Just when you think the musicFIRST coalition couldn’t come up with more outrageous arguments, they use the Clear Channel $24 billion sale as a rationale to extract more money from the radio business.
Their Executive Director, Doyle Bartlett, offers this original argument: "Without music, this deal would be impossible. Without music, Clear Channel’s radio empire would just be castles in the sand."
Well, Rush Limbaugh, Ryan Seacrest, and Bob & Tom might take exception with this position. As would anyone employing a modicum of logic. Lost in musicFIRST’s desperate attempt to shake down the radio business is any accountability of how much artists and musicians have benefited from their symbiotic relationship with radio over the decades. The free promotion – for music, concerts , and everything else put out by the record labels – over the years is incalculable.
And its impact on music sales, and the brand building that artists have enjoyed has undoubtedly been immense.
Has the recording industry suffered through some difficult years, especially given the ham-handed way it has dealt with digital music? Of course. Every traditional media business – radio included – continues to navigate through the techno universe, trying to reconfigure its model in order to best adapt to the change.
Continuing to take radio to task, blaming it for its troubles, and trying to leverage the Clear Channel sale as evidence they’re getting the royal shaft demeans whatever argument musicFIRST may have had.
Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys.
In 2008, jacapps was launched - a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,300 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created - a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact.
Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.
Fred was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
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