Slashdot Mirror
Music Industry Seeks Payola Inquiry
An Anonymous Coward writes "The big media story of the day seems to be that the RIAA, artists, and others in the industry are complaining that there are monopolies (such as Clear Channel) forming in the radio broadcast industry. The group is stating that the practice of "independent promotion" is really a new form of payola and that it is hitting the artists' bottom line directly." Another submitter writes in with another story on the subject and the industry's Joint Statement on Current Issues in Radio.
It's probably worth noting that the Music Industry slime-wads aren't actually worried about the corruption of the play lists that payola causes.
From the article:
Deregulation of the radio business and rampant practices that skirt 40-year-old anti-payola laws stifle competition, drive up music promotional costs and make it harder for new artists to gain attention, the artists and record labels said in a joint statement addressed to the federal regulators and Congress.
That's right, it's all about the mighty $.
Why buy into a game you already own?
That's why I usually only listen to NPR or CDs while I'm in my car. I can't stand the horribly limited playlists of the radio stations any more.
Not to mention the 20+ minutes of ads (not including the DJ's yapping away) in every hour of music.
And from what I've heard, Clear Channel can be a rough company to work for. The corp HQ selects the playlists and the DJ doesn't get to choose very many songs to play, unless they're working after 9:30 or 10:00 pm (and who's listening then anyways?)
When I'm at work, I listen to Wolf FM. They've got some ads, but the ratio of music to ads is very high.
It sounds like what might happen in the next few years is that companies like Clear Channel will do what they say they don't and only start playing the artists that they have on tour or promote.
You'll only hear certain artists on stations that are owned by the company that promotes their label or tour.
It'll kinda be like movie theaters where certain movies are only carried by Regal, or General Cinema, etc.
Remind me why big media companies are a good thing again?
don't get your knickers in a bunch.
think about it, have you actually LISTENED to a clear channel station? around here, they're usually the ones pumping out brittney and the rest of the rotten ilk. they're just a TRL that plays more than 50% of the song.
let RIAA and clear channel pummel each other. if RIAA makes it easier for "independent stations" to be heard, good for them.
I'm NOT a RIAA fan, but sometimes even the worst of people/groups can hit the nail on the head, even if they don't use the best methodology.
fuck clear channel and fuck the RIAA.
I hope the RIAA bankrupts clear channel and exposes themselves as frauds in the process.
sincerely,
-a musician.
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I am not really into the "get / listen to music online" scene (so keep this in mind as you read the next paragraph). Steadily over the past few years, I have tapered off buying CD's to almost nil, and I've sworn off the local radio stations (not so much their CC tie-ins, but that their playlists are insanely short; I heard the same song going to work three days in the same week... and it wasn't a great song to begin with. ARGH).
So now I'm wondering... would it be feasible to setup a slashdot-style online music forum for independent artists to submit music tracks to, such that members of forum could categorize, comment on, rate/rank those submissions to get streamed online? Wouldn't need much of a DJ (per se) as much as a few people to keep the forum running. Heck, if it works, you could probably let members design their on CD for burning for, say, $5 to get sent to them, the proceeds of which go to the forum upkeep as well as the artists themselves. Granted it would take a little while to work up a good user base, but would something like this work? Pros and/or cons?
Radio stations aren't out there for for the benefit of artists or record companies, they are out to make money like any other business. If it takes money to get them to play your record, that's fine. They aren't obligated to play anyone's record. They aren't even obligated to listen to anyone's record. I don't see how this is a problem. Why is it "bad" to accept money to play a record? Because someone else didn't get an opportunity to be heard? They are NOT obligated to hear anyone. This isn't socialism here, it's capitalism!
I will say that eventually this behavior will lead to people to stop listening to a station, as their content will inevitably turn into crap. I personal don't listen to radio for music for that reason. It's all preprocessed pop crap. Their own behavior will drive them out of business, as no one will want to advertise on a station that plays crap and has no listeners. We don't need any legislation to fix this!
The next remark is false. The previous remark is true.
I found this part to be confusing:
"Artists, in particular, are hurt because under most recording contracts, promotional costs come out of their royalties", said Michael Bracy of the Future of Music Coalition.
Why? I thought it was the record company's job to promote music. Shouldn't that come out of their percentage? If it's not worth promoting enough to make a profit, they probably shouldn't have signed a contract with the artist.
What happens when the record label decides to do a couple $100,000 promotional parties^H^H^H^H^H campaigns on relatively unpopulated tropical islands? "Er, sorry, but your promotional expenses exceed your royalties. You owe us money."
-ez
This is off-topic (more or less), but I felt an urge to contribute my own personal experience in the pre-digital radio industry:
I used to work for an FM station, too -- KQ102 in Canton, Missouri -- and it was pretty interesting. It was from 1988-1989 -- and seemed to be the time right before "digital" took over everything FM.
Everything we played was on 45s -- vinyl -- and each 45 was rated according to its "tempo."
There were thousands of 45s at the station and about ten different tempo numbers. A #1 song was really, really fast -- and a number 10 was really, really slow.
Someone listened to all the music and -- based on the tempo -- placed them into the appropriate tempo bin.
Now, our mission was to look down at our playlist and play songs of varying tempo. We had markings like 1-5-8, or 2-6-10 to indicate the next three songs (fast, medium, slow) and breaks for each commercial or public service announcement.
The idea was that you were supposed to take a 45 from the front of the bin, play it, and then put it in the back of the bin. Of course, it didn't work like that, since our playlist was based on tempo and not song titles -- so all the shitty stuff was in the back of the bins never to be touched, and all the good stuff was in the front.
And we only had to hit our commercials plus or minus two minutes -- and give our top of the hour station announcements within 60 seconds plus or minus -- so we had a *lot* of leeway to play what we felt like, when we felt like it. It was fantastic, actually.
We broadcast out of a tiny white house that had been converted into a radio station. Transmitter in the living room, main booth in one bedroom, production studio in the other, and the sales office in the kitchen.
And we had a *huge* listener base. I used to do a lot of Friday and Saturday night shifts -- from 8pm to 2am -- and, man, I had groupies. I couldn't fucking believe it. People would hear your voice -- on account they'd be playing you at parties and in their car -- and they'd drop by in droves to see what you looked like. It was sick and bizarre, but it was loads of fun. We'd be sitting in the booth and staring out the window into the backyard and see all these people back there, waving and trying to get your attention.
It was really a bizarre thing but amazingly exciting. The fact that we were spinning 45s, playing more or less what we wanted (within reason) made for some amazing nights of music.
Sadly, KQ102 was put out of business by the rise of digital and the fact that they were one of the last stations in the area to still use vinyl. We actually had *turntables* -- as if we were a college radio station. It was a trip.
Great fun. Huge listener base. Gave away lots of prizes and cash.
But it was pretty much stomped out by corporate radio.
Yes, it is illegal. I'm not sure that I agree with the rest of the comment. The stations would probably tend to spread themselves fairly evenly across the band. Bigger transmitters would be able to squash smaller ones of course. That suggests a regulatory approach that might be less intrusive than the current mess, which causes big problems. If we allowed anyone to set up an AM station, with the same power (say 1kW), and no regulation on community need, content, or anything else except ``pick a frequency and stick to it, at 1kW power'', we'd probably see a lot more and more interesting radio, and far less incentive for big corps to buy them up and turn them into what we all love to hate.