Tom Petty News - October 2004

November 23, 2004

Payola
Ok, this has got nothing to do with TP, but is about The Last DJ subject matter. I feel pretty strong about it as you will see. Yesterday I wrote the NY Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer. Apparently, I'm a letter writer, WHO KNEW!?!?!? What cracks me up about this article is that the reporter is shocked to find out about this.

Like it ever stopped in 1960!

From Philadelphia Paper
I knew it! I just freakin' knew somebody had to be paying to get this garbage on the radio.

Four major record labels (EMI, Warner Music Group, Universal and Sony-BMG) were served subpoenas last month seeking e-mails and other correspondence between the labels and independent promoters (middlemen in the label-to-station music handoff).

The focus of the investigation is a possible "pay-for-play" scheme between labels and radio stations wherein vast sums of money - sometimes upwards of $150,000 - changed hands to get certain songs on the radio, or in Top Forty spots.

Apparently, there have been laws on the books banning this sort of practice since 1960. While I haven't been able to track down what sort of fine or other punishment this carries yet, I did come up with some ideas on how I would handle the situation.

Option 1) Let's say judgement comes against the labels. The estimated dollar amount of income these labels generated from bribing stations to stick songs into Top Forty lists, thereby generating buzz to sell albums, should go directly to struggling independent recording companies.

These companies would have to present figures and taxes, etc. etc. to prove they are in or approaching "the red." The money would be earmarked for debt relief, what have you.

Anything left over would go toward a "production trust fund" for bands that can't come up with the cash to record a halfway decent demo, something along the lines of the Endowment for the Arts.

Option 2) For judgement against the stations, it's the same basic premise. Station owners would have to compile sets of local bands and give them airtime estimated to be worth the total bribe money received.

And not at 3 a.m., but during peak radio hours, like drive times and lunch.

I don't know how much airtime that would equal, exactly, but I'm willing to bet it's enough to spark an interest in the local scene and distract the masses from the "Big Names" that get more constant radio play.

Which are a couple of really idealistic and not at all feasible solutions to a pretty straightforward problem. But I figure if you fine these guys, it won't make a difference, not for more than five minutes. Hit 'em in their prospective pocketbooks, though, and maybe a little change will be affected.

My Reply
I sent this to the writer of the article. Let's see if he writes back. I think they should sentence the responsible people to prison time and the only thing they can listen to is the most played single for that year. I could still kill the guy who got Mmm Bop added!

Mr. Rose,

Do you know anything about the music industry? The "indie pay-for-play model" was put into effect to avoid the governments anti-payola law. Instead of drugs, hookers, houses, cars and land, Big Brother Clear Channel/Record Labels have boxes of legal invoices and copies of checks.

A law is like trying to protect a CD from being downloaded on the Internet. As soon as a standard/law is in place, someone's gonna find away to get around it!

A point you missed is that it doesn't happen at EVERY radio station. Clear Channel owned or not, it's the stations who report (send their playlists) to Radio & Records that the labels are concerned with. These are the stations who make or break albums. There are what, about 10,000 commercial stations in the US? Of those, maybe 10% of them report to R&R. And these ~1000 stations add 2 or 3 new songs a week. Those are the ones being attacked by the indie weasels. And sure, the more the crap gets played, the more the crap sells. Therefore effecting Billboard's chart.

The way the music industry island has been crumbling, I don't think any of the labels even have promotion departments anymore! Why would they when they have indie promotion money as the largest part of their company budget. It's a shame, that used to be an art in itself. A record label will pay from $1000 to $10000 for a song to be played during "drive times" (when people are going to work or coming home) and at lunch. The labels don't even care what a non-reporting radio station is playing. That's why some towns will actually have the shockingly cool station.

Hell, if a new band wants to get heard, draw up a business plan for your single and get some Investors to fund your new business venture! The band wouldn't even need a label! If you have the cash, you can be heard.

I haven't listened to the radio in years and I'm not that old. As a musician, the industry pissed me off a long time ago. I don't know if it's the labels, clear channel or the indie promoters fault, but the industry is in desperate need of a new business model. It has silenced alot of creative minds with its greed. Unless you were already a radio staple, you were not going to get heard. Even Tom Petty, who I thank and respect immensely for The Last DJ album, writes credible, intelligent rock and roll songs that are now only heard on the radio for a week after an albums release.

I read an interview with Tom Petty a long time ago where he described why he wrote and played music. I don't remember the exact context, but one of his reasons was "To be heard on the Radio". I think musicians and teenagers are hurt the most by the Pay-to-Play business model. Musicians and songwriters can't be heard and therefore can't make any money. Teenagers just figuring out what type of music they like are forced fed crap. They don't know anything else because they haven't heard anyting else. That scares me. They get The Backside Boys (yes, I know it's street), Outkast and Christina Aguilera teaching them about relationships and ways of thinking? That's fucked up! Thank God I was 13 when "Damn The Torpedoes" came out.

By the way, the US Anti-Payola Law is only a misdemeanor punishable by $10,000 and up to a year in prison.