How Bands Pay Bribes To Get Stuck In Your Head

[@goodun2974]

As a teenager, my mother was paid to scream at a Frank Sinatra concert to generate "excitement".

[@Bandsplaining]

I read that as Frank Zappa at first and got really excited. Sinatra makes a bit more sense 😂

[@goodun2974]

@@Bandsplaining , My mom was pretty cool, but she wasn't *that* cool, and her listeningl tastes ran more to musicals (which I hate to this day). Anyway, Zappa' was notoriously tight fisted and his idea of getting the audience riled up most definitely did not involve paying them to make a fuss. He was a bit more controversial and street- theatrical than that, like throwing a doll to a bunch of Marines and asking them to show everybody what they did to babies in Vietnam,: "they tore that doll apart" he said. He also used to come out and greet the audience by saying " hello, pigs", as an antidote to the usual " it's great to be here , we love you guys!" like all the other bands did.

[@Updog89]

@@goodun2974 God I love Zappa.

[@goodun2974]

@@Updog89 If you haven't already seen it check out the Dweezel band on KZbin playing Frank's song Montana with keyboard prodigy Rachel Flowers on guitar and scat vocals. She is legally blind, and I presume on the autism spectrum but with musical savant abilities, and she totally nails it. Guarantee to put a smile on your face.

[@crapmalls]

Beats the post show gig lol

[@IRISHguitarist777]

Fact- in 2006 l had a friend,a bass player whose band was up and coming and was getting mentioned on tv and radio. I was really excited and met him for a pint. What he told me blew my mind,his band was on a really popular talk show that Friday,l was like "wow! You have made it, your stars have aligned man!" He raised his glass and said "damn right,it's costing us €3000 to play the show for 3 minutes so they better start aligning!" My mind was blown.

[@lilacrain3283]

What band was he in? 👀

[@IRISHguitarist777]

I can't say as they are still around but they never hit the big time,just out of respect for him and his band,sorry man.

[@lilacrain3283]

@@IRISHguitarist777 Aw man. I gotcha. Can you give me a hint? If I guess it I won’t comment

[@joeltarnabene5026]

It doesn't sound like he has earned that respect, though.

[@chilldude30]

In Ireland?

[@nannettefreeman7331]

