Small Town Soap Box, Tuesday, May 19, 2009
It's Time For The Artists To Stop Whining
Categories:
Small Town Soap Box
It's TimeThe Artists' Stop Whining by Moby In The Morning
June 15, 2008
The musicFIRST Coalition has been in entertainment news lately. They’re the group whining, griping, lobbying, and campaigning to have radio stations required to “pay a performance royalty” for the privilege of airing their product. They’ve sent free songs to National Association of Broadcasters executives. They’ve sent copies of Steve Miller's "Take The Money And Run," Bruce Springsteen's "Pay Me My Money Down," & Paul McCartney's "Back In The U.S.S.R." to NAB President/CEO David Rehr and EVP/Radio John David to remind them of the "inequity" facing recording artists who go unpaid when their music is played on the radio. Caca del Toro!! Unpaid?!? Why you Gold & Platinum plated Pansies!!! Are you nuts!?! At what point in your career did you get beyond begging radio to just listen to your stuff? At that point, if it had been legal, you would have gladly paid any radio station to air your music. Have you totally forgotten when you dreamed of driving in a car, and hearing part of your soul emanating from the dash. How cool it would have been to stop at a pay phone, and make the call saying, “Were you listening, Mama? They played my song on WXXX!!” When did it begin to make sense that in this partnership we’ve enjoyed for years, that experience was something you should be paid by the radio stations for? I know you’ve heard the stories when backroom deals, and under the table promotion finally got airplay for musicians on a label, not because of the talent of the musicians, but because of the label’s pockets, and the deals they cut to get that airplay. Why don’t you ask the suits at your label to take a smaller piece of the pie that you’ve baked? Let’s see how that affects your career. It appears to me that when success & public acclaim finds you, you folks are well-compensated for your art. Just leave it alone and enjoy the yachts, mansions, and all the other spoils that your fans have paid for. Enjoy the life that most folks can only dream about living. Boys, this is a slippery slope you cry babies want to walk down, and you’ll not like the ending of this song, there Mozart. I agree with what NAB EVP Dennis Wharton said: "This silly gesture obscures the fact that most musicians became successful through free airplay from America's hometown radio stations.” You folks will really go unpaid when your music isn’t played on the radio at all, and people quickly forget who the devil you are. Do you really think you’re that unique just because you were lucky enough to land a record deal? Do you really feel that superlative over undiscovered, but equally talented artists that would kill to have the opportunity radio has provided the lot of you? “The "inequity" facing recording artists who go unpaid when their music is played on the radio.” Give me a break!! Are you really that oblivious to how you got here? If we go down that path, then we’ll need recording artists to pay us for the time their songs are on our air.
If we gotta pay them to play their performances, then they should pay us for the entirety of the time their performances consume. Because when we make these changes, what would each song be other than a 3 or 4 minute long commercial advertising their products? Time is what we sell. We get paid to broadcast commercials in radio, and the recording artists will have to pay us for those commercials. Sounds fair to me. How about you artists? Get out your checkbooks. We normally insist on being paid in advance, especially with clients as unstable as most musicians seem to be. Tell you what, why don’t we leave it alone? We’ve played well together for decades, folks. Don’t go getting greedy at this stage of the game. You sell your records, CD’s, & digital downloads, for more than the music consumer can really afford to spend. You go ahead take $100+ dollars from your dedicated fans for obstructed view concert tickets. Go ahead and sell your $30+ cheap, lo-quality t-shirts, and other collectibles to your fans living paycheck to paycheck. Just appreciate radio for the gift of airplay that makes all your music and non-music stuff marketable? Otherwise, in these tough economic times, the big stars will simply disappear from the radio, because radio ain’t gonna be victim to any sort of “Picker Powerplay”. The local artists begging for airplay will surface, and be more than happy to play ball with radio. You sure you wanna play that game, Bruce? How about you, McCartney? To all the artists lucky enough to be successful, you’re welcome. Without radio, who would have ever heard your name, let alone your music? This has been a great partnership all this time. Don’t try flexing muscles you’re not really in control of. You need radio just like radio needs you. Now shut the heck up, and write a song about it. Then if you’re really lucky, radio might just play it.
