failed not just because of the strength of censorship in the US, but because Madonna was not being boycotted. She was actually blacklisted. A boycott is openly avoiding playing certain songs (this is what happened to Judas in 2011), while a blacklist is putting an artist (or specific songs) on a list where they are instructed to not be played. People claim that this is illegal, but the US has done illegal sh!t all the time, so that doesn't mean much.

[VelvetVenus 156]

For me it is amazing that both Madonna and Britney got even more popular during their boycotts, which just proves how big they were

It is unimaginable for an artist to survive without radio during that time and not only they survived, they GREW

[Lucas 31,062]

You'd think that radios would eat up the COAD singles back then, I'm very surprised.

Edited Tuesday at 07:55 PM by Lucas
edit: rip my english idk how to write this sentence correctly lol. Is it correct to use 2x "would"??

[27monster27 15,837]

9 minutes ago, Lucas said:

You'd think that radios would eat up the COAD singles back then, I'm very surprised.

Literally this. Madonna started the 2000s trend of sampling old school dance music with Hung Up.

[princedeeblebleble 3,573]

I honestly don't understand the age being a factor in radio play. Like youngsters always listened to alternative wayst other than the radio  you'd think they would wanna play older artists for the older people who actually listen to the radio :p idk sexism is gross, I'm tired of **** music being constantly played while actually good music being paid dust or played on just alt radios.

Edited Tuesday at 08:16 PM by princedeeblebleble

[RochesterJoannster 4,042]

Yep. Agism is real as f*ck. Other artists often get hit earlier than Madonna. 

Miss Perry is a fantastic example. And Mariah and Janet. Yes Mariah had her comeback but didn’t maintain that success like she did her 20’s. And yes Janet’s black listing was part of her decline, but that only lasted one album, and she was never able to get a hit again after several albums. 
 

Gaga is an exception, not a standard. There aren’t many 40 year old women who are even able to chart on the hot 100, let alone get hits. She could actually be a contender to take Cher’s record as oldest person with a #1 on the Hot 100. She’s about 10-15 years younger than Cher was when she released “Believe”.