Limp Bizkit |
Thu. April 02.1998 10:20 PM EST |
Music Fans Tuned Into 'Pay-For-Play'Say practice of trading cash for radio airtime is nothing new and not necessarily bad. by Senior Writer Gil Kaufman |
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If you ask Pearl Jam fan Caryn Rose, "pay-for-play" is just another form of radio
brainwashing. Still, for a fan of a band that has staked its reputation on keeping corporations out of the mix, Rose had little problem with the
"Personally, I guess I don't understand the controversy," said Rose, 34, webmaster of the Pearl Jam webzine "Five Horizons," about the revelation last week that Interscope had paid KUFO to air thrash-rap band Limp Bizkit's single, "Counterfeit" (RealAudio excerpt) for five weeks. "It's as though the people screaming about this seriously think that radio stations are these selfless organizations whose objective is to serve the public. Radio stations are in the business to make money; they play what they know will get 'good phones,' and as a result we hear crap that all sounds the same." Last February, KUFO accepted payment from Interscope Records to play "Counterfeit" in a federally approved pay-for-play arrangement that requires the station to run a disclaimer before or after the song that makes note of the track's sponsor. Other radio watchers were not as sanguine about the practice, which, although legal for over two decades, has never before been tested in such a high-profile manner and has already caused some to question its ethics. Jeremy Wilker of the Minneapolis-based media watchdog group Americans for Radio Diversity said his initial reaction was that this was a bad move for radio. "It's just another way of widening the gap between the rich and powerful and those who aren't in that category." Wilker said he feared that the practice could lead to a situation in which a band would have to have "a million bucks" in order to get its song on the radio and that listeners would be left wondering if what they're hearing is paid advertising or musical programming. "It's hard enough now for an indie label to get their bands on the radio," Wilker said, "but what happens to a young, hungry band who may be the most talented group around but can't afford the cost?" The president of a major record label, who did not want his name used and who had not heard of the KUFO buy prior to this story, said the practice was, at the least, more honest than past methods of obtaining radio play. "I like the idea that announcing pay-for-play strips away the pretense that radio stations and DJs pick songs for reasons that DJs chose songs when FM rock radio was an integral part of a burgeoning lifestyle in its early days," he said. "At that time, the relationship between FM listeners and DJs was very special and very intense and it was tied up in shared convictions and ideals," which he said were rooted in, among other things, activism and consciousness-expanding self-exploration. Although the label head (whose company is not affiliated with Limp Bizkit) said that those ideals were long dead, and that DJs have not been in the mix for a long time, he said he felt that KUFO playing Limp Bizkit was a good thing, since it represented a "great-sounding, albeit aggressive-sounding band getting a shot on a huge station in an important market." Weston A. Adamson, who runs the "Muzzle" Limp Bizkit fan site, agreed with the label head and added, "I think that if it is paid for by Flip/Interscope, and that the goal is to widen the audience of LB, then it is OK." "As long as they aren't paying for MTV to make them a 'one-hit wonder,' it doesn't matter to me at all," said Adamson, a high-school student from Michigan who also has pages dedicated to fellow hard-rocking bands Korn and the Deftones. Meanwhile, reaction from fellow musicians to the concept was mixed. Red Hot Chili Pepper/Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro said he thinks that pay-for- play is "no different than what's been going on for years," referring to what he said was the widespread music industry practice of trading favors (i.e. promotional appearances and product) for airplay. "Except maybe it's more honest," he said. "The whole business is based on favors, but I think it's a shame that it's come to that. At least now, though, the competition sees what it is up against, whereas some youthful band starting out with young management don't even know how to compete." And while Navarro said any attempt by his label to pay to get his music on the air would help him to feel that he had the label's support, he added that Limp Bizkit will always be associated in his mind with pay-for-play. "I can't really hear them now without thinking that these are the guys who someone paid to get on the radio somewhere." Pearl Jam fan Rose said that's not such a bad thing, though. "The days when commercial radio stations were run by people who cared about music are long gone," Rose said. "No one is adding records to a playlist because of some righteous motives; it's all about profit anyway. Pay-for-play might actually make listening to the radio interesting." |
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