|
|
|
Radio Airplay 101 - Payola part 1 of 5 |
|
|
|
|
Saturday, 12 June 2004 |
Nothing in the music business sparks more inquisitiveness from
grassroots artists than payola. Although established label people
(and radio people) realize that it's a red herring for a new indie,
the response to our previous article about Clear Channel was the
greatest of all the previous fifty Airplay 101 articles.
Nothing in the music business sparks more inquisitiveness from
grassroots artists than payola. Although established label people
(and radio people) realize that it's a red herring for a new indie,
the response to our previous article about Clear Channel was the
greatest of all the previous fifty Airplay 101 articles. That's funny,
since the purpose of that article was to explain how focusing on
things like payola or Clear Channel is a waste of time for the indie
artist... because it's not what's holding the artist back. Most indie
artist readers did not even see the purpose of the article, and
instead thought we were either defending or condemning Clear
Channel (we were doing neither). But I wont' give up... I'm going
to clarify and expand my argument, and take the next five full
articles to do so, starting with this one.
For a grassroots indie artist or label to think that a radio group
owner (CC or otherwise) is "holding them back" by only offering
airplay to "big" labels who can "pay" them, is putting energy into
the wrong area. By grassroots-artist or indie-artist, I mean an
artist with no distribution, no touring, no press, and a marketing
budget of $30,000 or less, which will have to pay for all upcoming
manufacturing, promotion, PR, retail, booking, and everything
else. This category applies to 99 out of 100 readers of Airplay
101 (about 44,000 people). The remaining 1000 non-grassroots
readers, who are working on projects at the medium and major
level, might indeed have payola or CC as concerns. But by
"indie", I do not mean labels the size of Curb or Roadrunner...
those are majors in the grassroots world. Again: These Airplay
101 articles on payola apply only to absolute beginners, and not
to the more experienced marketers (for them, we'll have Airplay
201 in the future.)
Here are some perspectives: For a grassroots artist to think that
payola or CC is holding them back, is like a 16 year old hostess at
a restaurant wanting to open her own 1000-seat restaurant in
Manhattan, and then, when she is turned down by the banks (or
the banks' secretaries) for the ten million dollar loan, she blames
the problem on corporate corruption, thinking that you can only
open a restaurant by paying people off. Forget the fact that she
only has worked as a hostess (the only job she ever had) for
three months... this could never be the problem. This situation
might seem funny, but this is how experienced label (and all radio)
people view indie artists who are complaining that payola is what
is stopping them from getting exposure.
Now, if the person seeking the ten million dollar bank loan had
been a 20 year food service veteran, having worked as hostess,
waitress, cook, bartender, head chef, assistant and general
manager, well then, if you heard her complain about corporate
payoffs being the reason she were being turned down for her
loan, you might actually listen. But the real answer for the 16
year old hostess is the answer for the grassroots indie artist: Why
are you wasting your time focusing on things that are so high
level that they don't apply to you? They may apply to other
people in larger marketing situations, but not to you at your level.
The real reason that the 16 year old hostess can't get the
restaurant loan (and thus can't "move forward") is that she
knows almost nothing about the restaurant business. She knows
so little, as a matter of fact, that she does not even know what
she doesn't know. But the bank knows, for a fact, that she has
no chance of success... so they don't even talk to her. So she
complains about what she DOES know about... corporate
corruption, which she sees on TV. That is the ONE and ONLY
reason that she can't get the ten million dollar restaurant loan,
and also the ONE reason she is not being promoted to waitress.
What else could it be? If there were any other possible reasons,
SHE would know about it (right?), because after all, SHE is
working in the restaurant business, and SHE knows how it
works. (well, she sort of works in it, because she also baby-sits
on the side.)
Point: 99 out of 100 of the people reading this do not know
enough about the radio business (or music marketing) to
understand the very basics of what is needed to get airplay. So,
they pin the lack-of-airplay on what they have read about:
Payola. What else could it be? What other music marketing can
one possibly do besides make some CDR's with stick-on labels,
and mail them out to Clear Channel stations in markets 1 through
20?
Conclusion: Paying stations is not a tool for a small indie to get
airplay.
| Comments () >> |
 |
|
|
Last Updated ( Saturday, 12 June 2004 )
|
|
|
