Posted by wort on July 16, 2009 at 06:39:13:
In Reply to: 106: The madness stops? posted by We'll See on July 14, 2009 at 20:07:01:
I see that not just radio industry people are posting here, but some listeners are too.
I hope every radio listener understands that radio stations and radio conglomerates do not care about you. All they care about is advertising dollars. Don't believe me? Flip on your radio, spin around the dial and tell me how many stations are running commercials right this second. For the ones that aren't, how many times have you heard that song?
Still don't believe me? Tell me how the radio industry responded when everyone said "I'm sick of all the commercials, play more good music." Tell me how they responded when everyone said "I'm sick of hearing the same 5 songs all day long, and all night long. Play something different."
The short answer is that they only care about your wallet. The same is true about TV programming. The word "programming" is a front for "advertising."
Several years ago, my entire CD collection was stolen from my car. I didn't want to purchase all of my music a second time, so I downloaded my favorite tracks from a popular peer-to-peer music sharing service. I already purchased the music once, but my only copies were stolen. Was it stealing? By the letter of the law, probably. (I'm sure RIAA would say I was stealing.) However, I would be the joke around RIAA for weeks if I called them up and said "my entire CD collection was stolen - about 300 CD's, many of them rare. You guys need to help me find the thief because he's in possession of stolen music!"
Apple fans: don't think for a minute that iTunes is on your side either. 99 cents for a single (and $1.29 for a DRM-free version) is highway robbery. Let's see, I paid for the computer I'm storing the songs on, I paid for the internet connection, I paid for the media that I burned the songs to, and you're charging me $1.30 per track??!
XM/Sirius, pandora.com and slacker.com have the right idea (except pandora and slacker are slipping commercials in, and it will only get worse.) You can pay for slacker/pandora for ad-free streams. Why can't we do that with FM or cable television? Because the media conglomerates got us right where they want us.
It's all about advertising.