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Henley tells Congress: "I know there's payola because I get billed for it."Jan. 30, 2003 -- At the Senate Commerce Committee Hearing on Media Concentration and Ownership in Radio, Don Henley spoke out strongly about several issues concerning the Clear Channel monopoly, the way media consolidation has harmed the music industry, tie-ins between free performances and airplay, the radio conglomerate's huge share of concert promotion revenue and the rampant practice of payola under the guise of "independent music promoters." Having just listened to a three-hour recording of this morning's hearing, I want to encourage everyone who is at all concerned about the state of the music business today to listen to the entire hearing. An mp3 file of the complete hearing is available at DMusic.com (2007 note: Actually, it's not available any longer but the next few paragraphs wouldn't make sense if I deleted the reference). The page also contains links to the prepared statements that the major participants were scheduled to deliver. If you listen to the mp3, you'll find that Henley had a few surprise points of discussion that were not included in the pre-hearing release. No matter what the plan, what happened was truly inspiring. Committee chairman John McCain was joined by Russ Feingold, Harold Berman and a few other Senators in heartily thumping Clear Channel's owner. There was a bit of discussion about skipping the FCC and going straight to the Department of Justice considering some of the allegations. And Clear Channel didn't help its case any when Sen. McCain had to ask three separate questions three times each to get a response that addressed the question. Like I said, the hearing lasted more than 3 hours, so it would be impossible to reproduce it all here. I had gone through what was published elsewhere as Henley's testimony and edited it to reflect what he actually said. Unfortunately, I was an idiot and was not saving on a regular basis, cable just locked up and I lost the whole thing. Not to mention the Mexican who just tried to come into my house at 1:30 a.m., which is a whole 'nother story. So you're going to have to download the mp3 to hear the whole story. Fast forward to 1:57 (that's one hour and 57 minutes) into the activity when Senator Trent Lott invites additional comment from Henley and everyone gets an earful of the truth. In addition to the affirmation that, yes, Virginia, there is payola, Henley goes on to explain how it works and how it hurts every aspect of the music business, as well as being detrimental to the development of new talent and, in the long run, is undermining the American culture in general. So you need to download it, listen to it and then start writing letters to your Senators and Representatives. They're listening right now. Jan. 31, 2003 -- Appalled by the fact that not one so-called legitimate media bothered to report anything that was said at this hearing, for reasons that will become very obvious if you take the time to read this -- and because several people told me they had a problem with the download -- I have decided to transcribe some of the key testimony made at the hearing. This text may differ what what is posted elsewhere as transcriptions of testimony, as it is based on what the participants actually said, as opposed to what they submitted as written testimony prior to the actual hearing. In the interest of fairness, we have omitted the response of Clear Channel's owner, Mr. Mays, whenever possible as a) he has more than enough outlets to promote his point of view, and b) I didn't believe a word he said. But everyone else was pretty convincing. I was particularly pleased with the performance of Arizona Senator John McCain , who was the chairman of the committee and (judging entirely from audio) appeared to believe Mays even less than I did.
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April 10, 2003 From the Washington Post -- FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell has said that, by June 2, he would like to call commission votes on rules that prohibit a newspaper from owning a television station in the same city, that prevent one major television network from owning another and that limit how many television and radio stations a company can own in one city, among other rules. Yesterday, a bipartisan group of 15 senators sent a letter to the FCC, asking commissioners to delay voting on any rule changes until they are more fully discussed in public. The senators who signed it included Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.), Trent Lott (R-Miss.), John D. "Jay" Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). On Monday, Hollings sent Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) a letter saying that the two should hold hearings on media ownership as soon as possible after the Easter recess, and that all five FCC commissioners should testify. April 11, 2003Clear Channel announced that it will discontinue all arrangements with independent promoters as soon as their contracts run out this summer. Despite their claim in front of the Senate Commerce Committee that there was no "pay-for-play" at Clear Channel, the announcement indicates that Clear Channel expects to lose $15 million in income annually as a result. RIAA spokesthing Hilary Rosen immediately spoke out to say what a good thing this was. Rosen stated that Clear Channel's move was "exercising leadership in a positive direction and that they recognize there is a better formula for industry partnerships that deliver new music to fans." She did not offer an explanation as to why they didn't just stop paying the independent promoters in the first place. Nor did she indicate that the RIAA was likely to follow suit and exercise leadership in a positive direction. Instead, the RIAA will continue to prosecute music fans. |