[78-L] ^Questions re airplay of old recordings on radio.

[martha]

Why is it that contemporary producers refuse to use old music?  I notice 
that PBS productions NEVER play 'real' old music anymore.  Even a recent MAD 
MEN episode had a dance band playing an "almost but not quite" fake of 
Charleston, although "Old Kentucky Home" was okay.  Can it be too expensive, 
or is there another reason?


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Lennick" <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
To: "78-L Mail List" <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 27, 2009 3:10 PM
Subject: Re: [78-L] ^Questions re airplay of old recordings on radio.


> Ken "Silver Showcase" wrote:
>> Royal Pemberton wrote:
>>> Last week I got an E-mail from someone who's trying to get records by 
>>> his
>>> favourite singer played on the radio.  The singer only had one album
>>> released in the US in 1974 but continued to record in the UK until 1982.
>>> The man who sent me the E-mail said the station told him the singer had 
>>> to
>>> be an 'approved' artiste, meaning, approved by ASCAP, BMI et al.  I know
>>> broadcasters have to pay ASCAP, BMI, SESAC et al usage fees based on the
>>> number of plays of their registered songs, but what of the 'approved' 
>>> bit?
>>> Is there such a thing, or was the radio station chap telling the person 
>>> who
>>> sent me the E-mail that to get rid of him?
>>>
>>
>> I worked at a local radio station for 26 years.  Songs are licensed.
>> Singers are not.  Methinks they invented an excuse just to brush the guy
>> off.
>>
>> -- Ken
>
>
> I didn't make it clear in my reply, but that's exactly what happened. We 
> used
> to do the same thing if it was a performer we didn't want to play. If we 
> didn't
> know the "artiste" then we could always say we'd look into it, being 
> careful
> not to encourage the listener to bring his own records in for us to enrich 
> the
> audio radiance. Of course saying "approved" could refer to management's
> policies, without having to bring in ASCAP, BMI etc. We also had to be 
> polite
> to performers who had a following and had made recordings they thought 
> would be
> absolutely perfect for our station....
>
> dl
>