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Labels Find New Method of Payola
rhadamanthus writes "The Houston Chronicle is reporting on the newest 'legal' payola tactic put forth by the record industry: playing the song as an advertisement. It seems that while it is illegal to pay a radio station to play a song, it is not illegal to play a song as an ad. Quoth the article, 'The practice is legal as long as the station makes an on-air disclosure of the label's sponsorship -- typically with an introduction such as "And now, Avril Lavigne's Don't Tell Me, presented by Arista Records."' Incidentally, that song was played 109 times in one week by Nashville station WQZQ-FM."
"You think I care about the pea-brained yokels of this town. I can't stand those sniveling maggots! They make me want to puke. But there is one good thing about broadcasting to a town full of mindless sheep: I always know I've got them exactly where I want them."
- R.J. Fletcher, "UHF"
Yes, some people still do. I run a show out of the local university here, and we've plenty of listeners, because we a) make our own playlists and our own decisions, b) actually consider playing what people want to hear, and c) generally play nothing but good music--no corporate bullshit.
I do agree with your sentiments to some extent that before I discovered indie/nonprofit radio stations such as my own and a few under the Pacifica banner, I hated all radio and preferred the noise of my car engine to anything they were playing over the airwaves.
But once you've started listening to public radio, my friends, you'll never look back.
Fair enough... but do you understand how cheap radio ads are during off-peak hours? We're talking like $5-10 per minute or less.
Heck... you can even get ads played on major cable networks-- CNN, Spike, etc. during off hours for prices in the $5 range...
Here's an article about it.
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...all of which is charged back to the artist, indebting them to the label until the release makes money. ... the artist who knew the exact terms and conditions the instant they signed up with the label.
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Seriously...who listens to the rubbish that passes for (music) radio these days?
Well excuse me, Captain Pompousolous. No, of course none of the uber Slashdot readers would ever actually listen to RADIO.
If you're not streaming indie og's on your 802.11g network to your home-built audio appliance, well, you're just a SHEEP. baaa baa baa
As a matter of fact, I feel so strongly about this, I'm going to refuse to actually get a life, and instead will spend all day in my mom's basement. That will show those record companies.
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If it is played 40 times a week people are going to hear it and *believe* that it is popular. When it gets artificially vaulted to the top of the charts more people are going to *believe* that it is popular.
Well, the sheep have to be willing to be led. People who purchase music solely because it is popular deserve what they get.
People's desire to believe they are right is much stronger than their desire to be right.
The law exists because the radio airwaves are theoretically a public trust. The government has parcelled out those wavelengths on your behalf, which is why you don't get to use them for your own broadcasts.
In return, the radio stations are expected to play what you want to hear, with a certain (regulated) amount of time allowed for playing advertisements to support the process. If they were playing the music for pay, that would be increasing the advertising time, time that they're supposed to be spending on playing stuff in the public's interest for free.
That is the theory. Practice, of course, is somewhat different. It is certainly convenient that the FCC regulates the bandwidth; otherwise, loud and greedy broadcasters would take up every frequency, including the ones you use for Bluetooth, garage door openers, and wi-fi.
But vast swaths of spectrum are sold well below market price because you're not allowed to bid on it. They do limit how much of the spectrum can be owned by any one company, but it turns out to be surprisingly much.
Well there's the problem of the airwaves belonging to the public. I think if a radio station wants to accept payola they don't deserve a government enforced monopoly over a part of the airwaves.
Personally I'd like to see less FCC and some more democratic process where crap stations can be voted off the air and their radio license give to some more promising competitor.
If it was internet radio I wouldn't care because there isn't quite the scarcity of that medium.
Independant labels that will give them a better deal, or promoting themselves.
Look, I've listened to a lot of bands that have performed locally and then made their way up from there. Nothing says you have to get that recording contract immediately...play for awhile on the local circuit, probably holding down other jobs as well. Just because some people make it big/rich quick doesn't mean it's owed to you. Whatever happened to good, hard, honest work?
On the flip side, a great many bands do this. Most of the bands I listen to I got into because of their live shows (Andrew W.K., O.A.R.). These bands sold me on their music without even talking to a record label.
--trb
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