| respondent |
quote |
 |
COOL LEE: No, I did not hear about it, except that there is some sort of finger-pointing that music
on the radio is really just hyped and has nothing to do with talent. But that can't be, because I love everything I hear on the radio...
just because I like to fit in with the bigger crowd. So if it's on the charts, I usually automatically like it. |
 |
DJ YOYO JO-Z: Yo, the conspiracy is that the music industry pays independent promoters to
reward gifts to radio stations in exchange for airplay. I know because once I was a music director at a radio station.
Record guys hated my ass cuz I wouldn't play the game. The problem is that the system shuts out lots of the new groups coming up
that ain't represented by big money. |
 |
MR. BIG BIZ: I think Sony BMG Entertainment made a wise decision to cooperate with New York
Attorney General Elliot Spitzer's investigation of pay for play between the music industry and radio stations. The deal is that
the label will cease their pay for play as a business practice. I personally would have preferred that Spitzer and Senators like
Russ Feingold would just let the industry handle its own affairs. In other words, I support pay for play as a business model. |
 |
JENNIFER: Hey, I think payola is stupid and wrong and it hurts the integrity of the music.
I think songs should only be on the radio if they're good and not because a hundred other stations are getting the same
pay-off just to artificially manufacture hit songs. Payola is one of the reasons why radio has become so dumb and boring. |
 |
SKULL MADISON: I actually like the idea of pay for play. I mean, it keeps everyone in check.
What it does, is it allows kind of a good ol' boy network to control the industry. It's completely
borrowed from politics, which I find fascinating. I enjoy seeing a small group of big players crush the little guys,
because it shows that power over the masses can be concentrated within a small circle of friends. |
 |
COLLEGE STUDENT: I knew there was something going on in radio that didn't add up. None
of the songs seem that good unless you buy into the hype that you're just supposed to like it because it's on the charts.
That's why I pick my own tunes that I'll listen to by sampling them on iTunes,
and if I like it, I download it for my iPod. I lost track of commercial top 40 a long time ago. Now I find out
it was all bought off. Funny how they couldn't fool me. |
 |
JOE DOAKES: I had thought that all this time all the music I hear on the radio is based
on popularity. Now it sounds like they're saying that the only stuff that gets played on radio is a result of some favor
by record labels. That's actually more information than I care to know about. I'm not that interested in what goes on behind
the scenes, anyway. I'm more interested in what's being presented as pop culture so that I can keep up with what I'm supposed to like. |
 |
GOOFBALL GREG: Wow, you mean all this time, all these songs I thought were good were
really just part of some big scam? I sorta don't wanna feel that way about my favorite music, and plus maybe that's all
just a bunch of crap anyway. Even if it's all really bought off, what's the problem with that? As long as someone's
making money isn't that the idea? |
 |
DAVE THE ATTORNEY: Pay for play is actually legal in many cases if it meets a few standards
established following the payola investigation of the early sixties. First, the station must disclose the information to the public and then the station must report any monetary gain to the IRS. I suggest that the practice of pay for play that does not meet these standards is not only illegal, but vulnerable to the current
investigation that Mr. Spitzer and Congress have been pursuing. Please call my office immediately if you have any concerns. If you need a reference, one of my most satisfied clients has been S k u l l M a d i s o n.
|