Makes sense! I’m still bummed at how rock radio ain’t what it used to be.
It’s a shame.
I even wonder why they even need to play music anymore on radio with Internet stations, Satellite Radio and iTunes.
My uncle is semi-retired from the music business (discovered Gordon Lightfoot, started own record label, now negotiates record deals for new acts) and he has a lot of stories about how government efforts to “help” musicians musicians ended up backfiring in a huge way. Just one example is the state of the industry here in Toronto.
Back in the 1970s there were a lot of record labels established here, both because of the depth of our local talent pool and the state-of-the-art recording facilities that capitalized on US tax laws (albums recorded in USA were taxed on worldwide sales, here on domestic sales only). These companies spent a lot of money promoting new acts, and it was all bankrolled by the ~5% who actually managed to come up with a hit. In the 1980s, Ottawa decided that foreign record companies weren’t doing enough to promote Canadian talent and threatened them with Canadian-content rules. The result? The foreign labels snapped up all the Canadian hitmakers, putting most of the Canadian labels out of business. How did my uncle keep his label going? By acquiring Canadian distribution rights to foreign artists such as Weird Al Yankovic. AFAIK the only survivor from that era that still develops new talent is Vancouver’s Nettwerk Music.