Radio Is Dead? Really? What are we really saying?

[BOZ Profit]

Too many artists. The artists sign lots of contracts when they make music, with publishers, labels, agents, managers, and they all have a stake in what happens to that music. The artist might be willing, but not everyone else.

It should between the labels and radio, but the RIAA won't allow its members to do that. The only label that has negotiated directly is Big Machine. The majors haven't.

This subject has been debated by all of the players for ten years. Nobody is budging. Nobody wants to blink.

Yes, I am very well aware.

Artists can't pay for play. That's payola. We have laws here against that.

Having had a 20+ year career in radio I am very well aware of that too... and how the labels get around "the law".

Personally I think the payola law is ridiculous. I can understand the reasoning to a degree: If pay for play was allowed, a new artist may not have the funds to get their record on air. But same thing for a businessman with a new product... he may not have the money to advertise to reach a maximum audience. In my view the principle is the same.

A painter wanting to sell his/her paintings strikes a deal with an art museum.. the museum showcases the art and get a commission on the sale. In my opinion, radio is the art museum. It's not quite apples to apples, but close enough.

When there were more station owners, and less large groups, the bookkeeping and logistics for tracking such a thing would have been a night mare, but if someone can invent a medium whereby our texts are transmitted around the world in an instant, I'm sure someone could have devised a system to use.

Again.. I've outlined an oversimplification of the issue for discussion purposes. There is obviously no way to get there from here..

 

[TheBigA]

If pay for play was allowed, a new artist may not have the funds to get their record on air.

You'd be surprised. The only time I was ever offered payola was by a new artist on an independent label.

Everybody thinks they have the solution, but the problem is getting all of the stakeholders to agree. You see how easy that is here on this board. Multiply that a few times.

As I said, the most efficient system is OTA radio. With all of the imperfections, the labels, artists, and songwriters all like the system. So we continue to stay in business.

 

[BOZ Profit]

You'd be surprised. The only time I was ever offered payola was by a new artist on an independent label.

Everybody thinks they have the solution, but the problem is getting all of the stakeholders to agree. You see how easy that is here on this board. Multiply that a few times.

As I said, the most efficient system is OTA radio. With all of the imperfections, the labels, artists, and songwriters all like the system. So we continue to stay in business.

The industry has complicated itself unnecessarily in order to get as many people on the payroll as possible; like government (but I digress). Radio had a chance to stand up to the RIAA in the early years. It didn't. So, now radio is essentially the music industry's (for lack of better term) b*tch, lol. Once upon a time, if every radio station stood in solidarity, it could have pulled all music off the air (except for maybe the independents... ) and let listeners know why. It would have only had to be for a day or so because the labels, and the RIAA would have had to concede. NOW if the radio industry does that, listeners will just run to the Internet to find alternatives. So, THAT won't work today.

If I had the talent to make music... I would not be going to any labels, ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, the RIAA or SoundExchange. I would self publish. I would create an app whereby my fans could preview and download my music as soon as I published it. I'd find a suitable fee to cover my bandwidth... know of any artists that do this now that are not part of a major label?

 

[TheBigA]

I'd find a suitable fee to cover my bandwidth... know of any artists that do this now that are not part of a major label?

Sure. But they also have other revenue streams to count on.

How do you get potential listeners to discover your app? Among the millions at the app store? Major labels have tried what you suggest, and it hasn't worked.

The internet is a wonderful place, but it's like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.

 

[landtuna]

I should be charging you for this.

Next time you pass through Phoenix I will buy you a be.....uh, pay you.

 

[landtuna]

Payola laws only apply to broadcast radio, not the internet.

So, if I buy 30 minutes of time on WKRP to play my new album and disclose beforehand that the time was purchased by me to do so would I be in violation of the payola law?

 

[TheBigA]

So, if I buy 30 minutes of time on WKRP to play my new album and disclose beforehand that the time was purchased by me to do so would I be in violation of the payola law?

No. You must disclose that it's a paid performance. But so what? You pay your money and the song get's played. How do you get people to actually BUY the record?

Have you studied how many times you have to repeat a message in order for it to have impact? How many times you have to play a song in order for it to register with enough people to buy the record, to make it worth the cost of that 30 minutes of airtime?

Last week Garth Brooks did something no one has ever done before. He appeared in all four hours of the Today Show. Four hours of national TV time. Millions of viewers. Do you know how many records he sold? 15,789. Total for the entire week. That's Garth Brooks with 4 hours of national TV time. Do you still want to buy an infomercial?

 

[landtuna]

How do you get potential listeners to discover your app? Among the millions at the app store? Major labels have tried what you suggest, and it hasn't worked. The internet is a wonderful place, but it's like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.

