‘Tween music isn’t as popular on radio
When Miley Cyrus debuted on top of the album charts earlier this month with “Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus,” she appeared on national morning television shows and the cover of People magazine.
The only spot she couldn’t be found was the one sure place you would expect to see a best-selling artist: Top 40 radio.
And she’s not alone. A league of ‘tween-leaning acts, including The Cheetah Girls and Aly and AJ – all current or former stars of the Disney Channel – are routinely mining gold, platinum and multiplatinum CD sales while being virtually locked out of the Top 40.
That includes songs from the chart-topping soundtrack to “High School Musical,” which was the best-selling album in 2006 and has passed the 4 million mark. (The soundtrack to the TV sequel is due in stores Aug. 14.)
“We had the No. 1 album of the year and nobody seemed to pay attention in the mainstream radio world, they didn’t care,” says Gary Marsh, Disney Channel Worldwide’s president of entertainment.
That’s because mainstream radio, which targets a coveted 18- to 34-year-old demographic, doesn’t want to risk alienating its older listeners.
“Radio has a stigma about playing these acts, considering them teen and preteen in their appeal,” says Guy Zapoleon, a radio consultant and former Top 40 programmer.
But Top 40 has shown it is not averse to playing artists the same age as many of their Disney counterparts: 19-year-old Rihanna has one of the biggest hits of the summer with “Umbrella” and Sean Kingston, also 17, scored with “Beautiful Girls.”
“Their lyrical content is perceived as more adult,” says Steve Greenberg, chairman of S-Curve Records and the music executive behind such past teen-friendly groups as Hanson and the Baha Men.
“I think it’s very hard for a very young artist with very clean lyrics to find a place on Top 40,” he says. “In a previous generation, the Disney artists would have found a home at Top 40. Now there’s no room for records that kids like but scare off adults.”
That can change as Disney stars grow up. Hilary Duff’s 2003 album “Metamorphosis” followed the soundtrack for “Lizzie McGuire,” the Disney Channel show that catapulted her to fame.
“Metamorphosis” has sold 3.7 million copies, the best by far of Duff’s several solo albums. It spawned two Top 40 hits, “Come Clean” and “So Yesterday.”
Her current album, “Dignity,” debuted at No. 3 on the album chart this spring. The first single, “With Love,” peaked at a respectable No. 36 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Airplay chart, but has had none of the staying power of “Come Clean,” which a number of programmers still play.
In a clear move to put Lizzie behind her, Duff appears on the covers of Us Weekly and Shape magazines in a bikini. She is also on the cover of the August issue of Maxim, which breathlessly declares she has gone “from the queen of teen to breakout sex symbol.”
Disney-owned Hollywood Records is trying to transition teen sister act Aly & AJ into Top 40 artists. Aly starred in the former Disney Channel series “Phil of the Future” and both appeared in the channel’s 2006 movie “Cow Belles.”
Instead of turning to the Disney Channel to promote the pair’s second album, “Insomniatic,” Hollywood and the siblings are plugging the project on MTV’s “TRL,” as well as appearing in the cable network’s “Super Sweet 16: The Movie.” A number of the album’s tracks, including the first single, “Potential Breakup Song,” appear in the film.
Coming through the Hollywood pipeline in August will be the label debut from the Jonas Bros., a trio of teen brothers who have already garnered a tremendous audience through the Radio Disney and Disney Channel faithful. They have also filmed a Disney Channel pilot.
Even though Walt Disney Records/Hollywood have yet to pitch Cyrus’ material to Top 40 radio, sales are certainly not suffering.
Last year’s fall release of “Hannah Montana” sold 2 million copies in about three months’ time, and total sales have topped 2.7 million.
Cyrus, daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, is clearly looking toward the future. In an effort to have consumers connect the dots between the Hannah Montana character she plays and herself, the new two-CD set includes one disc of songs credited to Montana and one by Cyrus.
She and her Disney-related counterparts are about to face more competition as traditional pop labels seek to stop the precipitous drop in album sales by chasing ‘tweens themselves.
Sony Music Label Group and Nickelodeon inked a deal in June to co-produce television series and original movies to air on the kids-oriented cable channel, as well as release a number of musical projects over the next four years.
The first CD will be the soundtrack to kid series “The Naked Brothers Band” TV series, coming later this year.