End The Madonna On US Radio Boycott

Dear Pop Music Lover,

First of all I would like to say that this petition is NOT limited to merely Madonna fans and admirers but to all music lovers around the world. Especially admirers/fans of artists who feel their idol is ignored and boycotted on US radio these days. My name is Rob Jacobs, and I live in the netherlands (so excuse me if there are any spelling or grammer errors in this letter). I'm a great Madonna admirer (I personally never use the word fan, because I don't like to associate myself to anything related to the term fanatical these days).

First let me describe the situation at hand which made me start this petition:

A few months ago Madonna released a new album, "Confessions On A Dance Floor". The first two singles from this album have shot to the top of the charts worldwide. Worldwide, except for the United States where the songs Madonna has been releasing get NO radio support what so ever.

This has been going on ever since Madonna released the song "American Life" with an accompanying controversial and thought-provoking music video. After that fans/admirers were getting the impression that american radio was boycotting her and her music, but we couldn't be sure because the singles from the album "American Life" weren't exactly worldwide SMASHES. Not up to Madonna's usual level of succes anyway. But then came "Confessions On A Dance Floor", with it's first single "Hung Up".

The song literally SHOT to the top of the charts worldwide, but US radio didn't play the song. When fans requested the song at big, leading and influential stations like New York's Z100 they were told that the song had not been added to the playlist yet and first had to be a hit on smaller radio stations before it would be added to their playlist. Which is odd. Because the station works with the principle that they base their playlists on audience requests and make bucketloads of money from people calling and text messaging in their requests. That doesn't seem to be the case when they state that a song first needs to be a succes on smaller stations around the US first. Another excuse fans who requested the song would get was that Madonna didn't fit in the age demographic of the station and was "too old". First of all, what does age have to do with anything to begin with and regardless of that, if they truelly base their charts on audience requests it's not up to them to select who they deem appropriate for their radio stations (which would make requests useless). Secondly, if age is a factor and they fear a young audience won't connect to Madonna anymore then why has Madonna been #1 on the charts of MTV's TRL for days straight with both the first and second single of the current album. Is even the TRL crowd too old and not part of Z100's radio audience? It's all just too weird for words.

Now the evidence that there is a boycott from American Radio is too obvious for words as Madonna is currently the leading artist in the world. I base that statement on the fact that on the "United World Chart" (which combines chart details from around the world and then creates a chart based on those details) Madonna currently holds the #1 position with current single "Sorry" AND the #2 position with previous single "Hung Up". So as you can see, Madonna rules the planet, EXCEPT for the USA.

The situation is even more concerning as there are countless stories of payola where record companies BUY hits for their artists and others who refuse to pay the price, won't get played on radio. Sony records recently settled with a few million dollars to avoid a courtcase in the matter. Another thing which might be taken in consideration is that clearchannel which runs radio in practically the entire USA is apparently a republican oriented company. Could it be that they still boycott Madonna due to her statements and opinions about the war in Iraq and the thought provoking "American Life" video?

Regardless of whatever anyone feels politically, it's not up to ANY company or ANY person to decide what THEY think is right for any audience to hear. And I bet Madonna isn't the only artist neglected, ignored and boycotted on US radio. There must be a lot of other pop musicians who simply do not get the chance they deserve on american radio, simply because US radio is too afraid to give them a spin on their shows or maybe even because the record companies of those artists do not pay enough to get the songs played. The situation simply HAS to change and I understand that this might just be a waste of time, because what can any individual do against a company which owns and operates more than 1200 radio stations in the United States. But I have to at least try, because if I sit around and do nothing I know for sure nothing will change.

I'm asking you to sign this petition if you feel like American radio should indeed open up more to a wider variety of performers and not shut a group of performers out, because there is more then enough evidence that pop artists these days are shut out, in favour of R&B and Hip Hop acts. The difference between the US charts and worldwide charts are simply TOO big to be a mere matter of taste or coincidence.

I truelly hope you'll help me out and sign.