I took a job at a trade magazine called Hitmakers in 1990. The job description said I would be calling radio stations to take down their playlist each week, which I suppose I did, but that was hardly what the 3 other new hires & I really did. Our REAL job was to, while we had these program directors & music directors on the phone, to bring up certain new releases in casual conversation & try to gently persuade them to add them into rotation by falsely inflating the amount of hype surrounding their release. We were to cultivate relationships with these people & gain their trust so that in time, they would follow our advice without questioning its soundness, & to get a better understanding of each of their tastes, so we would know which of the 10-12 songs we were pushing each week they would be most likely to add to their playlist, & push those to them. The magazine, which featured charts much like Billboard, was published weekly & came packaged with a new music cd. Record labels paid an INSANE amount of money to have songs included on this cd, WAY more than they paid for a full page color ad in the magazine. The price was DOUBLE to be the first song on that cd. Essentially, the magazine was a front for a radio promotions operation. What little editorial content it had, had no significant value, & I have grave doubts about the accuracy of the charts we published. I was promoted to art director less than a month after starting to work there when the previous art director suddenly quit on ship day (the day all the production materials were sent to the printer) & the owner of the magazine came into "the sweatshop" as we called the phone room & asked, "Which one of you said they had experience in graphic design?" I managed to get the magazine out on time that day, but soon realized why the previous art director had abruptly walked out on the most critical day of the week. The owner was just a complete a-hole, & was constantly looking over my shoulder ORDERING (in the most rude & demeaning way) me to do things that offended my every sensibility when it came to good design, in order to draw attention to certain songs on the charts we published. These were, of course, the songs that appeared on the cd, the same songs my former colleagues in "the sweatshop" were pushing in their phone calls to radio stations "to take down playlists." They were the songs the owner (who had previously owned another, better known trade magazine called R&R, short for Radio & Records) had been paid a small fortune to promote. I was under constant threat of being fired, & paid no overtime for the two days every week I had to stay well over 12hrs in order to get the magazine off to the printer on time. I lasted about 2 months before I walked out abruptly on ship day. I don't think he had another backup art director in "the sweatshop," so that eased my guilt for having messed up the previous art director's attempt to bring the whole enterprise to its knees by walking out at the worst possible time. I really hope I made them late for the press run. The printing press is reserved for a certain number of hours at a specific time, & if you're late getting materials over, you still pay (thousands of dollars per hour) for the time which has been reserved for you, & even MORE for the hours the press run goes OVER due to getting a late start. It still would have been a drop in the bucket. This guy (OK, I'll tell you his name, Barry Fidel) was raking in a RIDICULOUS amount of money from the labels, grossly underpaid all of the staff (the "sweatshop" workers were getting minimum wage for doing what amounted to ALL the real work, & I only got a $1/hr raise when I was thrust into the art director position!), & he cut corners at every opportunity. The magazine was DREADFULLY understaffed (I think there were 7 staff members, plus the 3 indentured servants in "the sweatshop") on a WEEKLY magazine! I worked with a larger staff on every MONTHLY magazine I ever worked at (which was quite a few). There was NFW that ANYONE could complete their workload in 8hrs a day. No one ever took a lunch, & everyone came in early & left late, just to keep up with the workload. So all the money (& I'm telling you it was a LOT of money! Nearly a quarter of a MILLION dollars PER WEEK in revenue came from the new music cd alone, & at least that much again from ad sales) was going directly into Barry's wallet. And the way he treated all these people who were busting their asses to make HIM a millionaire was atrocious! There was actually a co-owner, Jerry Greenburg, who was a wonderful man. The day I quit, after I gave Barry a piece of my mind, I remember turning to Jerry with tears in my eyes & apologizing for leaving them in the lurch. Jerry gave me a hug & told me not to worry, that he understood. I know he did. 32 years later, I don't really know if airplay is bought & paid for like it was back then, but I'm guessing it probably is. It always has been, right? It wasn't ALL altogether awful. My friends, the guys in Little Caesar came in to promote their cover of Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools" & plucked me out of "the sweatshop," & took ME (not Barry, who watched in confusion as we left, probably mad coz I DARED to walk away from the phones, but unable to yell at me coz the radio promotions guy from Geffen Records was with us) out to lunch. The guitarist, Apache, asked if there was a bathroom where he could go & shoot up before we left, & he did just that! I also remember ordering a huge flower arrangement in the shape of a star that was sent to Andrew Wood's funeral from the magazine. I never could have afforded such an elaborate flower arrangement on my own, but made sure the guys in Mother Love Bone (also acquaintances of mine) knew I was behind it. The one genuinely pleasant story I can tell about my 3 months working at Hitmakers in 1990 was the day Tommy Mattola came into the office with his girlfriend/hot new artist & the entire staff was summoned into Barry's office, where frig'n MARIAH CAREY sang two songs for us, live & acapella, before anyone had ever heard of her.

[@Bandsplaining]

Epic comment! That's a fascinating story and, not even sarcastic, that read like a novel where I couldn't wait to hear what happens 😂. I remember those magazines that came with CDs and it never occurred to me that bands would pay to be on them. It seems so obvious now.

[@whatabouttheearth]

Mariah who?

[@gvibes69]

Lool that as make me laugh when people say that Nirvana was a anomaly and that the mainstream came to them!!! They were another push from geffen to be sucessfull !!! And Tommy Motola the guy that Michael Jackson said was the devil and after one week MIchael was dead !

[@djraptorx]

@@whatabouttheearthDrew Carey’s sister

[@tiredextremely]

I never thought about those cd's either. I used to buy Terrorizer, a UK extreme metal magazine and they would come with those types of CDs. Found a lot of cool music but some big stinkers too. It never occurred to me that it would be paid promotion, I just thought the editors had strange tastes.

[@pechondelgado]

As for the people responsible and the record labels, they were never convicted of payola....because payola works for more than just music.

[@generalleigh7387]

Money do talk. Across all boards.

[@drumsleuth]

They just paid New York State and went back to business as usual.

[@schtuff.8207]

I heard stories from a Nashville producer about a young Taylor Swift going with a 'gift bag' to DJs to thank them for playing her song... with cash conveniently at the bottom of it. Payola is unstoppable and all you have to do is look at the obvious stranglehold on popular music to see that. "the music suffers baby, the music business thrives" - Paul Simon

[@Updog89]

Her biggest talent has always been her savvy.

[@samaraisnt]

@@Updog89 My biggest talent is also being born a Billionare. Oh no wait-- I don't have access to that generational "talent," silly me.

[@perfectallycromulent]

@@Updog89 her biggest talent is having songs that her fans love, just like every other successful musician.

[@poornoodle9851]

Maybe this explains the real and main reason the music industry was afraid of Napster. Not loss of revenue, but loss of power…

[@dsnodgrass4843]

Bingo.

[@aw2584]

No not really. You can still very easily manipulate people even if they get their music online instead of a shop... look at how Spotify playlist are manipulated.

