Wow, I got my name in the subject line and everything. I was just going
to drop the matter, as I'm happy to agree to disagree and leave it at that.
BTW, I do have an actual AJ reason for posting, so you can skip to the end
to see that if you wish.
A couple of quick points regarding the above. Yes, you are right, that
according to the letter of the law, promos should not be sold. But we all
know that the letter of the law is not always followed. Having grown up
in LA, I was virtually bathed in promos at every record store I went to.
My policy was, and continues to be, that if I can find a promo (or simply
a used copy) of a CD I want, I will buy it, especially if it's a major
label. I try *never* to buy new copies of things like REM, U2, and so
forth. Why? Because I figure they get a ton of money as it is, and they
don't need the royalty from my purchase. More importantly, saving a few
bucks on the major label oh-so-hyped CD allows me to buy a brand new copy
of a CD by The Experimental Pop Band, which I might not otherwise have
bought. It's all about economics, and I have a limited budget that I can
use to purchase CDs. That being the case, I buy as much as I can used, and
the result is that I have a huge CD collection and know about a lot of music.
What's the point? Well, I routinely tell others about CDs (as I'm sure you
do) I like, and there a "trickle-down" effect of sorts (just like when DJs
play lots of that cheap music and people end up buying it a result).
And I think the same is true for a college radio station. If Major Label
wants to send them the new REM CD, fine. Everyone knows they won't play
it, so if they trade it to the local CD store for a copy of the new FSA
CD (or Wingtip Sloat, etc.), which they wouldn't otherwise have, they
can further their mission of bringing new underground music to their
listeners. I have no problem with that. That's the way the system
works, and it's far from the way it should be, but I think the payola
is builtin from the ground up, and indie labels, college radio, and the
consumer all lose because of it. So if the little folks in the music
food chain want to hedge their bets against the majors, I don't have a
problem with it.
Sound like a rationalisation? Of course it is.
> > btw, know the real reason those cool labels can't afford to send you
> > promos? they know your music director will turn around and sell them!
> > that's basically the only way to get taken off a promo distribution
> > list.
> >
>...
> "Cool" labels' budgets to distribute promos don't depend on whether the
> promo gets sold or not. Correct me if I'm wrong on this!
Exactly. "Cool" labels can't afford to send freebies because they don't
have a humungously corrupt promotional machine to rely on. I would guess
that if more cool labels sent promos to college radio, they wouldn't get
sold, they would get played.
I mean, come on. Selling REM to get Rodan makes sense. In 1982, I'll bet
some music director sold the B-52's to get REM's Chronic Town EP.
> To Dave: keep the anecdotes coming!
How about this: Major labels setting up an interview with a band, then
yanking the interview because we didn't have enough of their bands in
our rotation. They didn't come right out and say it, of course, but it
was clear. When asked why we weren't playing <insert major label pablum
here> our music director would routinely say "because they suck" or some
such thing, and of course was not on the best of terms with these clowns.
Probably the best anecdote I heard on this tack was an industrial DJ who
was called by TVT and asked why he wasn't playing NIN (right after Pretty
Hate Machine was released). He told them it sucked, and the TVT guy said
"What, you don't like industrial?" and the DJ said "Of course I do" and
proceeded to turn up the Warworlds CD he was playing so loud that he could
no longer hear the guy.
Ok, sorry for this. I thought I would write less.
Here's my AJ input.
I'm going to see the Greyboy Allstars on 2/7, here in Boulder. What's
their relation to Greyboy proper? I was mildly interested in Greyboy's
Freestylin', but probably not enough to keep. Mark (hey) told me to get
the Greyboy Allstars CD, although I forgot why (real drums, maybe?).
Also, Freestylin' has a turntable on the front, and I guess I was hoping
for more DJing, rather than just straight-ahead playing. I'm not putting
down their playing, it was wonderful, it just wasn't what I expected.
I'm hoping the live show will be more interesting.
And secondly, I just got Fatboy Slim's new CD entitled "Better Living
Through Chemistry." This puppy rocks! Imagine a slightly more AJ-oriented
Chemical Brothers, and you're there. I mean, it's definitely dancefloor
pablum, and not exactly intricate musicianship, but it's quite fun, and
most of the tracks are winners. The icing on the cake is a track that
uses guitar samples of the chords from The Who's "Can't Explain". I
laughed...then I danced around my house like a moron.
Dave