2007-03-06

Payola Scamola

Big radio and the FCC are still giving independent music artists the shaft.

The announced payola settlement between the Federal Communications Commission and four of the nation's largest media groups won't help the cause of indies and it won't undo any of the damage caused by payola in radio. Just like the dog and pony show agreements signed by major record labels in recent years, this deal is a pile of manure.

Collusion between big radio, big labels and big government closes markets, stifles creativity and ultimately limits the variety of music that consumers can hear. This proposed deal by radio conglomerates just like the settlements signed between corporate music and New York are public relations stunts.

Don't be fooled. Turn off the radio.

3 comments:

Paul Hue said...

Good thing that radio is becoming irrelevant and superseded by the internet... or at least I hope so. To the extent that I ever listen to commercial music radio this occurs only because my 5-year-old car lacks a mechanism for connecting to my ipod. If I really cared about music like I used to, I would either wear my ipod earphones or trouble myself to jerry rig an ipod stereo connection.

Unknown said...

Agreed. Traditional radio has pretty much become irrelevant. I rarely listen to music on the airwaves anymore. There are many other ways to discover new music (MySpace, etc.) that allow a music lover to side-step traditional radio.

Traditional broadcast radio is on its way out.

Unknown said...

Paul, You need something like this:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7521149&st=transmitter&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1127210996478