It's been almost a week since the news broke and it's still hard to even say the words out loud, All Access will cease operations on August 15th!!!
The emotional outpouring from across the radio and record communities has been incredible. Tribute after emotional tribute, highlighting just how much All Access has meant to the industry through the years has been flooding newsfeeds across multiple platforms nonstop. The most common sentiment from each post has been THANK YOU. Thank you not only to All Access, but more importantly, thank you to its founder, owner, and friend of the industry, Joel Denver.
Joel's experience, knowledge, work ethic, and relationships have made him a leader in the industry, but it's his heart that has made him a legend. Just about every person reading this has been touched by Joel's kindness and generosity at some point over the past 28 years. How many of us have been "On The Beach" and Joel was thoughtful and generous enough to open up AllAccess and make sure our contact information was front and center, allowing us to find our next gig? Everyone has a story…and this is ours.
It was 2018 when we took a meeting with Joel. What's In-Store Music had been operating for 3 years without any fan fair or grand opening of any kind. We had quietly been growing our clientele as we developed and refined our service. It was an informal meeting that comprised mostly of a lot of chatting about the state of radio and the music industry in general. The topic then changed to what we were doing, getting music played in alternative, yet complementary places to radio. Joel was fascinated, inquisitive and immediately understood and appreciated the value of what we were doing. We showed him the different charts we had built highlighting the In-Store music landscape. That's when these completely unexpected words came out of his mouth, "I'd like to publish these charts exclusively on All Access, can we do that?" can we do that? are you kidding? Of Course, we can do that!!! Joel never asked us for anything in return. He just liked what we were doing and wanted to help us out. It was a dream come true. With that new, exciting development came the announcement, where else but in All Access:
July 25, 2018, "What's In-Store Music weekly retail charts debut exclusively on AllAccess.com".
The legitimacy that headline brought to our business was instant. People who had never given us a second look were suddenly reaching out. We were now being featured in AllAccess.com, we must be doing something right. We've published our What's In-Store Music Chart on the site every Monday morning ever since. It didn't stop there. With this new partnership also came a standing weekly phone call which we have maintained to this day. Every week we talk about Music, the industry, and our lives. The friendship we have shared over the years has turned into an amazing bond that we will always Cherish. Joel, we look forward to hearing what's next. Thank you, brother, for everything!!!
- Scott & Bob
Bob Catania's Tribute To Joel Denver
I am one of the lucky ones in the music business as I met Joel Denver at the very beginning of my career as a local rep for RCA Records in Philadelphia and Joel was the music director of the legendary WFIL that was programmed by Jay Cook. To say that promoting WFIL as a 22 year old was intimidating is an understatement, and while Jay Cook was a great gentleman and treated all the reps with respect, I was so grateful that Joel was there…someone close to my age…and someone who helped me to navigate being an effective rep there. Joel went on to his many successful programming jobs around the country but we reconnected many years later when he took over as CHR Editor of Radio & Records. It was great to have an old friend in that key job and once again, Joel was there in supporting my label efforts. All the promo folks remember lining up "on hold" on Tuesday nights to find out from Joel if our songs had made it to Breaker status…being on the east coast at the time it was often a late night call and the results of the conversation would determine if I would have a good night's sleep! Fast forward to 1995…Joel and I get together for a meeting at Geffen Records where he tells me about his new company…All Access Music Group. It sounds amazing…and ahead of it's time to me…and I let him know I'm in as a supporter with an all encompassing deal that will ensure Geffen is well represented in All Access. Many years later Joel tells me I was the first label to commit to his vision and that helped give him confidence that other labels will follow. I look back on that and am honored to know that I played a small part in what became the leading industry site that truly brought the radio and record industries together. Joel has been a mentor; confidante; supporter, and most important, a great friend since 1977 in Philadelphia. His commitment to the industry and all the people in it are unparalleled and I am so grateful to witness his success all these years. I send my best to his great team who made All Access such a vital part of the industry and much love to Joel and Kym on what I know will be a great new chapter.
- Bob