Spitzer payola probe effect
p2p news / p2pnet: New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer’s war on Big Four Music cartel radio bribery may be having an effect that’s somewhat different than intended.
"Without pay-for-play [payola], Spitzer argued, consumers would hear the music that programmers liked best, rather than tunes that the major record labels bribed disc jockeys to air," says the Baltimore Sun.
But, many programmers now say fear of, "regulatory scrutiny has scared them into choosing fewer new songs for radio play," says the story. "Instead, stations are sticking to older, more tried-and-true tunes that seem less likely to prompt speculation that money changed hands.
"Indeed, research shows that listeners are hearing fewer new songs on the radio today than they were a year ago. In the first quarter of 2006, ‘active rock’ stations added 23 percent fewer new songs to their playlists than during the same period in 2005, according to trade publication Radio & Records. Pop stations added 14 percent fewer songs, additions on urban/hip-hop stations dropped by 16 percent and the number of new songs played by ‘adult contemporary’stations fell by 17 percent."
In the wake of the Warner Music, Sony BMG, EMI and Vivendi Universal payola scandals, "radio companies have launched internal inquiries and, in instances of wrongdoing, fired and reprimanded scores of programmers," says the Baltimore Sun, adding:
"Almost every radio chain has instituted new policies regarding gifts and payments. Also, the Federal Communications Commission has launched its own investigation to determine whether radio companies should lose their broadcast licenses if evidence of corruption exists.
"That has left many programmers with the impression that if their names are so much as mentioned in connection with pay-to-play, their jobs will be at risk."
Also See:
Baltimore Sun – Payola inquiry chills radio playlists, April 9, 2006
April 12th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
A radio programmer with nothing to hide shouldn’t modify his programming based on these investigations. This is odd to say the least…
April 12th, 2006 at 2:03 pm
It’s too bad, because this would be a great opportunity for *new* music to start getting some play. There is a huge well of great indie/post rock/alt country of the past couple of years that has been completely ignored by radio stations. It’s a great way to completely bypass the large music labels and the scandal now associated with them and expose people to stuff they probably haven’t heard.
Ironically, our local “modern rock” station has taken a different tack over the past couple of years: go back to playing alt-rock from the 90s, like Nirvana, older NIN, Soundgarden, etc. Is it because mainstream modern rock itself has become stagnant and there is nothing good out there, or is it because commercial radio stations can’t afford to take risks on indie, for fear of alienating their core listeners?
April 12th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
If you do and someone is looking hard enough, they’ll catch you. If you don’t, you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of.
Just do what everyone else does – keep your receipts – and play whatever you damn well want. Where is the problem?
April 12th, 2006 at 2:47 pm
Perhaps these are the programers who are afraid of loosing their second income from the recording industry.
Rick
April 12th, 2006 at 11:56 pm
The problem is that owners such as ClearChannel have taken away the individual DJ’s ability to do his own program. Instead, all programming is issued from the top down with little choice at the DJ level what will be played.
ClearChannel did this so they could control the programming and issue future playlists for sale. That’s the new way payolla has been working. They pay for the proposed playlist ahead of time and make suggestions as to what should go in it’s place. Since the cartels are paying for a item as opposed to infulancing the play directly, it looks legit on the surface. Anyone else attempting to buy these play lists will find they are quite expensive and that will keep the average nosey Joe out.
ClearChannel isn’t going to give up on getting back door money. They are in effect saying if you want something different, then come up with a way to pay us. Otherwise things will just stay as they are. Too much money is involved in this and until it is shown that it is going to show up in the form of cash this will stagnate for a while. When the money doesn’t show up, when listenership drops to nothing, and when ad agencies don’t want to pay them more, they will get the message they aren’t a desirable commody because they aren’t meeting the demands.
In the meantime, ClearChannel and the like can go farther down the drain as far as I am concerned. They don’t represent the local culture, no matter how they try to personalize it. Try calling a local station sometime with a news flash, or even better with a bonafide local emergency. I doubt you will get it on the air with anything like meaningful time span.
April 13th, 2006 at 2:51 am
Dude you are so RIGHT in what you said every word !!! I use to be in radio and you hit the nail on the head!!!! Playlists the new payola Yep that’s how they do it now!! Time for Congress to pass new Laws and cover the whole gambet of ways to skrit around the law and give the FCC the power to lift license’s when they catch them dishing out the payola in any form!!!! Then these clowns will have to work for a living for a change!!!!!
April 13th, 2006 at 11:57 pm
Ummmm, wouldn’t playing a song over and over again be more suspicious than playing many songs?