Indie Promotion Should Be Shot!

Have you ever wondered how songs get to the radio stations? Maybe you've wondered how is it that radio stations make their money. It's fairly simple; nothing is free in this world, especially not radios. Just because you ain't paying for it doesn't mean its free. Music stations make a bunch of money and it is money that is paid by record labels to keep their music playing.

http://archive.salon.com/ent/feature/2001/03/14/payola/index2.html

However, there is a middle man that not many people know is there and that middle man is called the "indie promoter". The indie promoter is the person who is the liaison between the record label and the radio station. The indie promoter is usually associated with radio stations who they pay "promotional payments" to which are usually six figures........ tough to say "no, thank you".

Back in the day, around the 1950's, record labels used to slide money under the table or in the record itself so that the DJ would play the record............yea, that was illegal and often referred to as payolas. Today, they are not illegal, the FCC changed the regulations and the record label is allowed to directly give money to the station. However, by law, if cash is exchanged then the audience must hear about it. For example, a song by Sony BMG singer, Chrissette Michelle would be played and after wards the DJ would say "that song was payed for by Sony Records." Yeah, thats pretty lame and stations don't want to deal with that.

The issue here is that everyone hates the indie promotion. They are an unneccesary step in music marketing. Why cant the station and the label just come up with agreements on playing the music. Record labels spend so much money... better yet, waste so much money on that middleman.

There used to be a time when the DJ had the gut, ability, freedom and instinct to choose music. Not anymore. Now it is all decided by the indies. A label will pay between $100,000 and $200,000 for ONE SONG. This money does not go to the station but to the promoter who ends up with most of the money for the "hard labor".

All this goes back to the stupid rules set by the FCC. Another one of the stupidest decisions that the government has made.

In the end................ its all about money.




IKE