June 15, 2008
The musicFIRST Coalition has been in entertainment news lately. They’re the group whining, griping, lobbying, and campaigning to have radio stations required to “pay a performance royalty” for the privilege of airing their product. They’ve sent free songs to National Association of Broadcasters executives. They’ve sent copies of Steve Miller's "Take The Money And Run," Bruce Springsteen's "Pay Me My Money Down," & Paul McCartney's "Back In The U.S.S.R." to NAB President/CEO David Rehr and EVP/Radio John David to remind them of the "inequity" facing recording artists who go unpaid when their music is played on the radio. Caca del Toro!! Unpaid?!? Why you Gold & Platinum plated Pansies!!! Are you nuts!?! At what point in your career did you get beyond begging radio to just listen to your stuff? At that point, if it had been legal, you would have gladly paid any radio station to air your music. Have you totally forgotten when you dreamed of driving in a car, and hearing part of your soul emanating from the dash. How cool it would have been to stop at a pay phone, and make the call saying, “Were you listening, Mama? They played my song on WXXX!!” When did it begin to make sense that in this partnership we’ve enjoyed for years, that experience was something you should be paid by the radio stations for? I know you’ve heard the stories when backroom deals, and under the table promotion finally got airplay for musicians on a label, not because of the talent of the musicians, but because of the label’s pockets, and the deals they cut to get that airplay. Why don’t you ask the suits at your label to take a smaller piece of the pie that you’ve baked? Let’s see how that affects your career. It appears to me that when success & public acclaim finds you, you folks are well-compensated for your art. Just leave it alone and enjoy the yachts, mansions, and all the other spoils that your fans have paid for. Enjoy the life that most folks can only dream about living. Boys, this is a slippery slope you cry babies want to walk down, and you’ll not like the ending of this song, there Mozart. I agree with what NAB EVP Dennis Wharton said: "This silly gesture obscures the fact that most musicians became successful through free airplay from America's hometown radio stations.” You folks will really go unpaid when your music isn’t played on the radio at all, and people quickly forget who the devil you are. Do you really think you’re that unique just because you were lucky enough to land a record deal? Do you really feel that superlative over undiscovered, but equally talented artists that would kill to have the opportunity radio has provided the lot of you? “The "inequity" facing recording artists who go unpaid when their music is played on the radio.” Give me a break!! Are you really that oblivious to how you got here? If we go down that path, then we’ll need recording artists to pay us for the time their songs are on our air.
If we gotta pay them to play their performances, then they should pay us for the entirety of the time their performances consume. Because when we make these changes, what would each song be other than a 3 or 4 minute long commercial advertising their products? Time is what we sell. We get paid to broadcast commercials in radio, and the recording artists will have to pay us for those commercials. Sounds fair to me. How about you artists? Get out your checkbooks. We normally insist on being paid in advance, especially with clients as unstable as most musicians seem to be. Tell you what, why don’t we leave it alone? We’ve played well together for decades, folks. Don’t go getting greedy at this stage of the game. You sell your records, CD’s, & digital downloads, for more than the music consumer can really afford to spend. You go ahead take $100+ dollars from your dedicated fans for obstructed view concert tickets. Go ahead and sell your $30+ cheap, lo-quality t-shirts, and other collectibles to your fans living paycheck to paycheck. Just appreciate radio for the gift of airplay that makes all your music and non-music stuff marketable? Otherwise, in these tough economic times, the big stars will simply disappear from the radio, because radio ain’t gonna be victim to any sort of “Picker Powerplay”. The local artists begging for airplay will surface, and be more than happy to play ball with radio. You sure you wanna play that game, Bruce? How about you, McCartney? To all the artists lucky enough to be successful, you’re welcome. Without radio, who would have ever heard your name, let alone your music? This has been a great partnership all this time. Don’t try flexing muscles you’re not really in control of. You need radio just like radio needs you. Now shut the heck up, and write a song about it. Then if you’re really lucky, radio might just play it.
