Money Is the Game In the Business of Music

By: Cayte Burdick
Posted In: Opinion

I still remember the date. March 11, 2001. This was the day I saw one of my favorite bands, The Calling, live in concert. I was so excited to see them, especially their guitarist Sean Woolstenhulme, who I sort of had a crush on (and today, still admire just as a musician, I swear). The show I witnessed that day changed my life. Seeing this band play music that I love made me realize that I wanted to be a part of this. No, not actually play in a band, but help make this happen. I wanted to work in the music business.

As my college years went on, the concerts I went to didn’t make me as happy anymore. I began to see a different side to the music business. One filled with drugs, dirtiness, and a life that wasn’t me. Granted, this was mostly on the performing side of the business, but if I no longer enjoyed going to concerts as much as I used to, my passion for working in this business began to dwindle. It could also be that my enjoyment for design grew greater at the same time, and it seemed like a more feasible occupation.

So much of the music business is about money. Frank Zappa explained it well: “The whole music business in the United States is based on numbers, based on unit sales and not on quality. It’s not based on beauty, it’s based on hype and it’s based on cocaine. It’s based on giving presents of large packages of dollars to play records on the air,” a quote from Music Biz Academy.com has him saying.

Those in the music business would probably disagree with me. They may say that money is an important aspect because without it, they cannot help starving musicians. They see it from a different side than the fans and the musicians because they are on the inside. For example, Jimmy Iovine of Interscope Records is quoted on the same website: “If this company is about anything, it’s about discipline and staying focused.”

They can say all they want, but I still think something needs to be changed.

According to a website called Professor Pooch who call themselves “a musician’s best friend,” they have a page with some “little known facts about the music business.” One says “that an Artist makes no money when a song is played on the radio [“Airplay”], but the Songwriter and Publisher do? The Songwriters and Publishers are members of a Performing Rights Society, either ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC, that licenses, collects and distributes money for it’s members, for “Usage” of it’s songs. Artists cannot become members unless they are also a writer of that particular song, and/or publisher.”

In that case, it is possible for the musician to collect some of the money, if they also write the song. But with the current age of manufactured pop singers, this doesn’t always happen. Yet they seem to be promoted more and end up making more money, for music they didn’t even write!

One of the biggest issues of corruption has been with payola. The website, The History of Rock and Roll, defines this simply as, “the paying of cash or gifts in exchange for airplay.” Basically, record companies can pay DJs more money to play certain artists. This makes what is played on the radio not so much about what the listeners want to hear, but rather what they are getting paid more to play.

I remember when many fans (myself included) of the band Hanson tried requesting them on the radio after their success with the song people either love or hate, “MMMBop.” Many got turned down with the DJs giving different excuses for why they would not play them anymore. If so many people want to hear a band and they aren’t being played, then what is the point of radio? Isn’t it supposed to be about what the listeners want to hear?

I have had radio shows of my own on Salve’s student radio station, WSRU, and I try to play artists who are not as well known such as Alli Rogers and Rocco Deluca. This seems to be a goal with many college radio stations. Maybe other radio stations could follow their lead a bit more.

Despite the lack of radio airplay Hanson received years after they made it big, they have been having success on their own terms. They ended up leaving their major label a few years ago and started their own independent label, 3 Car Garage. Their first album on this label, “Underneath,” went to No. 1 on the Billboard Independent chart. Since then, they have had great success as an independent band. They may not be superstars anymore, but they are able to make their music on their own terms now. They even did a tour at colleges where they discussed the unfair situation of the music business, and have made a documentary showing their struggles with it.

Recently, an agreement was made to allow more independent artists to be heard on major radio stations. “To settle a lawsuit, four big companies-CBS Radio, Clear Channel Communications, Citadel Broadcasting, and Entercom Communications-agreed to provide 4,200 hours of free airtime to local and independent artists,” an article from City Pages, a Minneapolis/St. Paul website writes. This is a step in the right direction. It may not be enough, but as Peter Gordon, who helped negotiate the settlement told the City Pages, “You have to start somewhere.” Ain’t that the truth.

I have also seen the struggle of a musician first hand with my older half brother. He has been playing the guitar for forever with different bands in the Boston area. He’s done quite well in the area, but never became a superstar. Since being a struggling musician doesn’t pay the bills, he has had other jobs at music stores, and recently teaching guitar. This actually pays him very well. I don’t know if he was really aspiring to be a world famous guitarist, but he definitely has the talent. To me this shows that talent and motivation doesn’t always get you everywhere.