[@marreco6347]

​@@aw2584Spotify is centralized, whereas torrents are from users sending files. You don't just give the band you like a view, you give them a part of your hardrive and internet broadband to allow others to listen to them.

[@Capnsensible80]

@@aw2584 Things have changed a lot in 20 years. Of course Napster was a threat to their control of the market in the early 2000s, it was completely unregulated and didn't operate anything like Spotify does. Saying it wasn't is just ignorant.

[@DJ_Macphisto]

"Give me a toot and I'll sell you my soul, pull my strings and I'll go far." - Dead Kennedys, 1987

[@YegorLetov69]

Drool, Drool, Drool My Payola!

[@oni108]

BABE WAKE UP NEW BANDSPLAINING JUST DROPPED

[@rgs8970]

Commercial radio and streaming services are just the tiniest slice of the world's music, but they have an outsized presence in our lives. Here are some places to discover music you might not hear otherwise: public radio stations, local music, live shows, buskers, record stores, used record collections or even thrift shop record sections, academic libraries, local music of a different locality, recommendations from people who are very different from you (ask a stranger! It's fun!), research different instruments or modes of music-making, learn about non-Western music theory, buy tapes or CDs from artists on the street, buy from independent labels, listen to unlabeled cassette tapes you find at your grandparents' house

[@somewhatsomething4882]

Wtf are "grandparents"..? 🤔😉 And btw, a "library"..? Come on man, I'm "like 100%" you're just making things up.

[@brukernavn3409]

Or Bandcamp.

[@UGLY-MONEY17]

Public radio stations play some really wild stuff.

[@ccmakaw]

This made me briefly nostalgic for the 70s-80s - for those of us into music that didn't get radio play, we found our music by rifling through endless record bins wherever we found them...music stores, thrift stores, the library. Then inviting all your friends over to listen (or visiting your friend with the 'good' stereo) 😂

[@kimwalsh]

Yes albums and tapes - record players and dancing with friends in bell bottoms, getting revved up for a night at the roller rink Oh' the memories made from music CC Makaw CC Makaw 3 hours ago This made me briefly nostalgic for the 70s-80s - for those of us into music that didn't get radio play, we found our music by rifling through endless record bins wherever we found them...music stores, thrift stores, the library. Then inviting all your friends over to listen (or visiting your friend with the 'good' stereo) 😂 2 Kim Walsh Yes albums and tapes - record players and dancing with friends in bell bottoms, getting revved up for a night at the roller rink Oh' the memories made from music

[@brennanc4321]

Idk the label machine was more intact back then

[@kz.irudimen]

I had no idea this was illegal or even controversial at all. I just assumed that's how the music industry always worked, majors/big label pay radios to play their stuff and that's how it gets popular.

[@MrLedeberg]

i thought the same

[@SaltyandSour]

samesame

[@Seriouslycantplayguitar]

I live in Buffalo, Looked up the station mentioned in the email, its our big "pop" radio station which I always figured was heavy payola, this just confirms it. Pretty sure the same company owns about half of the airwaves in Buffalo too so it could have run on any number of their stations.

[@argotsambience]

that's really interesting. which songs get heavy rotation on it, if you know?

[@jayerjavec]

I can't thank you enough for putting all these videos together. You're opening the doors to such a vast undiscovered realm here ... I mean, you always blow my mind with these. Really proud to be your subscriber and being able to educate myself to something that's hidden, forgotten ... Kudos! Warmest regards from Austria! EDIT: subliminal messaging anyone?

[@zenit653]

wdym

[@iNFAMOUsTreeFROG]

ethos?

[@jayerjavec]

@@zenit653 was wondering how today's music incorporates subliminal messages. It's no secret this practice is used in advertising (print and video) for decades so I am positive music serves as another platform to deliver specific messages. I know, tin hat foil but would love to explore this a bit more. I mean just listen to certain lyrics in modern pop music. There must be something there for sure.

[@JVDABEATS]

This channel is a little gem on this platform; thank you!

[@sejnb1]

Rich kids become rock stars. When labels are not interested and they can't get signed, their parents buy them a record company.

[@zEropoint68]

remember, this is why the industry is so hostile to p2p filesharing. this is what they wouldn't have money for if you weren't paying the markup.

[@dominicbaril46]

I wouldn’t mind payolas if they were transparent. Yes you can pay to push a song upwards if you believe it needs said push but admit to it so that the independent folks can have their own playground. You want to fight with stacks of cash? Ok but admit to it so that people aren’t tricked into believing anything is popular and so people can take pride in being popular because of their skills. I guess what I’m trying to say is: Paying for visibility (advertisement) = ✅ Paying for the illusion of popularity = ❌

[@rixnax21]

I love how you use the organ from In a Silent Way to create tension. Another great video!

