THE EDITOR, Sir:
Corruption in government, politics, business, the police and the church is a debatable and popular issue within the society. The journalists/media practitioners reporting or breaking the news of instances of corruption are often looked upon as guardians of honesty and civility. Therefore, when one branch of their profession is cited for corruption, the evidence needs to be brought to light so that it too can be judged by the same public it seeks to 'inform'.
Music is big business. The bigger the business, the more risks that are involved. There is a popular song which says that there is no business like show business and this is so very true in the case of Jamaica. The informal structure of the music business in this country ensures that any and everything goes. In addition, the business is shrouded in secrecy.
In essence, it can be likened to fishing as both bear similar and interrelated risks. For example, fishers seldom talk to each other while out on a fishing trip waiting for fish to bite. Likewise, musicians/artistes rarely - if ever - discuss their arrangements or deals with others.
In the music business, there are purportedly huge amounts of monies that change hands annually. Unconfirmed sources suggest that the business is a multi-billion-dollar industry. So far, no one has quantified the real figure. However, in view of the apparent meteoric rise of some artistes from poverty-stricken circumstances to relative affluence, it can be concluded that theirs is a lucrative and financially rewarding career. There are a number of inner-city youths that benefit from the music industry.
It is estimated that 60 new records are produced each week in Jamaica. This gives rise to the need to pre-test the market for these products. In former years, it used to be the responsibility of the distributor to carry on outside promotion of the record, but this is no longer the standard.
Producers now bear that burden.
The method of choice for promoting records is, of course, electronic media houses (read: radio stations), simply because worldwide, the success of a record depends on effective airplay. It is no different in the case of Jamaica. The usual scenario is this: producer sends record to the radio disc jockey or deejay of choice; producer then follows up with telephone call to confirm receipt of record by deejay; latter acknowledges receipt and proceeds to air record; several weeks later, producer approaches deejay to request more frequent 'rotation' of record, and - more often than not - in the process, offers a 'fee' for deejay's doing this, thus giving rise to what is popularly known as payola.
In its simplest form, payola is the practice of paying bribes for commercial advantage. In this regard, one can find various systems of payola, such as corporate payola, fixed fee payola, flexible and variable fee payola, network payola and juggling payola. The list is by no means exhaustive. Where the music business is concerned, payola results in a disc jockey promoting a song unfairly. How can one identify payola in say, radio, print media and television/cable?
Payola through radio promotion is done in a number of ways:
1. Frequent rotation of song/'tune'
2. Frequent rotation of a specific rhythm
3. Mixing of the rhythm
4. Interfering with the playing of song, e.g., 'haul-an-pull-up'
5. Hyping the introduction of song
6. Frequent propaganda interview of the artiste
7. Unheard requests for song
8. Presenting artiste as co-host for one of the DJ's programmes
9. Regular music news/reviews of artiste (in other words, acting as publicist).
In the instance of Television/ Cable, payola can be a function of any one of the following:
1. Promotion of music video through specific programmes
2. Repeated broadcasts of the music video
3. Invitation of artiste to co-host programme
4. Features on artiste/group
5. Play-listing/Heavy rotation
6. Regular music news on artiste/group.
Finally, one can also find payola in the print media as in the following instances:
1. Editorial information on artiste/group/record
2. Promotional photographs of artiste/group
3. Feature articles on artiste/group/record
4. Reprinting of lyrics/words of song/'tune'
5. News items on artiste/group/record.
The practice of charting songs also feeds the payola system: once the song receives the exposure from the deejays this generates its sales, which in turn makes it eligible for entry onto any number of the popular charts, which in turn generates more sales, as more of the record-buying public buys into the hype that usually goes with the entry of a new song onto the charts.
Or so it would appear.
However, charts are easily manipulated by the deejays themselves. This makes the stakes much higher for airplay. It is alleged that the fee to chart a song is considerably less than that of charting and maintaining the song on the charts for a number of weeks.
Jamaican deejays (and by extension, entertainment journalists) vehemently deny any involvement in this the entertainment sector's dirtiest and most openly kept secret, if ever there were one. While some producers intimate that this does occur, others go further to assert that this is the case and give instances to wit:
a) placing a sum of money in a package and giving it to the deejay, who will understand that it is the customary way of doing business;
b) working out a 'package' with the disc jock after being informed by same that he listened to the record at home and determined that the product is suitable for 'commercial airplay'. If the producer wishes to maximise his/her investment over a relatively short period of time, there is little room for arguing, as airplay guarantees the exposure of the recording/ artiste/group to the overseas market as well as the local one. However, if payola is not operating in Jamaica, then why is it that some major traditional distributors no longer send their records to certain radio stations, as they used to do?
And why is it that some established producers no longer promote their songs locally at all? Further, why is it that records that receive regular and heavy rotation locally do not achieve same overseas? And why is it that some records that are hardly played locally receive a fair amount of airplay overseas? And, finally, why is it that some labels and artistes receive heavy rotation on only just some stations?
It is often claimed that payola has existed since the rise of popular music/entertainment. While it is not unique to Jamaica, its effect is probably more pronounced where the Jamaican entertainment scene is concerned than elsewhere, and it stifles the development of music in such a vibrant entertainment environment as Jamaica. While one is not saying that payola is involved in every instance where the above are concerned, it is substantial enough to warrant concern and to call for action against the practice. The fact that payola has been around for a long time - long enough to have been accepted as somewhat the norm, anyway - does not mean that we have to accept it.
Just as corruption in government, politics, the church and other institutions is wrong, it is also wrong for media practitioners to engage in this if they are the guardians of transparency and democracy, truth and fairness. Payola is illegal, unfair and immoral and should be aggressively wiped out from the entertainment industry. Journalists/media practitioners, it is time to turn the searchlight on your own trade in this regard before it is too late and the music industry in Jamaica is smothered to death.
I am, etc.,
MICHAEL WILLIAMS
Kingston
