Editorial: No, No, No! You’ve Got It All Wrong!

Legendary Radio Deejay Coyote J (photo: al.com/Vicki Battan)

I’m sitting here at 9PM on a Saturday night pining for some inspiration to write a worthwhile editorial while listening to Ride. I had planned on writing an editorial about how the music industry has every thing wrong, in relation to the music Web site publishers/bloggers. Maybe I don’t have all the facts. Maybe it won’t be enough to cover an entire editorial … so I’m digging deep into my bag of tricks hoping that words will come out if I just keep typing.

So about this music industry thing, here goes:

I’ve been frustrated for years that I am unable to put together a streaming playlist of music complied of artists that I feel my readers would like. Or at least artists I like. If you’ve been around long enough to remember, I used to post iMeem playlists before it went to clips and then pay-to-play. Is iMeem even around anymore?

Here’s the deal music industry: You should paying ME to play your music.

Okay, let me step back and explain that statement. No, this isn’t payola. I don’t want anyone paying me money to play their band’s shitty music. I do have editorial standards. I still can’t convince myself to even go the advertising route because I don’t want to be chained to the almighty advertising dollar.

But what you should be doing – oh, mighty music industry – is paying me to feature YOUR player/purchasing service from which people can buy the music I play.

See, it’s simple. I just wanted to be a radio disc jockey (and I was, thank you very much). Not for the bullshit promotions and gimmicks but because I wanted to educate people about music. I wanted to be Coyote J. Or Wolfman Jack. Or even Rhubarb Jones.

Today, that’s impossible. But the Web *should* make it possible.

The concept is an easy one. Company A creates a player with which a Web site publisher/blogger like myself can publish on my site. You pay me a monthly fee for using your service over Company B. Then, I get a small percentage of any music sales that occur via my site.

Your back-end is chock full of hundreds of thousands of songs by artists big and small that I can choose to put on a playlist. I can determine frequency of play per week. So I could have one, single song, on loop 24/7 or I could build a playlist 5,000 songs wide. The choice would be mine.

The fee you pay me is a marketing expense. There should be a floor – something minuscule to you – but worthwhile for me. Then, based on parameters, you pay me more based on the size of my site each month. Even if the floor was $10 and you put your player on 500 sites, that would only be $5,000 a month. That’s nothing considering the millions of end-users you’d have access to.

So it would be the best of both worlds. You would have a competitive advantage over company B and I’d be able to have my own internet radio station that features songs I select. What’s not to like?

Oh, yeah. Big problem. Stupid labels and bloated artists would scream that I’m using your player to bring in advertising and not playing them a fee every time I play their song.

Well, fuck you Metalli-suck and fuck any other artists that is living pre-1998. I don’t want to play your music anyway.

This is about the future. It’s about new thinking by progressive labels and artists who understand that exposure leads to ability to purchase. And people can’t find your music if they don’t have a way to listen to your music.

Yes, I know there have been services that have tried different player concepts. I also know that this will never be a reality because radio of any kind has to pay artist per spin. It’s what took all those free, online radio stations that were around 10 years ago off the air. All that are left are a few non-profit stations.

That means that the smart labels and artist – especially those trying to make it – sell rights to video games and commercials because the radio isn’t for them. Which is great for all those emerging artist who are making just enough money to record their next album or fix their van so they can tour. But it means a lot more of us miss out if we don’t have exposure to that specific media outlet.

Have you turned on the radio in the last decade? Everything is the same. There’s no variety, no depth of programming. And that’s a shame. Because radio could and should be awesome. Whether it’s open-air or streaming live on DeadJournalist.com.

It really pisses me off because shouldn’t be an issue at all. But it is. It’s just another classic case of the haves vs. the have-nots. You know the one. The one where everyone loses.

Well, look at that. I keep typing and an editorial popped out.

(An editorial note about Coyote J: I’m a huge admirer of his work. I was a huge fan of his program “The Edge” which played emerging artists, dark wave and music not typically found on US radio broadcasts. Ten to 15 years ago, I would trade emails with him. When MySpace first started, we traded a few messages on there. His ear for music is unmatched. I doubt he remembers me, but if you happen to read this Coyote J, know you’ve been a huge inspiration.)