If it were me I would use the tried and true system. Get some local gigs (depending upon the genre high schools/colleges, gin mills, old folks homes etc.) including exposure on local radio or TV (interviews and/or performance). Have your Internet site already built with sample music and ordering capability. Publicize performance dates. Seed YouTube with sample music. Get more gigs and parlay that exposure into some national exposure (morning shows, talk shows etc.) Drive your clamoring customers to your web site.

 

[TheBigA]

Who pays all your travel expenses? Who pays for hotels & food? Do you realize there are thousands of artists doing this right now? We're talking five years of debt to get enough exposure to build a fan base, and those few thousand fans still expect things for free, and probably aren't going to actually PAY for anything except a fan club membership. I've sat and listened to lots of artists tell me their story. You would not want to live their life.

 

[BOZ Profit]

Sure. But they also have other revenue streams to count on.

of course! It's just ONE way.. merchandising, concerts, books, acting, are all among the myriad of other revenue streams..

How do you get potential listeners to discover your app? Among the millions at the app store? Major labels have tried what you suggest, and it hasn't worked.

The internet is a wonderful place, but it's like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.

I guess THAT depends on what the MAIN objective is really... fans will share through social media. It's not a productivity app or even a game app.. it would be a music app, with share features included and even gain awards/rewards for sharing... And if I was already successful and had the money, I'd buy commercials to promote the app on the stations that were playing my music.. see, incentive to play my music.. a way around the payola law...

On a different but related subject:

Something that a smart business should do is pay a musician to write and record a real song but promoting the business and get it put into rotation on radio. Pay the artist a one time fee and get a lifetime of radio play for free advertising the business. Not as in a jingle where the business is paying for commercial time for it to air, but an actual song that is played in rotation.. essentially the antithesis of Neil Young's This Note's For You: http://youtu.be/KSSvzCNBvlQ. The artist would make money because his/her fans would be buying the music. The business would not necessarily have to buy advertising as long as the song was in regular rotation. Seems like a win/win between the business and the artist to me. Of course demos come into play and it would be a top of mind awareness type of campaign not a fire sale, etc.. It's essentially like product placement in movies. This is just a novel idea for discussion...

 

[TheBigA]

Something that a smart business should do is pay a musician to write and record a real song but promoting the business and get it put into rotation on radio. Pay the artist a one time fee and get a lifetime of radio play for free advertising the business.

Ask Bob Seger about Like A Rock. Another guy who made money that way was Moby. Forty years ago, Barry Manilow: Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Sure, it's possible. But most musicians are musicians, not businessmen. That's why most musicians starve. They need great managers to help, and those managers want a cut. So it ain't easy.

 

[landtuna]

No. You must disclose that it's a paid performance. But so what? You pay your money and the song get's played. How do you get people to actually BUY the record?

Have you studied how many times you have to repeat a message in order for it to have impact? How many times you have to play a song in order for it to register with enough people to buy the record, to make it worth the cost of that 30 minutes of airtime?

Last week Garth Brooks did something no one has ever done before. He appeared in all four hours of the Today Show. Four hours of national TV time. Millions of viewers. Do you know how many records he sold? 15,789. Total for the entire week. That's Garth Brooks with 4 hours of national TV time. Do you still want to buy an infomercial?

I don't realistically think that a radio infomercial is the route to riches nor is it what I would do (I wrote my plan in another post). The way to get exposure is through local gigs to gradually build up a repertoire and brand. Neither do I think The Today Show is a perfect platform (Country performer on a Noo Yawk centric show?) but considering that Garth is considered by many to be a burned-out star and morning shows on TV are not typically watched by the youth or mid-aged market who, you know, need to get to school or work. And this doesn't take into account that his stuff just might not thrill his former fans any longer.

 

[landtuna]

Who pays all your travel expenses? Who pays for hotels & food? Do you realize there are thousands of artists doing this right now? We're talking five years of debt to get enough exposure to build a fan base, and those few thousand fans still expect things for free, and probably aren't going to actually PAY for anything except a fan club membership. I've sat and listened to lots of artists tell me their story. You would not want to live their life.

You are absolutely correct - I would not want to live their life - so I haven't. But that doesn't stop thousands from pursuing it. My next door neighbor of 20 years ago uprooted his family, quit his day job and moved to Jasper Junction, Nawth Karolina with visions of becoming a songwriter. He would have been a singer but didn't have the talent. After years of struggle, a divorce and assorted other disappointments he has finally made it, sort of. He now uses the title of "songwriter" on his Facebook page. I think Social Security pays for the rest.

Nobody said being an artist, of any kind, was assured or easy. Perhaps that's why we have so many poseurs in the business today - or why rap is so popular.