[@chrisvanek7877]

Another faction of payola is the pay to play method for bands looking to book gigs when they’re first starting out or when they’re trying to move up in the touring world

[@morganhay3968]

The one-two punch of 'Franz Ferdinand' and 'Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device' has sent my spirit cartwheeling back to the mid-'00s.

[@gardenboydon]

Fantastic documentary! Glad to see you are back! Great insight on the topic of "Payola"

[@cjaquilino]

@23:10 and @26:20 At risk of saying the obvious: Countless artists you like, get popular and get to make a living doing pop music…simply because the music industry partly "fixed" that to happen not because of so called “merit”. Look at the names on this list. Now think about the countless talented people who get snuffed out by the system.

[@AchillesWrath1]

They've taken PAYOLA to the another level with modern music. Seems like every new artist is artificially built. Kind of like American Idol on steroids. The record companies have taken the creativity from the bands and replaced it all with boy and girl bands putting a pretty face to studio musicians music.

[@TheAbandonedAccount7]

It's called industry plants and yes they 100% exist. Billie eilish being one of the biggest from recent times. Olivia Rodrigo is another

[@whatabouttheearth]

Mainstream music at least, there are tons of non bullshit non mainstream bands. But the industry has always been really shady, I suggest Barley the video 'The Music Industries Darkest Secret' and Dan Moldeas interviews on Reagan the Mob and MCA. MCA started as an entertainment agency for mafia speakeasies during prohibition. It's really bad, always has been and it's larger than just payola kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJDckK2bptFqpsU kzbin.info/www/bejne/aH2Qi2uphcqnqbs

[@pacmatt95]

I always love seeing a new video from you. It's always about a side of the industry that I wouldn't normally think about. I was wondering if you could ever do a video on state sanctioned pop music like the stuff from North Korea

[@Bandsplaining]

That would be fascinating...

[@pacmatt95]

@@Bandsplaining love your stuff dude!

[@goodun2974]

"Bo Diddly had himself a rocking good time/but he never made a solitary dime/ he went on the road in a station wagon /working the road till his tail was dragging /well the record man gave him a rag top car/ said boy you're gonna be a rock and roll star /he didn't know he was doing anything wrong/ when he signed away all of his songs .....Pay Bo Diddly /Pay Bo Diddly....... Well Bo Diddly never saw enough/ wrote I'm the Man and Who Do You Love /they just think he's some rock and roll singer /but remember Bo Diddly is a gun slinger..... Pay Bo Diddly , Pay Bo Diddly..... Call the FBI, call the IRS, call BMI, call Leonard Chess.... Pay Bo Diddly !" as performed and sung by David Lindley.

[@dsnodgrass4843]

I take issue with the characterization of music on the internet as "an ocean of garbage"; or the "millions of shitty/mediocre bands" canard so easily thrown around by cultural "influencers". If the Multiple payola schemes prove anything, it's that there's far less distance in quality between the artists of the past now considered 'icons' and 'heroes' and the ones struggling through the morass of today's music culture. That doesn't mean the 'heroes' were any less good at their craft; it means the strivers of today don't get nearly the credit for doing the same objective level of work. The industry just chooses artists they can control much more easily; and marginalizes anyone they can't.

[@trevor1550]

Great and very informative video! Well researched and edited 🔥

[@ZIGGIEITAL]

Hey Great Video. It would be fun if you would make a video with a Reggae Topic again. Like about some artist, producer, label, concert or anything like that.

[@Bandsplaining]

Thanks! Will def be doing that again in the very near future. Trying to keep a balance b/w music industry-type topics and actual music.

[@goodun2974]

How about David Lindley and his former reggae/ rock/ world music/ jam band ElRayo-X?

[@ZIGGIEITAL]

@@Bandsplaining Would be fun if you did a video about the great producer Lee Scratch Perry, his story and about his Black Ark studio. Was fun to some see short fast clips in the video from a Black Ark session.

[@t23001]

I’m surprised that station owners didn’t make payments from the record companies part of the business model. “The next half hour is brought to you by XYZ Records.”

[@SaumBodhi]

I was under the impression that this is why they played certain songs were played certain number of times. Maybe not an official practice but probably standard non the less.

[@TheAbandonedAccount7]

@@SaumBodhi Has Anyone Really Been Far Even as Decided to Use Even Go Want to do Look More Like?

[@Markjameslee]

Great video man, good to see light shed on such a popular practice

[@scout8145]

7:05 I knew of Chuck Berry’s huge contribution to music history, but I’ve never seen him dance until now. He is an INCREDIBLE dancer!

