“Landlady” to Radio in Italy, No Commercial Release

Original Story by Aaron J. Sams (2018-10-18)

Updated: October 21, 2018 (See Below)

A press release from Universal in Italy has confirmed that the song “Landlady” from Songs of Experience will be released to radio in Italy for
promotion. The song is being served digitally to radio stations in Italy and there will not be a physical promotional CD.

The song is already appearing on a small number of stations in that country including Radio Selene, Popolare Network, Rai Radio 2, Radio FM Italia and Love FM. First plays for the song were recorded on October 17, the same day that Universal announced they would be releasing the song. The actual radio date is however, October 19, 2018, and that is the date the promotional file will be sent to stations, and the day most stations will add the track.

We are told however, that this will be a regional release, and will not be delivered to radio worldwide. This has been done a number of times during the campaign for the new album. In November “American Soul” was delivered to radio stations in Poland and in the UK. It was not serviced elsewhere. And in January “Summer of Love” was delivered to radio stations in The Netherlands, but not sent out elsewhere. In both cases the markets were being tested for reaction to the song before a wider release was done, and in the case of “American Soul” a wider release was not undertaken. “Summer of Love” would eventually be more widely released in August 2018. Poland also received “Get Out of Your Own Way” at radio a month before it was serviced to radio elsewhere in Europe and North America.

It’s not the first time regional promotions have been done at radio, songs such as “Until the End of the World,” “Zooropa,” and “Your Blue Room,” and “She’s Gonna Blow Your House Down” have all been delivered in such a manner over the years, yet received no commercial release, nor a worldwide release as a single.

There will be no commercial single for “Landlady” at this time. There is no audio release planned streaming services and other digital store fronts this week.

On Friday we will confirm any additional countries that are being serviced with this new single.

In Italy, the songs sent to radio from Songs of Experience are as follows:

  • You’re the Best Thing About Me (September 8, 2017)
  • You’re the Best Thing About Me (U2 vs Kygo) (September 15, 2017)
  • Get Out of your Own Way (December 8, 2017)
  • Love is Bigger Than Anything in its Way (June 1, 2018)
  • Landlady (October 19, 2018)

The band recently debuted “Landlady” in their four nights in Milan. The song was played at two of the four shows, and this marked the first time it had been played on this tour.

A wider release may follow at a later date.

UPDATE: October 19, 2018

As mentioned earlier this is a limited release of the song, and is not a worldwide release. The song was released digitally at midnight in Italy. In the 20 hours since the track has been released we have analyzed worldwide radio play and can confirm this is an Italy only release to radio at this time. There is a limited amount of play outside of Italy, with one play each in Malta, Monaco, and Canada. The station playing the song in Canada is Radio Stonata, an Italian radio station who states “Our office is not in Italy, but our programs are in Italian and English. We are the radio of Italians abroad and are addressing Italians around the world.” The radio station in Malta that has played the song is Radio Patata, Saint Paul’s Bay, and it too is an Italian station. Likewise, the play in Monaco is on the Radio Monte Carlo Network, which is an Italian speaking station broadcasting from Monaco. All three stations playing the song outside of Italy are all Italian stations, playing Italian content and likely using the promotional databases available to radio stations in Italy.

In Italy itself, the song has been played on 62 different Italian radio stations since its release last night. A few of the stations added the track prior to today, but with minimal plays. As we were publishing this article the song has been played 97 times on Italian radio since midnight, when the song was released. The song is getting the bulk of the play at stations in Milan with 15 plays overall in that city on 6 stations. The song has had 4 plays in total in Conversano, Palermo Reggio, Calabria, and Savignano sul Rubicon. It has been played 3 times in total in Rome and Favara. In total the song has been aired in 50 different cities.

The song has not aired in any country outside of Italy other than the three Italian stations mentioned above. If the song were released today in other countries, we would have expected to see airplay numbers for those regions.

The song was released only in a digital format direct to radio stations. The song was issued at midnight Italian time. The digital file used the cover of the Songs of Experience album with the border we saw used for the initial announcement of the deluxe version of the album, and no writing on the image.

UPDATE: October 21, 2018

We wanted to take a look at how the song was doing at mid-day in Italy, on October 21, 2018.

The song has been played in five countries to date:

  • Italy (429 Plays)
  • Switzerland (10 Plays)
  • Malta (4 Plays)
  • Canada (3 Plays)
  • Monaco (1 Play)

95.3% of the plays of the song since it was released have been in Italy. Of those plays outside of Italy, all have been on Italian stations in those countries. In Switzerland this is Radio Fiume Ticino and Radio 3i, In Canada this is Radio Stonata, in Malta it is Radio Patata, and in Monaco it was on Radio Monte Carlo. There are no other plays being recorded outside of Italy, other than these mentioned Italian stations.

The song has been played in 95 cities to date on 136 different stations. The song is getting the most play in Milan, where they played last week, with 77 plays on radio there. Rome is the city seeing the next greatest amount of plays at 20 plays on radio, and then Palermo with 18 plays.

There were 156 plays of the song on Friday, the day it was released to radio, 190 plays on Saturday, and on Sunday as of mid-day in Italy, the song has 102 plays for the day.

The top five stations playing the song are as follows:

  • R101 New Music Friday: 35 Plays
  • RMC Next: 26 Plays
  • Radio Studio Delta: 9 Plays
  • RGS Radiogionale di Sicilia: 8 Plays
  • Radio Energy: 8 Plays

The version of “Landlady” being played on radio in Italy is an edited version of the track from the album, which has been edited so silence has been removed at the start and end, and the song fades a bit earlier than the album version. The discography entry for this promotional release is available here with more information about release formats and artwork.

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