Next came the diminished impact of singles sales. In many cases, the surviving local record stores found it difficult to get immediate product. The tail began wagging the dog. Bring on SoundScan, K-Mart and WalMart and record sales have become less of a programming tool. That is a travesty, because sales are the barometer of a hit record.
Record companies define a hit by sales.
That mentality is not shared by radio because programmers don't have the means or the time to make that calculation. In the weeks it takes for a record company to determine whether or not a record is going to sell, a programmer's career can be over. Record companies must recognize this programming reality and adjust their promotion accordintly. Immediate sales are impossible. Now, record companies are asking programmers to play a record, and keep on playing it, sometimes for longer than six weeks until sales kick in.