[@JohnNiemsMusic]

Bravo to doing a great video here! I've subscribed and as singer songwriter for over 50 years today all my music is now censored with just a few of my 145 tracks still downloadable. I thought Spotify was supposed to pay out 50 million in royalties a number of years ago as I'm still waiting as with Spotify I only would get 1 cent here and there while the big names collect the big money still!

[@jewdea]

Wow CBS made a documentary about its own misdeeds? No one would ever do that today

[@MikelPortugal]

Awesome dcumentary, You deserved to get more views and subscribers!

[@FANKANable]

Love this channel

[@pcm1011]

Great narration and the editing was very well paced! This topic makes me wonder how, we as consumers (or music fans in this case), can fight back against it. One could think the whole entertainment industry is rigged from the start, but as you said that doesn't diminish the fact that one person might like certain things and that other people have their own tastes

[@whatabouttheearth]

I suggest Barley the video 'The Music Industries Darkest Secret' and Dan Moldeas interviews on Reagan the Mob and MCA. MCA started as an entertainment agency for mafia speakeasies during prohibition. It's really bad, always has been and it's WAY larger than just payola kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJDckK2bptFqpsU kzbin.info/www/bejne/aH2Qi2uphcqnqbs

[@kellingtonlink956]

Very well thought out and edited. Entertaining too! Thanks for the video.

[@JonMetro100]

"I have a point of view, but I won't present it, because I want lots of comments for the algorithm." -Bandsplaining

[@atlanta2076]

Just found out about this channel. Subscribed! ♥

[@anthonymurphy6649]

Great video mate, I enjoyed this whilst making my dinner 🍻

[@unisynthtv3473]

Always love your vids.. Its so hard to find honest avenues of sharing your music with the world. We need you to curate a pirated international radio station... with the goal of mining out all the quality honest works and creators of the world that have no clean transmission towers to broadcast through. Worth so much more than money.. i'll work for ya for free. It could maybe change the world having art that could fly without dirty money pushing and distorting it.

[@skylineXpert]

I remember jimi hendrix' manager michael jeffery did same same. He even sent jimi to spain on holiday for tax purpose...

[@welchomestudio]

Entering the music business in order to make a living out of it is pretty much like buying a lottery ticket nowadays. Well, it always was but today, anybody can easily make music with a computer. I know... having the ability to make music doesn't give anybody talent, but it certainly is easier to grow your talent when you have the tools at your disposal, and at least give it a try. Dream, but dream with your eyes opened, because the reality is, you don't stand a chance. Unless you're very very lucky. Millions of songs are published on various platforms every year, what's your chance of becoming successful? Close to zero. If you wanna make music, do it for the right reason: passion for music, not passion for fame and money. Do it because it makes you happy, not because you feel sad and lonely, and desperate for attention.

[@ellingtonhilligas]

I've been in radio for over 20 years and had many offers for money and other compensation to play a song or album. I have flatly refused each and every offer.

[@Bandsplaining]

Would definitely be fascinated to hear more. Which station(s) or city did you work in? Any particular labels try to push money to you more than others? Any particular songs that got payola'd hard?

[@3tic]

the "music" business is like a perpetual rabbit hole filled with human excrement learning how the biz works is a quick wake-up call to how the world really works and how scummy people can be

[@deerinfear7484]

I always wanted to start my own radio station. There is so much music out there it would be full filling to help bands. Radio stations today are preprogrammed payola machines. I search for music I enjoy on the net. Before that it was the music store.

[@paledesertmoth6255]

Songs doesn't play on the radio because people like It, people like the songs because they play on the radio

[@broghad8241]

Just like brainwashing Play the same thing over and over again until the brain registers it forever

[@marcelrobinson]

@@broghad8241 I think it’s less about brainwashing and more along the lines of people liking convenience been actually looking for something

[@sunoclockoneday2576]

@@broghad8241 it is brainwashing

[@markl5998]

Who cares what's on the radio, this is 2022

[@philitsme3161]

awesome video !! and great content

[@umusuuk]

something that remained unclear to me was how much did the bands and artists know? There's examples in more modern times where leaked texts and emails prove that some artists do this stuff knowingly, but we can never get the text messages of John Lennon. But like with a lot of indie musicians coming from moneyed families, the kinda sad fact about music is that it is a money game from who can buy instruments and afford to spend time to rehearse and perform, to who can afford to navigate the system of music distribution. Even true indies who make their way from the bottom usually hit big with a cosign from someone established.

