NRJ: A hit music radio channel does not happen by chance

NRJ offers its listeners the best and trendiest hit music. The channel’s playlist is not created by chance, but by a carefully researched song selection and passionate professionals.

“Music is the DNA of NRJ. The whole channel is built around music and the hosts love the music they play and are passionate about it.

The radio hosts and producers always attend the news listening sessions and go to a lot of gigs in their spare time. Trends change fast, which gives a nice variety to the playlist,” says NRJ Country Director Esa Lahdenpää.

The most played genre on the channel is dance-pop. Although foreign music plays a slightly bigger role than domestic music, Lahdenpää says that the proportion of domestic music is on the rise.

“Our strength is that we are a major European player in the industry, which means we can easily get interviews, videos and greetings from all the world’s biggest artists to FInland. Last year we did brand collaborations with The Weeknd, David Guetta, Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran and many more. However, the level of domesticity is rising across the board,” says Lahdenpää.

According to Lahdenpää, the music channel will continue to play a role in people’s lives in the future, even if the way they listen to the radio changes.

“Radio has been in people’s lives for so long that I don’t think it will disappear any time soon. Music will be listened to and consumed more and more, and our listeners will continue to listen to hit music on NRJ.”

The licensing of hit recordings played by NRJ is handled by Gramex: remunerations are paid to domestic and foreign music performers and producers. According to Lahdenpää, the most important aspect of handling the licensing of music, which is subject to frequent changes, is ease and personalisation.

“With Gramex it works! The good and personal customer service that have been built up over the years is everything. Gramex always answers the phone and answers your questions,” says Lahdenpää.