_ _ _ (3) (4) _ _____ ____ _| |_ _ _ _ _ ___ _| |_ (____ | / ___)(_ _)| || | | || | /___)(_ _) / ___ |( (___ | |_ | | \ V / | ||___ | | |_ \_____| \____) \__)|_| \_/ |_|(___/ \__) _ _ (9) _| |_ _ ____ _____ ___ (_ _)| || \ | ___ | /___) | |_ | || | | || ____||___ | \10)|_||m|a|r||____0)(3__/ AIRPLAY 101 ----------------- By Bryan Farrish http://www.radio-media.com Payola (part 4 of 5), Comparison to Ads, PR, Merch, and Promotion. I need to point out some areas where indie bands get confused with regards to giving things to stations. It's remarkable how many bands think that giving advertising or CDs to a station is illegal. What actually is illegal is when you are playing at a club, and you pay the sound guy to get you set up first. That's more illegal that anything a label does for a station. ADS: Advertising a CD is legal because (1) the result of it (the commercial) is broadcast, not kept secret, and (2) the money is paid to the station (not an individual), meaning that the sales documents are available for public inspection. Even if you buy a non-broadcast remote (where the station makes an appearance at a retail store, but does not broadcast it), the result is still shown to the public. When you advertise on a station, you "own" the 30 or 60 second commercial, and you can "push" whatever you like within it, including your CD. As long as the commercial is not mistaken for regular programming, you are fine, and it is not payola (even though it promotes your music, and you are paying money to the station.) MERCH: When you give a box of CDs (or shirts, caps, or posters) to a station, just because the CDs have value to you, does not mean it is like giving cash to the station. If the station gives them away on-air, then the CDs become part of the programming (like a refrigerator given away on a game show) and thus it is legal for you to do this... even if it does benefit you. If the station does not give the CDs away on-air, but gives them away at a live-remote instead, then that is fine too. Non-commercial stations can even sell them to the public, if it uses the money for station operations. About the only bad thing that can happen is when a person at a station sells your stuff on the street, and pockets the money. Other than that, you can even give cash to a commercial station, if they use it for on-air giveaway (it becomes part of their programming.) PR: Buying a ad for your release in a newspaper/magazine is legal; paying a writer to write about your release, and not making this fact known to the paper, may or may not be legal (newspapers and magazines are not governed by the FCC), but it's close enough to "illegal" that we'll just say... it might be. Giving the writer a box of 30 CDs might be questionable, unless he/she is going to do a giveaway in the paper. RETAIL: Buying shelf space for your release if perfectly legal; it's standard contracted-activity with major retail chains, and it's what every major label does with their priority releases. Interestingly, this fact is NOT made known to the public... the public thinks certain releases are "out front" because they are "better". If radio worked this way, you really would have a right to scream. But it's not just music retail that does this... every Ralph's and Delchamps and HMV and Publix grocery store works this way... everything that is "out front" is paid for. And they have NO requirement to tell you this. So don't get mad at radio. INDIE PROMOTION: Lately, because of info available on the web, most people have been hearing about "indie deals" for the first time, and they hate the thought of it. Indie deals have been around for over 20 years, and were behind probably most of the material you grew up with on the radio. Indie deals are perfectly legal, and are a separate thing from the real meaning of "payola". While a few folks (indie promoters, bankers, doctors, mailmen) do pay people off illegally to get what they want, most do not. But paying people off illegally is separate from a legally-structured indie deal (just like illegally paying a retail person to put your CD upfront is separate from a legally-structured retail POP deal.) That said, I'll leave details of indie-deals for a more advanced newsletter, and for now just say (like I said in my Clear Channel article) that you are putting energy in the wrong place by thinking that it's the "bad" people at the labels and radio companies that are holding your indie release back with their "deals." Conclusion: Paying stations is not a tool for a small indie to get airplay. ------------------------------------------------------------ 1) http://www.etext.org/Zines/ASCII/ATI/ati334.txt 2) http://www.etext.org/Zines/ASCII/ATI/ati341.txt 3) http://www.etext.org/Zines/ASCII/ATI/ati344.txt 4) "Be Here Now" Baba Ram Dass 5) http://www.etext.org/Zines/ASCII/ATI/ ??? ------------------------------------------------------------ A Smart Bomb a poem by Brett Axel Wouldn't want to be dropped. Might get together with other smart bombs To discuss alternative employment possibilities Like demolishing old buildings. Debate the virtues Of restoration, at least taking them down Carefully, to salvage reusable materials. Several could open doors for all bombs: Start a mentoring project in the armory-- Old cannon balls and the latest hollow point bullets Listening to speeches about social conscience. Soon bombs are producing art and arguments Born of a frustration at the lack of opportunity For smart