[@RichardChappell1]

Of course the artists know about it. It was common knowledge when I was in High School in the 70s. After the Freed case, the labels paid ondependent distributors who then paid the radio stations. That's how the stations funded all their contests and prizes. For certain artists, they pay department stores for their shelves (just think of those artists who have had store shelves devoted to their albums all while the rest were haphazardly placed). A certain young artist who started in the country world and went to pop even bought (or her label did) a full exhibit in the Musical Instrument Museum. Another example - look at those stars who are children of well-known music industry leaders. Colbe Calait creates one album and it's instantly on the charts, with little to no interest in the rest of her work? There's another out right now who just became famous with no work to get there - I'm sure it has nothing to do with a Dad who is an industry executive and runs a well-known music festival.

[@joriankell1983]

I remember seeing a picture of John and Oko watching a maid make their hotel bed. He was fake as shit, a "champagne socialist" if you will. So if he knew he didn't give a shit

[@whatabouttheearth]

But the artists were also being jerked around ALOT. I suggest Barley the video 'The Music Industries Darkest Secret' and Dan Moldeas interviews on Reagan the Mob and MCA. MCA started as an entertainment agency for mafia speakeasies during prohibition. It's really bad, always has been and it's larger than just payola kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJDckK2bptFqpsU kzbin.info/www/bejne/aH2Qi2uphcqnqbs

[@TheRedlotusblossom]

My only question is if there are 60,000 songs uploaded to Spotify every day and 1/3 of them never get a play how do I find these never heard songs? Because that sounds like fun

[@Bandsplaining]

forgotify.com/

[@TheRedlotusblossom]

I hope it works

[@curtisjackson1121]

I like my music strange 2

[@TheRedlotusblossom]

@@amremorse I liked it but I was drinking at the time I'm pretty sure it requires alcohol

[@TheAbandonedAccount7]

Probably not worth listening to. Keep in mind anyone can upload to Spotify. Remember the classic hit song "you'll cowards don't even smoke crack"... There's a lot of people like that out there.

[@PerChristianFrankplads]

Brilliant walk-through. Thanks for your continuing great work with the channel!

[@royalcities]

Commenting as I watch this but just wanted to mention. As someone who has uploaded to spotify (under an old handle) this happens ALOT today. Now playlist curators are literally pay to play just to LISTEN to your track to consider going on their playlist Its pretty depressing trying to be a breakthrough arist. Like the only CHANCE you have is submitting your track through something like playlist push/submit hub just for the "privledge" of some large playlist curator to give you a chance. If you are in with a record label already though they already KNOW all the curators so you get auto added. God knows what payola happens at record level > spotify playlist curator but I bet its ALOT since the entire industry is connected once your in. Afaik most of the largest playlist curators/ reps from spotify and the record labels are basically in bed with eachother. Its a shame how much money influences the industry despite these payola laws.

[@panchoverde5078]

Relax homie. If your music is good, it will shine.

[@paulg3686]

@@panchoverde5078 Not really, theres hundreds of good bands that have never gotten popular, and a lot of them were pushed under because they didnt have the money for payola, or other schemey stuff.

[@markl5998]

Doesn't phase me a bit. Build an audience off KZbin. Besides people like music videos. Make music videos. Spotify isn't the end all be all, and the radio is deader than dead. Bands are also not nearly as big of a deal as solo artists are, so that's also something to consider

[@DavySolaris]

@@panchoverde5078 completely untrue

[@CGMiller]

@@markl5998 Right. I'm just throwing my songs up on youtube and putting them with a piece of artwork I did to give you something to look at. Nothing will prob come from it. But at least I'm trying all by myself to be heard by whoever wants to hear it.

[@MISPLACEDs]

Such a shame limp bizkit had to pay to get their song out there. Best band of all time.

[@stephiesmith6302]

Thanks for your high quality work! :) Your channel is a real gem!

[@LosHuxleys]

This is great bro

[@richteffekt]

So, my takeaway would be: churn out loads of middle of the road Spotify playlists and wait for some shyster to request a slot. Am I close?

[@richteffekt]

Unsurprisingly it turns out I'm late to this.

[@nai36821]

Yayyyyyyy new Bandsplaining 💖💖

[@crazymarkiplierfan]

Very informative and thought provoking video I gotta say👍

[@TheChadTI]

The 1800's information was fascinating, I had no knowledge of this. Wonderful job, thank you. Also 5:45 😅😅😅

[@alukuhito]

In the early 80s there was a really cool underground band in Vancouver called The Payola$. They became really popular in Canada and beyond for a couple of years. Eventually they renamed themselves to Rock & Hyde. Apparently the word "payola" was still controversial. They were a great band, but unfortunately they broke up. Bob Rock went on to be a major rock album producer. Paul Hyde went on and did some small-time solo work.

