On 25 Nov 2004 09:04:59 GMT, "Mike Terry"
wrote:
...the Alt Rock station in Albany plays the same songs by the same artists
as the Alt Rock station in Wichita. Just like a burger at McDonalds, radio
has become packaged and predictable.
How many people travel often between Albany and Wichita and spend
enough time there to know the playlists are similar? Are you
proposing that if Wichita plays a song, Albany can't? Who will keep
the database of permitted songs in specific markets?
The reason for this is well known, the radio stations are essentially bought
and paid for by the record companies through what is known as Payola. So,
they aren't in the business of helping you and I enjoy music, they are in
the business of making money...
So, record companies should produce songs for individual communities
and forego mass markets? I've programmed music stations in Boston, San
Diego and New York, as well as hundreds via syndication over the
years. Not once has any record company ever offered me anything that
could be considered Payola. Where did I go wrong? All I got was a
stinking phony bubble gum machine. In New York, my station was a Radio
& Records reporting station. That should have been worth something -
maybe at least a political-type junket to a warm, hooker-filled
resort.
Today, I have several options for hooking up an MP3 player to my car; from
cassette adapters to units that allow me to integrate my iPod into the car -
the iPod becomes my personal library of music that I have an interest in.
That's really the issue, not "cookie-cutter" formats. You want what
you want when you want it. You're still a profit center for the record
companies because I'm sure you're not illegally downloading or ripping
CDs you haven't purchased. I'm sure you've paid for every cut that
resides in the iPod (ripping other people's CDs isn't kosher, either).
Remember, we're assuming you're honest.
With the legal and honesty issues out of the way we need to deal with
all those people who still can't figure out how to get rid of the
flashing 12:00 on their VCRs.
My car and home are wired and wireless. Like you, I'm what used to be
called a Geek (now Techie). I can plug anything into anything. Even my
Tivo updates itself wirelessly.
Can radio overcome this uncertain future? Can they build audience loyalty?
In short, NO. I think they have something major working against them: You
can't be all things to all people, which is what they are relying on with a
push model.
The "push" model is essentially the same as the mass marketing model.
If every person demands a different music mix (with legally purchased
music, of course) radio will go away, as will MTV and other sampling
sources that now let you hear what music you want to legally purchase
to fill your iPod. You are buying the music you're recording?
Remember, I'm assuming you're honest. No swapping; by the letter of
the law that says you can make an archival copy for your own use.
Let's go back to the labor-intensive nature of your model. I assume
you have many small electronic devices. Each one has 97 more functions
than you'll ever use. Do you remember all of them without going to the
manual? My VCR requires 23 button pushes to set the clock. Some
require two hands. Since I only use that sequence once or twice a year
I haven't committed it to memory.
My car's battery went dead not long ago. I had to reset 2 clocks, a
terrestrial radio's 18 per band station presets, 18 XM presets and 20
SIRIUS presets. I was living in New York during the last power
failure. 29 hours without power. Everything had to be reset. I won't
even attempt to calculate the number of button pushes needed.
How many people do you know who make regular computer backups? I have
a 30gb MP3 player. The general rule in computing is not IF your hard
drive will die, it's when. You are making backups of all that legally
purchased music and are prepared to reload everything?
So, the mass market is gone. Not much new music is being produced
except by those willing to let you legally purchase and download the
few songs they cut in their garage (without egg cartons on the wall).
Now we're reduced to recording ourselves in the shower. When I sing in
the shower the tiles shatter, so that's not an option.
I know many, many people with gadgets. After a while they get tired of
the work they require and either listen to terrestrial radio or
silence punctuated by some obscenity hurled from the car in the next
lane.
Too much work for all but the Geekiest among us.
Rich
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