1/28/1994
There’s a cool wind whistling through the canyons of our industry. Not quite the Hawk, but certainly an icy portent of things to come.
Beware! The Ides of March hasn’t held this much promise since Willie penned the verse hundreds of years ago.
It’s safe to say that by the time the big, ugly hog that is our industry quits thrashing, belching and banging his head against the trees, the smoke will have long cleared.
The state of independents will be more like a state of independence, as individual record companies will make decisions and payments based on their opinion of a radio station’s importance. Parallel status means nothing. Unless you’re comparing how close you were to the epicenter of the latest tremors in Southern California.
You can book a couple of facts. Record companies will no longer be compensating independent record promoters on radio stations merely because they have arrangements with the stations. A quid-pro-quo will be mandatory.
And the vice will definitely be versa. Independent record promoters will no longer be able to guarantee large payments to radio stations in return for early access to their lists.
Yet one question remains: How did we get ourselves in such a mess?
Paying a radio station for record information is bogus no matter how it’s explained. Rationalizations have mainly been exchanged between record companies and radio stations. Of course, the lawyers are quick to say the practice is not illegal. Which is as big an endorsement as claiming, “…it doesn’t cause cancer.â€
The Network Forty has learned that the FCC may not agree with their assumption. In fact, future station license renewals will focus on several key points, one of them being the relationship of the licensee with independent record promoters. The question won’t be whether or not it is illegal, but is it within the rules of the FCC? My dog is pointing at the fish in the trees.
Radio stations that depended on those dollars will be forced to look elsewhere. And if they’re smart, they won’t have to look far. There’s not a record company in the world that won’t support radio stations that are on the cutting edge in breaking new product. Small stations that depend on independent dollars will have to become little points of light in exposing records. (Remember how it used to be? When records broke out of smaller markets because they had the opportunity to test more unfamiliar product than competitive major markets?)
What goes around, comes around and more often than not in our industry, it comes around quick.
Positioning lately has become more of a record industry term than radio as many independents are hurrying to form new alliances. All are reading the writing on the wall, some with better clarity than others.
Make no mistake about it. It has been written. The change has begun. Only the final outcome has yet to be determined. Are we witnessing the indies’ Last Crusade or will it be a Temple of Doom?
Record companies gave independent record promoters plenty of notice that this change was going to happen. However, instead of using time to develop relationships, many have tried to continue the status quo. Only now are they realizing that it is too late. Those outdated agreements are being exposed for what they are…pieces of paper. Nothing more.
SETEC Astronomy is out of business.
Although independent record promoters did not invent the system, many are guilty of abusing it. But rather than worry about what will happen when record companies begin a compensation based on yank, the good ones welcome it.
If you’ve got yank, you can use it. If you have no influence and you’re just getting information early, all you’re doing is just yanking yourself.