quote:The attorney general saved his harshest criticism for the radio companies and called on the Federal Communications Commission, which licenses the airwaves to radio companies, to be more vigorous in fighting payola.
"I would certainly encourage the FCC to take a very hard look at whether something that is this pervasive, something that is so corrosive to the marketplace should not merely be investigated and pursued but whether some of these stations deserve to have their licenses stripped from them," Spitzer said.
Asked if he thought radio would improve as a result of the settlement, the attorney general laughed and said, "Listen, I don't think anyone wants me to make aesthetic judgements about what's on the air. I've been a Bruce (Springsteen) and Grateful Dead fan for decades. As far as I know, their music is still played on the radio, just not any stations that my kids listen to."
I'm going to be completely unsurprised when evidence of similar wrongdoing by the other major labels (and big radio station owners) is found. I'm glad I only listen to the CBC (and even then, it's podcasts).
It's funny, actually -- since I "switched" from going to record stores to using iTMS to buy new music, I've been buying a lot less mainstream, big-label music and a lot more small-label and/or "indie" music. I wonder if that's why big labels are so leery of the online distribution model... could they be afraid that, given the ability to preview their albums before buying them, many people will realize that a lot of the music is just filler to support one or two big singles and therefore just buy the single rather than the album? It's possible. I know I used to buy albums based on the strength of a couple of solid singles; sometimes I was sorely disappointed with the result.
I just hope that something significant comes of this. We'll see, I guess.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
Have hope, Twinky. The music industry as we know it will die in the next decade... maybe faster.
Unfortunately, what replaces it may eventually be as bad or worse than what we have... but for a little while there should be an interesting and open field to play in.
Posts: 3846 | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote:Originally posted by twinky: Could they be afraid that, given the ability to preview their albums before buying them, many people will realize that a lot of the music is just filler to support one or two big singles and therefore just buy the single rather than the album?
What?!
Yeah, this article is completely unsurprising. Anyone who listens to the radio for more than a few minutes each day should realize that the songs with the most airplay aren't always the songs that people want to hear the most—they're the songs that record companies want you to rush out and buy. Then, next week, there'll be a new hit single that everybody just has to have.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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A buddy of my Dad's was a record promoter. We grew up getting occasional packages of t-shirts and CDs other swag of the sort that gets given away in radio contests. He ended up leaving the businsess because he was tired of having to "compete" for air time with guys willing to give DJ's and producers cars, etc.
Posts: 1894 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Is this direct payola? Because I thought that the record companies had moved to paying middlemen to pay radio stations to play certain songs, which got around the anti-payola legislation. It'd be gratifying to know that this loophole was closed too,
Posts: 10177 | Registered: Apr 2001
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