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Ok, there are two versions of this piece. Here’s the short one: Which business is most successful today? Spotify and streaming music services, or broadcast Radio?

Perception is reality.

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And now for the details…

If you ask anyone – literally anyone – outside of our business how our business is doing, they will say it’s either dying or dead.

Heck, some inside our business say that too.

If you ask them about Spotify, they will say they subscribe, or are planning to, and regale you with gushing praise about how great it is. No commercials. No clutter. Wonderful playlists.

Here’s the truth: “Spotify has consistently led people to believe they would have a profitable business that would justify their valuation and used capital raised on the back of that valuation to chase rainbows,” said Richard Kramer, founder of tech-focused equity-research firm Arete Research. “None of those rainbows were captured.”

That quote is from a Wall Street Journal piece on Spotify that won’t make CEO Daniel Ek a happy guy. You can read it for free HERE, a gift article.

Spotify launched in 2008.

2008! 16 years ago, dude!

“It has lost money in its $1 billion push into podcasting—a business that has turned out to be less lucrative than many first expected. An effort to stage concerts and sell tickets has struggled. And Spotify is two years late in rolling out high-fidelity lossless audio, a better-quality offering for audiophiles its major rivals have delivered.”

Meanwhile, Radio, our business, the Gomer Pyle of media, which almost everyone believes is dead, continues to have the largest weekly adult reach of any platform.

That includes listening to music and watching videos on smartphones.

But…but…you wonder, how can that be? Didn’t I just read earlier this year that another gigantic Radio company is kaput?

“Audacy, one of the largest radio and podcast companies in the U.S., filed for bankruptcy in Houston, Texas, with a pre-negotiated debt deal that would wipe out its existing equity shares and turn over control of the company to a lender group that includes hedge funds HG Vora Capital Management, PGIM and Lakestar Finance.“

Ahhh, just what Radio needs: more hedge fund investor/owners.That’ll inspire creativity and content, and juice up ad rates.

It’s very difficult to convince really rich guys they aren’t the smartest people in any room. Believe me, I’ve tried.

At the very least, can’t the NAB and RAB and any other AB’s out there do a better job touting Radio’s success and Radio’s future?

We’d have more fun hiring Randy Michaels to irritate Ek and the ‘Spotties’ the way he used to irritate his competitors in Tampa.

Put some actual radio people in charge of changing perceptions.

It can’t go worse than it is now.