[TITLE] Pay-ola
[DESCRIPTION] Prominent WMAX radio host DJ Pay was fired from the station last week for engaging in the controversial practice known as pay-for-play–accepting cash, checks, and other gifts from record labels in exchange for giving their songs more airplay.
[VALIDITY] no state press
[OPTION] “Pay-for-play is plainly problematic,” states @@NAME@@, your Minister of Fairness and Reasonableness in Entertainment Ethics. “The practice is totally deceptive. Listeners tune in to shows like DJ Pay’s and believe that the songs they’re hearing are the latest favorites of a music industry professional with a trained ear. What they’re actually getting is simply whatever songs the record label has bribed the DJ to put on. That’s a conflict of interest–the songs getting the most radio play are being selected by the people who stand to profit the most from those songs’ popularity. The only way to protect the public from this pervasive practice is to conduct a thorough investigation and make it a felony to accept money in exchange for airtime.”
[EFFECT] the best DJs are behind bars
[OPTION] “Maybe pay-for-play is wrong, but DJs aren’t to blame,” announces DJ @@ANIMAL@@, his rapidfire voice sounding out from the radio on your secretary’s desk. “When the record labels are throwing so much money around, our only choice is to play the game. Even if I don’t want to take their money, there are five other DJs who will. At that point, the song gets so popular that I lose listeners if I don’t play it. The record labels run the game no matter which way you slice it. The only way to protect listeners is to protect DJs: mandate that radio stations keep the identities of their announcers anonymous, so that record labels can’t reach out to us with bribes.”
[EFFECT] local radio has lost much of its personality
[OPTION] “Only you can stop pay-for-play!” thunders your pubescent publicity consultant, DJ Prop-A-Ganda, who is also your nephew. “The only way to ensure that the listening public is getting the best music from an unbiased source is to take matters into our own hands. Assume control of all the radio stations and have them play the songs the people want to hear. I think Uncle Enzo’s new mixtape could be a real smash hit!”
[EFFECT] @@LEADER@@’s most recent speech has been named the hottest track of the year
[OPTION] “I don’t see the problem,” shrugs @@REGION@@ Records executive @@NAME@@. “Everyone does pay-for-play and everyone knows it, too. We record labels are just trying to give a boost to the talented musicians we know have a shot at greatness. You call it bribery, I call it business. The whole story is written out plainly in our tax returns, anyway. Just ensure that every label is as scrupulous as we are, and everything will be hunky-dory, I’m sure.”
[EFFECT] entertainment companies’ websites list the individuals they’ve bribed in four-point font at the bottom of the ‘About’ page
