THIS MAY OR MAY NOT AFFECT PART 15

Rotella Perspective

More:

www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/guest-commentaries/rotella-radio-performance-tax

I think the juggernauts like Iheart Media and Entercom should cease playing music that would fall under these rulings, and demand payment from the record companies for playing that music, make them take their own medicine! Radio does a ton of work to familiarize people with popular music, so it is more of a symbiotic relationship between record companies and radio.

If it seems radical to remove all music, it was done in the middle of the 20th century, charges getting so high for play, that radio boycotted the hit big band music, and instead went to less regulated music from artists who wanted to be heard on the airwaves, starting several new radio formats in the process, like country and western.

Radio should do it again, why should formats be so entrenched anyway, that stations are in gridlock with each other, and can't change a thing, for fear of making a 'hole' in the market for someone else to program and steal listeners. Who set that scenario up anyway? Surely not the listener public. Consultants have groomed listeners to accept what they offer to enforce demographics, but it doesn't have to be that way.

Boomer

I think you're right, I'd like to see some brand new artists get some play, instead of Coldplay.

There's independent music you can like in any genre you might be into. If you like rock/psych/punk, right now there are some pretty good bands coming out of Australia, like King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard. They have Flightless Records, an eclectic record company run by King Gizzard that works with other Aussie bands, and they put on Gizzfest to showcase more bands. Amyl And The Sniffers, Tropical F*ck Storm, those are punk bands, Baked Beans is more psych. Look for King Gizzard concerts on KEXP, and if you're a rocker looking for something new, you'll probably be amazed.

Another to look up is the Viagra Boys, videos like the Call Of The Wild EP and Shrimp Sessions live. Surfbort is classic punk sound.

All these bands, and more, have something new to offer again in the world of synth driven pop music done by just a couple of top producers worldwide, and that seems to going nowhere fast. The artists I mentioned are all the real deal, playing real guitars, drums, bass, and when there's synthesizer, it's usually a classic Minimoog, or a clavinet.

Look for these on You Tube, and find many more. I'd like to see these guys strike permission deals with the radio groups! I'd listen to radio more again, now I just listen to my own AM stereo station. Change the music, and get rid of the annoying buzz caused by the Nielsen ratings service that's encoded on to radio stations.

Another thing stations could do is convert to original programming, talk shows, news, radio plays.

Boomer