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Article:

Radio, the Culprit, Dan Krimm


Re: Pirate Radio

Pirate radio is not the only alternative to commercial music radio. There's also public radio and college radio. Problem is, none of these can produce audience surveys to show a wide enough audience to be of interest to record companies in promoting recordings, so they simply don't matter, commercially speaking. They are barely useful for independent acts to promote themselves, because they don't contribute much audience to the "critical mass" needed to break even. As far as the music business is concerned, these alternatives are simply not on the map. The same volume of audience that attracts advertisers is what attracts music marketers.

There will always be an underground. So what. How can we change the mainstream? The mainstream is what influences culture, simply by the volume of exposure. The mainstream is where people make a living. There's no logical reason why anyone should have to starve just to make original music for a living, if they are accomplished enough.

This isn't about listeners trying to find something different (not enough of them do, without advice). This is about new acts trying to find a way to make a living without compromising their acts. No quick fixes to this conundrum. The whole system has to evolve. I'm not looking for alternatives to the mainstream; I'm looking for alternatives -in- the mainstream.

-- Dan Krimm
posted 11/29/96