bombs to make meaningful contributions. Can you see young people expressing Their solidarity with bombs by exploding themselves In cities and on military bases? Or a bomb Specialist joining The View? Tommy Hilfiger marketing a line of expensive Clip on fuses for bomb wanna-bes Who drink too much and go to the worst movies-- Then parents are delivering warnings To keep away from after hours munition clubs Worried their babies might get rounded up by the government And dropped on Kosovo. First appeared in Real Change, 1999 [ref]=[http://www.mybizz.net/~axels/poems.html] | #'s | 0303100827 "hundred" hrs | http://www.totse.com http://www.awitness.org http://platinumdragon.ca http://www.themammals.net http://www.ciw-online.org http://www.rock4peace.org http://www.fuckthewar.com http://www.fightingbob.com http://www.drmenlo.com/nwd http://madison.indymedia.org http://webcrunchers.com/crunch http://www.ofek.com/200301.php http://members.iinet.net.au/~bofh http://www.textscene.com/links.html http://www.livejournal.com/~yakmilk http://bancs.lod.com/~ati/ati346.html http://www.frucht.org/music/mp3notcom.html http://www.teaching.com/webstock/center/text http://www.datanation.com/fallacies/index.htm http://www.instrumentality.com/themanual5.html http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews http://www.iraqjournal.org/journals/030228.html http://www.iraqjournal.org/journals/030228.html http://www.etext.org/Zines/ASCII/ATI/ati348.txt http://www.neo-comintern.com/archives/ncom229.txt http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_hersh.html http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00007E8V4.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg http://www.greenbaynewschronicle.com/page.html?article=118818 http://www.mediaresearch.org/notablequotables/dishonor/03/info.asp http://www.unansweredquestions.net/timeline/main/essayksmcapture.html http://www.totse.com/en/politics/central_intelligence_agency/mcgee.html http://free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/mediadeception/CorporateChokeholdMedia.html "I am proud and gratified to see these young people (my daughter included) picking up the banner and moving forward with today's struggles. We adults need to support and encourage them in becoming active citizens and real patriots. Keep up the struggle! ĦQue viva la juventud!" - Marty Horning [ref]=[http://mke.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=2354] [http://mke.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=2292] Covering the Milwaukee Freepers Rally With as Much Objectivity as Possible by marco (No verified email address) Current rating: 3 09 Mar 2003 The most surreal part of my day today, Saturday, March 8 was hearing "If I Had A Hammer" performed live at the same pro-war rally that ended with a canned rendition of Lee Greenwood's "Proud To Be An American." Yes, when I first got to the pro-war rally today at Cathedral Square on Jackson Street here in Milwaukee to cover it for Indymedia I saw a sign being waved saying "give war a chance," and I just knew I was in for something a little surreal, but that takes more than the cake, it took the whole pan, the stove, the cook and the kitchen! ("Expect no objectivity" -- zoe mitchell, dc indy This will contain my own slant. Honor my honesty; which I favor over the ever illusive "objectivity" for my story here.) The most surreal part of my day today (saturday, 8mar) was hearing "If I Had A Hammer" performed live at the same pro-war rally that ended with a canned rendition of Lee Greenwood's "Proud To Be An American." Yes, when I first got to the pro-war rally today at Cathedral Square on Jackson Street here in Milwaukee to cover it for Indymedia I saw a sign being waved saying "give war a chance," and I just knew I was in for something a little surreal, but that takes more than the cake, it took the whole pan, the stove, the cook AND the kitchen! The most creative chant of the entire rally was led by none other than Charlie Sykes himself. "We support our troops, we support our troops..." Rinse, repeat. I think he must've stayed up late last night to write THAT one. The smell of cigars both cheap AND costly was overbearing throughout the day. I thought for sure I was in the Frazier Ali fight in Manilla or something. But alas, it was the people passing out "In Our Name" literature, and some of those imbibing. "Thanks to _________, ___________, yadda yadda, and also the Wisconsin chapter of Free Republic. OK, now it all begins to make more sense. "Frankly I don't give a damn what the rest of the world thinks," says a man I don't have the name of yet, "The UN does not speak for us." Next middle aged white guy. "Give yourselves a round of applause." and "We don't care what happens at the UN, personally I wish they would get the hell out of New York so we can have more office space." I asked about 30 people before finding out Lou D'Abbraccio's name (the first guy to speak) I asked 5 or 6 about the next guy, and gave up. It might have been the Jeff Wagner everyone's talking up and down around town as the next Charlie Sykes. Anyhew, he intro'd Sykes. Not wasting any time, Sykes immediately began attacking celebreties. Major boos for each line of his laundry list. He smiles rhetorically. Yes, every bone in this man's body is rhetoric, let me tell you, how he rocks on his heels, how he greases his hair, how he cleans the noseclips of his glasses I bet. He attacks the group "Not in our