[@sage1682]

This why Rebecca Blacks and Willow Smiths happen, daddy's money used for fleets of producers, studio time, and connects to pump bad pop out.

[@shaggy765]

Awesome video!

[@rustyaxelrod]

Interesting history lesson. Thanks for puttin this together 👍 My first thoughts are, there’s many more good bands with good songs than there are minutes of airplay and downloads. This “glut” makes a space for manipulation of what we hear and there are plenty of buy low, sell high types to fill the space. I’m not sure it’s possible for things to be absolutely fair and above board.

[@earsonlyaudio887]

It still goes on big time. It just takes a different form. FM radio is on life support, so little need to pay for that. Streaming you can pay to be on playlists yes, but I co-wrote a song that was on a playlist, a few hundred thousand streams later, I made 40 bucks. Seems like money spent on streaming is not particularly well spent. Where payola really happens now is in live music. When you go to a concert, chances are extremely high that the cool new band in the opening spot is paying for the privilege. I am in a band that opened for a previously famous group with multiple hits in the early 2000s. We were the first of 5 opening acts that night at the whiskey in LA and we paid $1200 to be on the bill. Each slot closer to when the famous band got on was more expensive. The promoters use this money to help offset the guarantee paid to the headliner and I dare say a good portion goes in to their pockets. They don't care about your draw, how good you play, the quality of your songs, you pay the price, you're on the bill. We were offered direct support, the band that plays right before the headliner, for a 5 date tour through the midwest by a Country Rap artist. Now, we had opened for them previously, so their team did know about us, but still, we could have done those dates for $7000 paid directly to the artist's management. The bulk of what a musician makes these days comes from the stage. If you can win fans enough to one day headline yourself, all you need do to get your foot in the door is pay to buy on to a more popular artist's tour.

[@leinonibishop9480]

i read about a musician named Magic Slim, who opened for Pearl Jam in '94, got asked how he got the gig. he said he was playing in a bar and Eddie Vedder was there having a beer and pulled him aside after his set. Vedder liked him and asked if he wanted to open for them the following night. they hashed out a deal on a cocktail napkin and Slim got paid $700 to perform a 40 min set. PJ also invited the Aussie band Cosmic Psychos to open for them on a tour just because Eddie met the lead singer at a friend's house drinking beers and thought he was a cool guy. to all that's holy i pray there are still bands that pick their opening acts like that. this world is soul destroying enough already.

[@goodun2974]

@@leinonibishop9480 , although most of us have been to shows where the opening act wasn't anything to write home about, and a few that were awful, in the distant past I've attended a few shows where I didn't even know in advance that there would even be an opening act, and the opener turned out to be great! Lucinda Williams opening up for Los Lobos was one such show; Sheryl Crow opening for John Hiatt was another, in a medium sized club, a few months before her first record broke and she became famous. Both of these double bills turned out to be very good pairings of one Roots rock and Americana artist to another (and in medium sized clubs!). Another case of a really good unannounced opening act that turned out to blend perfectly with the featured performer was the awesome British guitarist Adrian Legg opening up for famed 6 and 12 string guitarist Leo Kottke. On the other hand I've seen I've seen John Hiatt open up for both Robert Cray and Jackson Browne and in both cases Hiatt and his band absolutely creamed the top billed performers. I hope none of these openers were forced to pay money to open for the more famous acts!

[@dsnodgrass4843]

"All you need do" is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Remember that payment is IN ADDITION TO all your traveling expenses, per diems for your tech/merch staff (you'll need at least one person for that) , any potential "merch cut" some venues now demand, etc. etc. You'll be bearing all the financial weight of the endeavor, PLUS the "buy-on" to the tour.

[@anthonynye1747]

Great video, I actually learned something

[@marcelrobinson]

Spotify playlists is the new payola

[@0xzi]

Huh, never really knew the history of payola but knew it was going on. This was super interesting!

[@kkjhn41]

Offering cash to get music played on the radio is bribery or payola. Threatening to take music off the air unless you are paid is extortion not bribery or payola. That's the difference between slimy record company PR people and mobsters. Mobsters don't pay to get what they want; they threaten and intimidate or just take it.

[@waldzz]

Yes, I believe Limp Bizkit earned their way to the top.

[@nicksmifso8071]

Limp biscuit is a game for private school boys

[@joeshumo9457]

Musicians, actors, athletes, politicians, personalities, drug dealers, gamblers, cult / religious leaders, criminals and prostitutes are all in the same club doing the same thing together and always have been... off of your money / labor and weaknesses. Will they always. Isn’t that what you wanted? Are you not entertained?

