Loading ...Indie And Radio: A Match Made In Misery
By Evan ~ May 18th, 2009. Filed under: rant.
You probably don’t remember this post from March 6th, 2007, because it didn’t really contain anything important. There was a link a story about how the independent music community received good news in the form of an FCC agreement regarding payola scandals. In the agreement, CBS Radio, Clear Channel, Entercom and Citadel were forced to pay 12.5 million dollars in a cash settlement and provide 8,400 half-hou segments of free airtime to independent labels and local artists. Great success, right?
Wrong. The Future Of Music Coalition (FMC website) examined four years of airplay from national playlists across seven specific formats (AC, Urban AC, Active Rock, Country, CHR Pop, Triple A Commercial and Triple A Noncomercial) in an attempt to prove whether or not the agreements served their purpose, has payola been curtailed, and did the agreements have any effect on what gets played on the radio. To absolutely no one’s suprise, the data in the report indicates almost no measurable change in station playlist composition over the past four years” (Full article here). Take that, indie fags! You thought you stood a chance…Ha!
To be fair, I don’t know how much change there’s going to be when the formats you’re researching include adult contemporary, Christian pop and Adult Album Alternative. Maybe it would have been better to take data from modern rock or top 40 stations, but I don’t know how much that data would really differ, since they usually play the same songs over and over all day. Still, the lack of information about those stations leaves the true results of this research open to criticism.
The sad truth revealed by this study is that some independent labels probably going to fold in the near future do to our crippled economy and their inability to gain exposure when pitted against major labels. We’ve already seen Touch & Go shutter their distribution arm this year, and I’m sure we’ll see at least one big name indie label close within the next few years. I guess that sucks, but if indie labels really think a few more spins on terrestrial FM radio is going to net them huge profits, they’re probably not run by very smart people. I mean, who listens to music on the radio anymore, anyway? Unless you live within range of WFMU, KUSF, WZRD…you’re pretty much stuck listening to classic rock or modern rock. I’m no businessman, but I say screw mainstream radio.
The best opportunity for indie labels to advance and amass listeners would be through Internet radio or satellite radio. Sirius Radio has a “Left of Center” station devoted to independent rock. I find myself listening to a vast majority of music online, and none in the car (except when using the satellite radio, and even though I usually prefer talk stations). If indies pushed harder to take complete (or near complete) control of new media, I’m sure they would see an increase in exposure and audience share. They can’t beat the dinosaurs by playing their game. They need to start your own game. Or their own league, even. And in the end, I bet the 30 percent market share owned by indie labels will increase. Sure, 95 percent of the music released by indie labels will still suck, but at least they’ll be making money. If that’s what they want, that’s how they should go about attaining it.
The Residents – Die In Terror
Sleepy John Estes – Sweet Sugar Mama
Sandy Bull – Gospel Tune
Judee Sill – The Vigilante
