Salon continues it’s cutting journalism on the seedy underbelly of the broadcast industry that no properly consolidated media conglomerate would dare do, for fear of cutting off it’s nose and biting it’s hand. In the article “Payola City” author Eric Boehlert uncovers how dominant cash payments have become in establishing hits in urban/black radio. Boehlert shows that the corruption in this market segment is more personalized — whereas payola money in top 40 and other white radio typically goes to a station’s bottom line, in urban radio the money is going directly into the pockets of individual programmers and consultants, 1950s style.
But who pays for all this? The artist, since the cost of promotion is almost always written into the contract as being the artist’s liability — it comes directly out of their royalty payments. This means they don’t see a dime until this cost is covered. And if it’s never covered, well don’t expect to stick aroud.
Tell me again how hard work and perserverence pays off in the music biz? Who’s really cheating the artists–the mp3 downloader? Please…
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