Killing the Music Industry
Record Labels Finally Profit!
...by robbing RADIO.
According to this morning's Inside Radio, BMI's revenues topped $901 million last year and $224 million of it came from Radio. Their total revenues were only up 7% last year -- but a whopping 25% of their overall revenue came from the industry that helps push their vapid product on millions of listeners who could have otherwise avoided hearing their mediocre music.
AND, the Labels think Radio should pay MORE! The Labels are pushing Congress to undo Radio's exemption from a performance-based royalty that could add from $2 to $7 billion in new fees to their bottom line.
Radio is the delivery vehicle for the Label's product. It introduces (and pushes) their product on listeners who might not have otherwise been exposed to their product. The Labels do not pay for the time spent airing their product (hell, it's against the LAW to charge them!)
This seems an awful lot like charging truck drivers for delivering the Label's music CDs to stores. "Yes, we know that we need you to deliver our CDs to the store, but we want you to pay US a $1 for every CD you deliver."
Hell, at least the truck drivers are allowed to charge the Labels for toting their crap from city to city...Labels: Industry, Radio, Rants, Record Labels
Time to Bring Back Payola?
The BusinessWeek article "Radio Royalty Wars Heat Up Again" is good, but the reader comments are more interesting. Opinions are all over the place and many of them aren't based on any seeming logical explanation. One guy says to make Terrestrial Radio pay the additional royalties for streaming, but then goes on to berate Radio for adding more commercials per hour.
Um... exactly HOW do you think Radio is going to pay for those additional royalties??
If the RIAA wants to come back and double-dip on fees (I think a few of the commenters seem to think Radio is agetting a 'free ride' -- they're not.) Radio already pays royalty and licensing fees. These hearings have come about because the recording industry feels they should get additional fees if the station is streaming (the exact same broadcast!) over the internet.
I think one solution that these hearings need to consider is allowing Radio to charge the recording industry to play their music. I know in the past this has been outlawed by Payola rulings, but if the RIAA wants Radio to pay them for featuring their product, then Radio ought to have the same chance to profit from the recording industry. I think Payola laws were originally instituted to make sure the public had a fair chance to hear music from record labels that didn't have deep enough pockets to bribe a disc jockey to play their records. This was back when only a few radio stations were on the air and there were really no other ways to learn about new artists. With a plethora of other stations now on the air, the advent of internet radio, satellite radio, iTunes, indie music sites like GarageBand.com, and a myriad of ways to share music peer-to-peer -- the old reasons for outlawing Payola would seem to have gone the way of the dinosaur.
Grocery stores leverage shelf space and display location to receive better rates and discounts from their supliers -- why can't Radio be allowed to do the same?Labels: Fees, Industry, Rants, Record Labels, Streaming
Label Schmabel
Another example of why the future success of artists, authors, musicians (and all other creatives) no longer lies in the hands of major art galleries, gigantic publishing houses, or big record labels...
Marcia's Video
All this talent, and she pours the perfect pint at my favorite pub (but with talent like this -- not for much longer, I imagine.)Labels: Rants, Record Labels, Trendwatch
Records vs. Radio DeathMatch
Just put these two prehistoric prats in a cage and let them duke it out, will ya?
Here are the latest whinings...
Headline #1:
Study says radio airplay actually drives down record sales.
University of Texas at Dallas Professor Stan Liebowitz says radio airplay can hurt music sales by as much as 20%. He finds the more time listeners spend tuned into the dial - the less likely they are to buy pre-recorded music. Liebowitz's study comes at a time when record labels have started pushing to nix radios' royalties' exemptions.
ZOMBIE RADIO SAYS: If the reporter had bothered to ask a Radio PD they would have said their RATINGS have been suffering because of the CRAP the Labels have been pushing to play on the air. They beg for additional spins but cry when the audience is so sick of their tune that they don't want to own it? DUH. ZR also feels that even if Radio didn't play their music -- no one would want to own it anyway. With the exception of 2 or 3 artists -- show me any talent being promoted by a major
label that the public can get excited about.
Headline #2:
Here's why the record industry is after radio's wallet.
Their sales drop yet again. According to Nielsen SoundScan album sales dropped 15% in the first half this year. In short - the record industry has definitely seen better days. The good news for labels is that the sale of digital tracks increased 49% compared to last year.
ZOMBIE RADIO SAYS: So, is this profit drop being blamed on Radio too? That's right -- it's Radio's fault you and your product sucks. Bitch about the 15% drop in album sales and completely ignore the fact your sale of downloads INCREASED 49%!!! Boo-Hoo-Hoo... I can't dig for coal anymore because all these gold nuggets are getting in my way.
BRRRAAAAAIIINNNSSSS!!!!!Labels: Fees, Radio, Rants, Record Labels, Trendwatch
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Brraaaaainnssss...
Focusing
primarily on terrestrial radio broadcasting, ZombieRadio.com is
dedicated to pointing out the mindless and brain-dead actions of the
mainstream media industry in general.
Don't
get too comfortable satellite, television, cable, and internet -- we
all know from seeing zombie movies that the contagion spreads quickly.
"They're
coming to get you..."
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