Most people are ignorant to the fact that a company such as Clear Channel Corporation exists. They run the majority of the radio stations in the U.S. and some American radio stations around the world. These people program stations and decide what music the public, depending on age and other social factors, will listen to. When only one company is in control of so many stations the variety of songs and exposure of certain artists is very limited. This means that when Clear Channel decides against a song or an artist, they won't have any air time on millions of radio stations, quickly losing popularity.
A corporation as powerful as Clear Channel is a double edged sword for us, because music is one of the main components of shaping our society. When we loose the power to choose what we want to listen to and what we don't we just all grow into liking the same songs. When we listen to the radio it's always the same songs playing because that's what they're trying to sell and make us like.
I'm sure a lot people are unaware that a corporation like Clear Channel even exists and that's the biggest problem. They think that what radio stations classify as the best music out there really is. They don't take time to look for less popular bands and artists out there who are producing music with important and powerful meaning. There are some, not many, but some independent radio stations out there, which are a lot more reliable as to the variety they'll play. These radio stations are slowly being shut down one by one as Clear Channel gets stronger and stronger.
Our generation has to support music in many different ways other than through popular radio stations and t.v. channels. We need to support our local bands since their music might be 10 times better than many songs repeated on the radio, but no one will ever know if we just let them fail.
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This is a great post. While I have a HUGE spot in my heart for pop music, I worry that increased corporate control of what music is popular ends up drowning out local flavor. In 2007 I drove from Maine to Indiana. It was a 20 hour car ride and the radio was the exact same throughout that entire journey. And it is the same thing coming from Indiana to Louisiana, no differences, you could almost set your watch by what was coming on. So where do local/regional musicians go?
ReplyDeleteLast night, WWOZ had a couple of old timers talking about radio in the 50s, and they were complaining about the same issue "a syndicate controlling the music."
ReplyDeletethis is why internet radio stations, and other user-generated playlist apps are so great: they cut through the corporate BS and are usually commercial free. Pandora and Last.fm are both great free alternatives to terrestrial radio. Hopefully some company will step up and equip car radios with some kind of internet connection, so we can take advantage of internet radio on the road.
ReplyDeleteI agree totally. I get tired of hearing the same thing get played over and over again on the radio. Just like Andrew said, Pandora rocks!
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