Rossman Payola 2

TL;DR

Radio promotion often involves dubious legal practices and bribery.

Transcript

however as I show in the book there's no evidence that radio corporation's routinely coordinate their behavior here's the diffusion curve across top 40 stations of our umbrella but this time it's broken out by radio company and as you can see the curves are basically the same for each company and that's not what you'd expect if decisions were made ... Read More

Key Insights

• Radio corporations do not centrally coordinate their behavior, as shown by similar diffusion curves across top 40 stations for different companies.
• Record labels use gifts and incentives to promote artists, similar to pharmaceutical companies promoting drugs, with some practices falling into legal gray areas.
• The gatekeeping model in cultural industries involves stages where most creators fail, from initial creation to public consumption.
• A critical relationship exists between cultural distributors and surrogate consumers, such as record labels and radio stations, in promoting music.
• Payola scandals have recurred since the 1950s, with various methods like concert ticket bribes, indicating persistent aggressive promotion tactics.
• The prisoner's dilemma explains why record labels continue to bribe, as each seeks to outdo the other for airplay, despite potential legal consequences.
• Historically, bribery in music promotion dates back to the vaudeville era, illustrating a long-standing issue in the industry.
• Attempts to form cartels to avoid bribery often fail due to cheating, showing the difficulty in regulating promotional practices.

Questions & Answers

Q: How do radio corporations coordinate their behavior?

Radio corporations do not appear to coordinate their behavior centrally. Gabriel Rossman demonstrates this by showing similar diffusion curves across top 40 stations for different companies. This suggests that decisions are not made centrally at corporate headquarters, indicating that other factors may be influencing radio coordination.

Q: What role do record labels play in promoting artists?

Record labels play a significant role in promoting artists by providing gifts and incentives to radio stations. These promotions can range from legal activities like sending CDs and press kits to more dubious practices like bribing radio programmers. This aggressive promotion is akin to how pharmaceutical companies promote new drugs to doctors.

Q: What is the gatekeeping model in cultural industries?

The gatekeeping model in cultural industries, as described by Paul Hirsch, involves several stages where creators face progressive winnowing. Starting from original authors, most fail to reach the next stages, which include cultural distributors and surrogate consumers. Ultimately, only a few works succeed in reaching and resonating with actual consumers.

Q: Why do payola scandals keep recurring in the music industry?

Payola scandals recur due to the persistent use of aggressive and sometimes illegal promotion tactics by record labels. The prisoner's dilemma plays a role, where labels continue to bribe to gain airplay advantage, despite legal risks. This cyclical pattern has been observed since the 1950s, with scandals arising roughly every 15 years.

Q: How does the prisoner's dilemma explain bribery in the music industry?

The prisoner's dilemma explains bribery in the music industry as record labels face incentives to bribe regardless of their competitors' actions. If one label bribes, others feel compelled to do the same to secure airplay. This leads to an equilibrium where bribery becomes a dominant strategy, despite potential legal consequences.

Q: What historical practices relate to modern payola in the music industry?

Historical practices related to modern payola include bribery during the vaudeville era, where sheet music publishers would bribe vaudeville acts. This demonstrates a long-standing issue in the music industry, where cultural distributors have historically used bribery to influence surrogate consumers and promote their products.

Q: Why do attempts to form cartels to avoid bribery often fail?

Attempts to form cartels to avoid bribery often fail due to cheating among participants. While agreements might initially form to curb promotional expenses, individual members may break the agreement to gain a competitive edge. This undermines the cartel's purpose, making it difficult to regulate and control promotional practices effectively.

Q: What is the key relationship in the cultural industries, according to Rossman?

According to Rossman, the key relationship in the cultural industries is between cultural distributors and surrogate consumers. In the music industry, this involves record labels and radio stations. This relationship is crucial for publicizing and validating culture, with record labels seeking to co-opt surrogate consumers to control what becomes popular.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Gabriel Rossman explores the dynamics of payola in the music industry, highlighting how radio corporations do not centrally coordinate behavior. Instead, record labels use incentives to promote artists, leading to recurring payola scandals. The gatekeeping model shows how few creators succeed in the cultural industry.

• The relationship between cultural distributors and surrogate consumers is crucial in music promotion. Despite attempts to regulate, bribery persists due to the prisoner's dilemma, where record labels bribe to gain airplay advantage, mirroring historical practices from the vaudeville era.

• Efforts to avoid bribery through cartels often fail due to cheating, making it challenging to control promotional expenses. Rossman emphasizes the cyclical nature of payola scandals and the aggressive, sometimes illegal, tactics used in music promotion.