Paid airtime killed the radio star

Let’s see if this sounds familiar. You’re driving in your car, listening to the radio. A song starts off with a jingle that is fairly well known because some company has made it their trademark. The song isn’t bad, in fact it’s quite catchy. The “song” is actually an advertisement but you bear with it because it’s sung by your favourite artist and you’re happy that he’s finally getting paid.

A week passes. The same song repeats on the hour every hour. What was previously a pleasant tune has now become monotonous and irritating. Despite your growing annoyance you find yourself humming it in the car, at work and at home. Another week passes. Every time you’re stuck in traffic the song interrupts your musical bliss and drives you into a murderous rage.

You frantically try to switch channels but to your horror you discover the song is playing. On all the channels. Simultaneously. You come home, rip your stereo out of the car and bash it against the pavement. Still, the song plays in the distance and you realise it’s coming on TV as an advertisement. On all the channels. Simultaneously.

You go find an axe and/or a noose. You could argue that if you don’t like something, listen to something else. This is where the real diabolical stuff happens. The companies buy up airtime so that the song plays on all your favourite channels at the same time, so that you’re forced to hear it, or hear nothing. No matter how good a song is, if you play it constantly people are going to hate it. Any artistic merit will be drowned out by the screams of people who are forced to listen to the song every day.

I have no problem with musicians signing endorsement deals to promote products. But how does one artist compete for airtime when the other one can simply buy it? Other artists simply cannot compete on the basis of taste and merit. It becomes a ruthless equation. If you can pay more, more people will hear you. Once that becomes the standard for our industry, a song will no longer be played because you or I want to hear it. It’ll get played because a group of people in suits decided that is what you are going to hear.

I see no winners except the companies. They get their brand name out there and achieve their goal. The artist who they promoted might be a little richer, but they will have suffered a dent in their appeal because of overexposure. The biggest losers are, of course, the general public. We no longer have a say in the content of our entertainment. Our opinion will not decide who gets airplay and who doesn’t. That’s an industry I simply don’t want to be a part of.