[@PsRohrbaugh]

Is this a re-upload? Or does everyone just pull from the same well? Because I swear I saw this video like two years ago.

[@Bandsplaining]

I have been subtly changing the title & cover image to try and score better with the algorithm, so perhaps the first time you saw it, both of those things were a bit different. Or, there's another channel covering the exact same story, but I haven't come across that...

[@PsRohrbaugh]

@@Bandsplaining I just confused it with Spencer Cornelia's video because my memory isn't the best.

[@mydogsnameislucy768]

Sweet new channel I just found. 👍🏾😎

[@carletonrutherford1799]

What about Bob Rock's old band The Payolas?

[@LynnHermione]

As a fan of a non English speaking artist who refused to sign to a US label, god do we know about radio corruption and payola. Several straight number 1s on hot 100, sold out stadiums worldwide, but radio will give their songs 6 spins (literally) and insult us on air for simply requesting the song.

[@nikitalane5543]

HE IS BACK!!!!

[@Symphonicrockfran]

I run ads for guy who owns a very famous Spotify Playlist. He accepts money but at the same time he has to keep a high standard so he doesn't loss streams and followers.

[@susie8799]

The most recent scandal involving Fifty-Fifty and “Cupid” is insane to me. Like I thought I was immune to payola but here we are

[@kpw84u2]

Streaming Platforms are the new Payola... 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@randomtinypotatocried]

Spotify is partially owned by the record companies so it's not shocking 20% of the music never gets played once

[@PachoMoncadaM]

Isn't that organ chord that plays at around 8:30 from Miles Davis' Shhhh / Peaceful?

[@matalascallando]

Great vid, man. Thank you for disappointing me as a musician!

[@Bandsplaining]

😂 I'm waiting for the first band to shamelessly crowdfund "help us get on major playlists"

[@starkparker16]

Great video

[@raymondbrush6442]

The reason I don't watch show like american idol and the voice is because I can't tell difference between them and the music industry.

[@CaptHiltz]

A lot of songs that are considered hits or popular only got to that status because they were played over and over and over, etc. In a sense we were brainwashed. I'm 56 and started listening to the radio and records of my siblings at age 5 and by age 8 or so consuming music voraciously. That lead me to begin playing guitar at age 12 and writing songs at 15. I still do all that and perform with my band around my home town. I heard many of the "hits" first hand. Now I go back and listen to them now, sometimes I haven't heard them in decades. It's amazing how many of these songs were honestly just terrible. Without the labels paying the radio stations to play them they wouldn't have seen the light of day. In many cases that would have been a good thing.

[@kimwalsh]

Very interesting history lesson 👍👍--✌and 💖 from Ontario Canada

[@EHiggins]

It's funny to think about all the "hipsters" and people who think their taste in music is somehow unique and better than others ..were manipulated into that frame of mind, by "soulless" record companies and money.

[@RussellB]

I think this all makes underground or outsider music that much cooler 🤷

[@DoubleMonoLR]

"Gatekeeper" is used throughout this video in an inaccurate way, many of the people/companies referred to as gatekeepers are not *controlling access to* music - especially reviewers. @ 7:40 - that's not what "unfazed" means. It's probably been pointed out in the past though.

[@Suerte13]

Even if you can outright ban it there are still ways to game the system. Its unavoidable. Awesome vid.

[@inputoutput5995]

Keep up the good work.

[@plsbshiny2533]

small correction 29:10 the label never paid him at all, the song got there with no payola

[@jnnx]

Why does everyone use, “Peter and the Wolf” for these type of videos?

[@tolvajakos]

what? limp bizkit needed bribes to get airplay? shocking!

[@sseltrek1a2b]

correct me if i'm wrong, here...but, aren't most radio stations in the country now owned by the remaining labels?...if this is true, this would be the biggest example of payola out there...they would total control of what actually gets played 24/7, and therefore would be the sole arbiter of who gets promoted at any given time...

[@POSTELVIS]

I KNEW IT

[@OniDasAlagoas]

Are you really Ray Romano?

[@240high]

The chapters are all over the place in this thing ive never seen so many for such a short video 🤣🤣🤣😂

[@Zakuroaoyama]

Here in my country we used to call it "jabá".

[@NicS_313]

Dj whoo kid, in a jim and sam interview from a few years ago, mentioned some labels spend 200k to get a song played on the radio. Whoo kid only asks for 5k to play the song once though 🤣

[@TheFatWorm]

i was in bands as a kid in the 70s and 80s got some radio, TV news papers etc, and it was ALWAYS the case, oh you want a story in the papers sure, and it was great heres your [ gift ] not always cash, but always costs.