Music labels stalk captive ears at malls

It is not enough that Aslyn has a record deal, a single getting radio play, and a nationwide tour. On her road to becoming a star, the 25-year-old singer-songwriter must also turn to the airwaves at the nation's malls.

So her label Capitol Records struck a deal with Mall Radio Network, operated by Natick firm AdVentures Inc., to promote her debut CD, ''Lemon Love," over mall sound systems when it is released later this month.

''It's awesome," Aslyn said. ''For people who might only listen to the radio on the way to and from work, the chances aren't great they'll hear my song. Plus, I love to shop."

Although radio remains the holy grail for hyping new CDs, record labels are increasingly turning to other media to promote their artists. They are introducing new music through commercials (recently with U2 and iPod), television shows, video games, and in-flight music stations on airlines. Turning to the mall is the latest example of the music industry's struggle to reach listeners at a time when radio is less willing to take risks and when people, faced with a growing array of entertainment choices, spend less time listening to the radio.

''Radio doesn't add new artists anymore," said Adam Lewis, co-owner of Planetary Group, a music promotion firm in Boston. ''Record labels are asking themselves, 'How do you reach kids?' They're reaching for anything."

Following the consolidation that swept the radio industry in the 1990s, there are fewer independent stations willing to risk losing listeners by playing music from unknown artists. As stations consolidated into fewer hands, the stakes also grew. Two decades ago, an FM station in a city such as Boston was worth $1 million to $2 million. Today, its worth would be 20 to 30 times that amount, said Tom Taylor, editor of the Inside Radio newsletter.

Take Clear Channel Communications Inc., based in San Antonio, Texas, the nation's largest owner of radio stations. The company, which owns 1,200 stations, pulled broadcaster Howard Stern from its airwaves because of federal indecency complaints. Clear Channel and other publicly-traded radio owners cannot afford to let revenues slip while radio listenership is on the decline.

''You can't rely solely on radio play and video play anymore to break through the clutter and keep your record on the top of people's mind," said Ronn Werre, senior vice president of sales and marketing for EMI Music Marketing. ''We'll pursue any opportunity to expose people to the song."

Even the mall. Mall stores such as Abercrombie & Fitch have long played music, selling CDs of songs one might hear while shopping at their stores. Pop stars such as Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson performed at malls to help launch their careers. And as malls compete with big-box stores such as Wal-Mart, they are morphing into entertainment centers.

But most mall sound systems still pipe elevator music or satellite radio into the food court and other common areas. As far as AdVentures founder Carl Chudnofsky was concerned, that was a wasted opportunity. So he set out in 2002 to transform mall sound systems into marketing tools.

Chudnofsky, a former executive at mall operators New England Development Corp. and the Wells Park Group, had seen advertisers flock to the mall to promote everything from movies to diapers using signs, kiosks, and fliers. But when it came to ads, the sound system went unnoticed.

''From the restrooms to the parking garage, there are captive customers everywhere in a mall," Chudnofsky said.

Shoppers visit the mall 38 times a year on average, spending 82 minutes per trip, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, a trade group based in New York. The average shopper now spends 6 percent more time at the mall than in 1996. Meanwhile, the average time spent listening to the radio has dropped 10 percent since 1996, down to 52 minutes a day in 2003, according to media research firm Arbitron Inc. Of all age groups, teenagers spend the most time at malls (73 hours a year). The over-65 crowd spends about 66 hours a year at the mall.

With more than 150 malls in its network, Mall Radio is branching out beyond ads for retailers such as Filene's and product companies such as Estee Lauder to spotlight recording artists. In Greater Boston, the network reaches 1.9 million shoppers a month, compared with radio station Kiss 108's weekly listenership of 725,700. A study by Edison Media Research showed 80 percent of shoppers take note of the mall network's music and ads, and 35 percent actually recalled a specific ad.

With a 5-to-1 ratio of music to advertising, Chudnofsky said, advertisers do not have to worry about getting lost in the clutter. Spotlights feature song clips as well as voiceover providing information about the artist, repeatedly linking the music to the artist's name and then steering shoppers to a store in the mall selling the CD. To that end, Trans World Entertainment Corp., the Albany, N.Y., owner of more than 650 f.y.e. mall-based music stores, is teaming with the Mall Radio Network and record labels in certain cases to offer promotions in their stores on CDs by spotlighted artists.

The spotlight is not just for new artists such as Aslyn. In January, Mall Radio teamed with EMI to promote the release of ''The World of Nat King Cole," a CD compilation of 28 remastered Cole classics that marked the 40th anniversary of his death. Radio stations are not going to play Cole just because a record label released a new CD of classic songs. Moreover, the target audience for the CD is older, a demographic that can be hard to reach, but mall walkers are mostly in the over-60 set.

''When you're releasing tracks that were out there before, you're not going to get radio to play it," he said. ''So you have to find another way to let people know about the CD."

Naomi Aoki can be reached at naoki@globe.com.