 

[BOZ Profit]

Ask Bob Seger about Like A Rock. Another guy who made money that way was Moby. Forty years ago, Barry Manilow: Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Sure, it's possible. But most musicians are musicians, not businessmen. That's why most musicians starve. They need great managers to help, and those managers want a cut. So it ain't easy.

Like a Rock is a song that was used in a commercial. Not familiar with Moby's commercial ventures... Barry Manilow was great for writing JINGLES, but has radio played them in rotation as songs?

What I am talking about is a 4 minute SONG but that SONG is about a product or brand.

Imagine: Garth Brooks singing a Country tune with a melody for Wal Mart in the chord of C. The song could talk about buying his jeans (opportunity for cross promotion with another brand), buying a new girlfriend a bracelet charm, buying his razors and shaving cream (more cross-brand promotion), and getting his tires for his truck and all his friends that he runs into while shopping at the Big W...I'm sure there is a story to be written and sung... some kind of follow up to Friends in Low Places.. LOL (no offense to Wal Mart shoppers or Country music fans... or friends in low places.. but it's all about a great shopping experience at Wal Mart.. for 4 +/- minutes. And radio would play it in rotation for free because it is a song on an album that just so happens to solely promote Wal Mart.

 

[JeffM]

Actually, CBS Radio Mystery Theatre ran from 1974 until 1982. It was well produced and very successful.
I own a copy of each program ... Nearly 1400 of them.

I should clarify that I was well aware of CBS Radio Mystery Theatre, though not a great fan of the show; as I felt that (like Hyman Brown's productions in general) it was hammy and overacted. Much better, though less successful, were Elliott Lewis's Sears/Mutual Radio Theatre and Zero Hour. Jim French's uneven but interesting Imagination Theatre ran here for about ten years, until the station changed hands and replaced it with oogum-boogum conspiracy-theory shows. I know it's still in production, though the nearest station that airs it has moved it to a graveyard 4 AM weekend time slot; a fate which Mystery Theatre also fell to on many stations by the end of its run.

What I meant was that the networks dropped the concept of full-scale blocks of prime-time drama (and comedy and variety) as well as the daytime soap operas because the audience for them had moved to TV. (Don't forget it was well over a decade between the last of the old-school dramas on CBS and the beginning of Mystery Theatre.)

 

[TheBigA]

What I am talking about is a 4 minute SONG but that SONG is about a product or brand.

What does radio get out of it? It's not like Garth is particularly hot that they'll play anything he does, and it's not like WalMart is the only retail chain in the world. I see potential conflicts, and regardless, the song had to be REALLY GOOD, or no one will play it. Talk to the lawyers and see what they say.

 

[BOZ Profit]

What does radio get out of it?

What does radio get out of playing ANY song... content that the listeners (supposedly) want.

It's not like Garth is particularly hot that they'll play anything he does, and it's not like WalMart is the only retail chain in the world. I see potential conflicts, and regardless, the song had to be REALLY GOOD, or no one will play it. Talk to the lawyers and see what they say.

I was using that as more of a tongue in cheek example..

But what conflicts do you see exactly?

If it's a song that the artist writes and records, and the labels bring it to radio and it is REALLY GOOD... and it's going to be on the album, (but even if it was bad, like Sam Smith) but the label requires it gets airplay or no promotional freebies for the station, like concert tickets to give away etc... tell me radio would say no. There is a ton of crap that gets over exposed simply because of kickbacks that radio gets from labels.. this would likely be one of them. Or .. it could actually be REAL GOOD too..

 

[TheBigA]

But what conflicts do you see exactly?

Playing a song that gives free promotion to Wal Mart, while running paid spots from Target.

Record labels are too consolidated, with too many artists, to give all the attention to just one artist. Too much competition, too many artists, too many egos, and it's too easy to just play a recurrent hit by someone else that doesn't mention a specific brand or product.

 

[BOZ Profit]

Playing a song that gives free promotion to Wal Mart, while running paid spots from Target.

How often are Facebook and Twitter mentioned for free when there are paying advertisers?

Record labels are too consolidated, with too many artists, to give all the attention to just one artist. Too much competition, too many artists, too many egos, and it's too easy to just play a recurrent hit by someone else that doesn't mention a specific brand or product.

Sounds like poopooing an idea for the sake of poopooing it. Theoretically a brand could pay radio for their artist recorded song to be played in rotation, probably as long as there was an actual commercial playing as well... to get past the payola crap.

 

[TheBigA]

How often are Facebook and Twitter mentioned for free when there are paying advertisers?

Are Facebook and Twitter major department stores? No. I'm talking about Wal Mat and Target. Address that conflict first, please.

But remind me...why is it a great idea for an artist to do this? What artistic reason is there for an artist to become a prostitute? Because personally I don't see it.