Had an annoying email exchange with a label rep today. I wrote to see if they were planning to send XDU a copy of a new CD I'd heard about. Actually the station had received a sampler disc with a few songs from the album. So the rep wrote back and said, well, yes, if I'd rather have the whole album, of course they'd send it. But the sampler was created especially for radio stations and they'd appreciate it if we'd go ahead and start playing. All well and good (they're just doing their job after all) but it just bugs the piss outta me. Frankly, I never like to playlist those advance sampler CDs. Of course the label likes them cos they result in the singles being played (over-played). But XDU's mission is to educate and entertain, which I think is much more well served by exposing both the DJs and the audience to the rest of the CD, to the songs that might not get played on other stations. I should probably point out, as if it wasn't obvious to those who know anything about college radio or the music biz, that this rep works for one of the few major labels I have any contact with. Small labels (and small promo folks) are almost always more helpful and aware of how things work at college radio.
The upside news for this week is that XDU's got enough of a budget to go out and buy some CDs. Woohoo! I'm hoping we'll be able to get a bunch of good stuff on Soul Jazz -- inc. Sandoz, Bell, NYC 70s disco-funk-soul, British 70s disco-funk-soul, Jamaican 70s disco-funk-soul-reggae, and Konk(!!!) -- and also to fill in some of the holes in our set of Ethiopiques CDs.