The true cost of Payola

I’ve completely written off FM radio as a viable source of entertainment. I tried to do my duty as a fan of music and listen to the radio every once in a while as a means of feeding myself the newest music out there. MTV too. But the videos got tired and they were the first to go. I faithfully held on to the radio dial as long as I could, but eventually I started slipping and the knob changed to AM radio, where it remains today.

I am still a lover of music. In fact, my appreciation for music seems to grow with the coming days. New artists appear like riders at a bus stop, and every once in a while, I lovingly drop off second-hand bands at the next stop, thankful for their role in my path towards musical maturity (whatever that is). Point is, I love music. But I hate the radio.

I think radio is a victim of the very thing to which it has contributed: A.D.D. Psychological issues are more complex than that, but very few people would argue with the idea that MTV, commercials and a rapid succession of two-minute songs have only contributed to the inability of the masses to pay attention for very long. Add to that: microwaves, broadband, TiVo, turbo-chargers, and the list goes on. We’re impatient and we can’t seem to pay attention for very long. And radio suffers.

Instead of hearing one song once, digesting it and being primed to hear it a second time, we are plastic walls waiting to be painted. People try so hard to get that first coat on—these songwriters and A&R reps screaming, “listen to me; love me; remember my name!”—but the paint just keeps coming off. Nothing sticks.

Enter Payola.

Payola’s roots go far back, and although it became fairly regular practice, it was blasphemous to even say the word at one time. Even Canadian new wave band “The Payolas” had a difficult time separating themselves from the negative connotation inherent in their name. But payola- literally record companies bribing radio stations to play their tunes over and over again- is still here, and is very much responsible for the repetitive bullshit we get fed through radio channels every day (unless, like me, you have turned over to the dark [talk] side of radio).

Payola is a response to a new crop of victims of modern technology: we’re not paying attention, so let’s shove this crap so far up their arses, they’ll have to like our songs. And I’ve seen it happen a million times. Why else would anyone ever listen to a Shaggy song? Ashlee Simpson? Nelly? Payola works because after 100 listens, it’s hard for most people not to like a song. The problem with me is, after 100 listens, it’s hard for me to still like a song.

The reason Payola is so offensive, besides the fact that it’s cheating on a most heinous level, is that for every Mariah Carey song paid to be on the air, there’s one less new artist ready to blow us away with her music. Technology is atoning for its sins, however, by allowing a forum for talented musicians to not only record a metric tonne of music for next to nothing, but it also gives Joe Indy a chance to market, distribute and play music without going through standard radio channels. Rock is finally able to actually stick it to the man. With myspace.com, purevolume.com and many other effective marketing outlets, a band needs very little from record companies. Thankfully, technology hasn’t found a way to replace talent. We do a good job of bunging that up ourselves.