Name" next. Boos join in with him again. "This is our answer." hahaha. Carefully crafted, believe me. Answer coalition? Our answer? Genius. Pure genius. Everyone cheers. He made a strong point of his belief as fact that the last generation fought nazism, fascism and communism and that "you answered the call against terrorism." I missed the next couple words he described before saying "...who killed 3000 people." I'm sure he was directing it at those who killed the 3000 people, and more to the point what he believes the response should be, and I'm sure the people were cheering for the response, but I must be honest with you that out of context (or in two narrow of a context) it sounded like this cheer (the loudest of the day) was FOR the 3000 who died. I don't dare abuse that. I could have, let me tell you that honestly. They were definitely exposing themselves as dittoheads, the whole crowd. They might cheer to anything as long as Sykes wiggles his eyebrows just so. OK, so the only element of protest against the war at this rally was by the man who wears a George Bush mask on Friday nites and holds signs with witty statements on them. He was joined by two or three people for 20 minutes or so who also had anti-war signs, but they left when the crowd got most violently opposed to them. Police instructed three mounted patrolpeople (two men and one woman) to get in and build a buffer between the man with the Bush mask and the violent crowd. I don't say that in a derogatory way. The crowd was very violent. The energy was very violent. You could smell the testosterone in the air. This was a pro-war rally, no one was saying otherwise. At some point law enforcement on horseback pretty much stopped the man with the mask from being very effective, but he stayed there right to the end of the rally. Most of the jeers and barbs were boring and mundane, harmless and just generally hateful, but one that was really difficult to hear was when one middle aged white woman instructed the police that she feels they should run him over with their horses. "I got specialist 5th class," says a tall man about 65 years old wearing a Green Bay Packer jacket. "If he attacked me, I'd like it," he said pointing out the protester with the George Bush mask. I pointed out to the man that he has every right to speak his mind as does he, but when it comes to wishing someone would throw a first punch, that's kind of out of hand. He seemed like he agreed with me, but I didn't get a sense he realized I was talking about him. Now here's where it gets surreal. The band name, and I might have spelled it wrong I'll try to look it up. They're called Tyson O'Conner, and they sang one song. "If I Had A Hammer." No, not Hummer, Hammer. They sang it traditional. Word for word. Maybe they used fonics, I don't know. But they sang it nonetheless. Were they sure they were at the right rally? Surreal. There was a little bit of a turf battle among law enforcement I should mention. I learned afterwards though that it was normal and routine. 2 pair of county sherrifs patrolled what looked to be the crowd, the protester(s) AND the local police. I imagine the horse-police had to clear with them, as it turns out, before trying to build any kind of buffer like that. Hmmm. Especially by the spirit and letter of why they're there in the first place. It's a county park, as opposed to a city park so the city have to ask the county before even letting the horses pee anywhere. You know, environmental impact statements and the whole rigamarole I'm sure. Organizers of the rally said they don't have any other rallies planned except one but the date's not set. It's to coincide with the first shootings of "the war," and also the protest that (and this is a direct quote) "the bad people" will be planning right after an invasion is announced. They're trying to get a permit for the same place where "the peaceniks" are but it's not going well, so they might consider this same park (in front of the Cathedral) or another park. Police told the organizers right in front of me that they're planning on announcing that between 1200 and 1500 attended officially. Honestly, I thought 500-600. But we'll get to that some next story, eh? "Can't you err on the side of goodness here?" smiled the organizer to the policeman charged with "crowd assessment," smile, smile. Which is when an intelligence officer leaned forward and told him "no," that they "never do that. We do the same thing for all the other rallies. You get the same exact treatment." Surreal. Quite Surreal. marco [ref]=[http://madison.indymedia.org/feature/display/10547/index.php] AUDIO(S) CONSULTED WHILE CREATING THIS 'ZINE: WBAI 99.5 FM New York-2 C:\mp3s\attackofthekillertomatoes.mp3 flag.blackened.net-80 C:\mp3s\dancinontheruins.mp3 C:\mp3s\David Rovics - Henry Ford Was A Fascist.mp3 C:\mp3s\garofolo_station-id.mp3 blast furnace radio-3 System P-2MarcoCapelli-BocetoAndaluz C:\mp3s\Martha Redbone - Perfect Life.mp3 reggaemid_16 Archive of ATIs can be got at the Gutenberg Project! http://www.etext.org/Zines Address all core meltdowns, I mean correlations, I mean correspondences to: ati@etext.org and remember, if you got angst: http://www.angelfire.com/ny/fasters/vent.html The official ATI webpage is also located on one of the free (albeit commercial) sites at: http://www.angelfire.com/wi/kokopeli/ATI.html th-th-th-tha's all f-f-f-folks. prime outa hear _ _ __ _ | |_ (_) / _` | | __| | | | (_| | | |_ | | \__,_| \__| |_|