Corporate artists vs corporate radio: the battle of the lobbyists

"After U.S. taxpayers have already bailed out countless corporations, now big radio is trying to grab another bailout by refusing to pay musicians for their work. Even though every other medium, including television, satellite and webcasting, is legally bound to fairly compensate artists, only corporate radio gets a free meal at the trough." www.piggyradio.com/

We ain't getting into this one, but we sure love the graphics.

Comments

[Andrew]

Stations argue that playing the artist's music promotes their material and sustains their musical careers but that's a secondary effect, and the bottom line is that radio stations profit off of the the material.

And how would that logic work with talk radio? Dori Monson doesn't have an album to sell, so how would he earn a paycheck from a radio station if the thinking goes that the exposure itself justifies non-compensation?

I'd argue that radio stations ruin artists by playing out their songs and type-casting them musically. Jason Mraz might be a great musician, but I hate his guts because they play one shitty song he made two years ago at least once an hour, 365 days a year.

I feel bad for people who make a living off of intelectual property because even though a bank can lock it's money in a safe, or a service provider can withhold services, an artist or an inventor relies on lawyers to keep their shit safe. If you make your living by producing intelectual property, one corrupt politician passing a lopsided law that legalizes a specific form of thievery could threaten your financial future and ruin your family.

[Duffman]

When I cut my first record in the 60's we had to:
- join the musician's union to get our record played
- physically take it around to the top radio stations and try to talk them into playing it (this usually involved some UTT dealing)
- get real 'friendly' with the DJ's
- agree on sweet deals with local concert promoters
If you did those first steps you stood a slight chance of getting it played on the radio.
Then the work really began...you'd have all your friends and relatives call in to the radio station when it was played to rave about it. (Bottom-line on that first record...it made Seattle-area's Top 10 and I netted $750, after having written, sang and played lead-guitar on it...over and above the promotion) Haha
Aaah, the 'good-ol-days' - on a somewhat lesser scale.

[Duffman]

A far cry from the '60's when I cut my first record. :)

[Duffman]

The sequence of events went something like this once the record was produced.
- join musician's union or no chance of air play
- do leg work of taking the record around to all the top radio stations, begging them to play the song (some UTT deals involved with that)
- get real friendly with DJ's (if you know what I mean)
- give special deals to the local concert promoters (for special cuts)
Then, once it started being played on the air - have all your friends and relatives call in to the radio station 'raving' about the song.
Bottom-line: we made Seattle's Top 10 and I (having written, sang and played lead-guitar) netted $750.
Yep, that was BIG RADIO back then..haha.

[Rob]

>>I'd argue that radio stations ruin artists by playing out their songs and type-casting them musically. Jason Mraz might be a great musician, but I hate his guts because they play one shitty song he made two years ago at least once an hour, 365 days a year.<<

Well I'd argue it's the LABELS that are ruining artists by failing to recognize digital downloads were the future of music sales and also by cutting onerous contracts that screw the talent royally.

This is nothing more than an effort by the labels to make up for its incompetent management over the last decade by extorting money from radio.

[Duffman]

'This is nothing more than an effort by the labels to make up for its incompetent management over the last decade by extorting money from radio.'

An absolutely spot-on statement!

[Old man in young man's body]

The music labels screwed up, missed the Internet shift, and fought 99 cent downloads for years. Once Kazaa and other download/fileshare services got going, the music industry lost all their traction. Of the five big labels, four a foreign owned, and their piggy radio campaign is as laughable as their claim that they will share revenue with artists (or somehow help smaller artists).

[Andrew]

The idea that the internet can usurp the necessity of labels is a myth. Name one legitimate, successful, well known musician who was made by the internet and not a product of Big Music.

Rules: it can't be a freak like that chocolate rain guy nor already signed like "OK GO".