I had a friend in town this past weekend who works in the music business.  Excited at the chance to pick his brain, I asked him a question that has plagued my soul for longer than I’d like to admit:  Why the hell does Nickelback get so much airplay?  He grinned and gave me the low down…
         Since the 60’s  the Payola scandal seems to rear its ugly head every decade or so, but is truly ever present whether it gets media attention or not.  It is against the law for record labels to ‘market’ their artists by way of paying for airplay.  Of course, labels did it then and have done it ever since in the same way that Congress has always been polluted by lobbyist payoffs and campaign contributions.
         Initially, the DJs were paid or otherwise compensated directly.  Then Boom—a scandal hits, a few heads roll, the laws are tweaked, and new loopholes are found.  The labels start hiring ‘independent promoters’ to do their bribery or they merely launder the payment in some untraceable fashion to corporate stuffed shirts at Clearchannel with golk getaways to Tahiti.  Due to changes in regulation (aka corporate homogenization) DJs no longer choose what music to play.  They get a list from corporate, and then proceed to talk shit about everything but the schlock they are forced to play.   Folks, as shameful as this is, I sincerely doubt any real change in this paradigm will come forth in the near future.
         Indie stations now only seem to exist in the form of college radio.  The major labels are in the throes of growing pains since the industry failed to adapt to Internet culture in 90’s so they tend to  stick to the tried, the true,  the watered down, and the pretty.  Unnecessary risk in a risky business is simply out of the question.
         However, there may be some good news in all this for us singer songwriters and unsigned musicians forced to eat crumbs from friends’ couches.  The radio as a medium for ‘getting out there’ is basically a lost cause.  However, while the bloated giants continue to implode and scramble for some tiny morsel of the Internet pie, we have a shot of getting our foot in the door  through other means.  In 10 years or so, once the dust settles, the industry as a whole will be on a much more even playing field and will certainly be far less centralized.
         Otherwise, there is one power we all have to make a difference….when your ears are shuddering from a Nickelback tune, hit the seek button.