FCC Gets its Data On?

This morning, FMC staff attended an "Open Agenda" meeting at the Federal Communications Commission that outlined steps the agency would take to expand broadband, determine competition in the video marketplace and collect data on female and minority ownership among broadcast station owners.

If there was one theme to emerge from the meeting, it was the need for the agency to do a better job of collecting and analyzing data on the industries it's charged with regulating. (This is something many public interest groups — including FMC —have been saying for years.)

"If we're to be a data-driven agency, we need to do a better job of collecting the data," said acting Chairman Michael J. Copps. "Right now, we don't have a clue." He described the past several years at the agency as "a period of benign — or to some, not so benign — neglect," stating that timely and efficient data collection is crucial to effective policy.

Members of the FCC leadership often speak publicly about the agency's commitment to promoting "localism, competition and diversity" on the public airwaves, so it was good to hear Copps describe how the FCC could add meat to those worthy bones. Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein echoed this sentiment, saying that better methods of data collection and analysis is "someting I've been begging for for years."

The Commissioners were speaking specifically about a national strategy for getting affordable broadband to more Americans, and the need to ensure diversity in the broadcast media landscape. But we at FMC think it applies to music, too, which is why we've spent so much time examining the nuts and bolts of the commercial radio marketplace to determine whether it serves communities, artists and the listening public.

Having observed trends in terrestrial radio since the turn of the millennium, we realize two things: a) consolidation in station ownership after the 1996 Telecommunications Act has led to a loss of independent owners and local control over programming decisions at commercial stations, and b) pay-for-play schemes like payola have made it incredibly difficult for non-major label talent to score commercial radio play. (For more info, check out these FMC research reports, past and present: Radio Deregulation: Has It Served Citizens and Musicians?, False Premises, False Promises: A Quantitative History of Ownership Consolidation in the Radio Industry, the Payola Education Guide and "More Static: Independent Labels and Commercial Airplay.")

We also understand the importance of quality information to the agency responsible for overseeing the broadcast industry. Without it, there's really no way to measure the effects of public policy. Groups like FMC do our best to fill in the gaps — our anticipated playlist tracking report that looks at indie spins on commercial radio comes out on April 20 — but there's no replacement for having an independent agency like the FCC collect and anylyze their own data. We hope today's meeting is a step in that direction.

As Copps himself said today, "We can't make fact-based decisions without timely, reliable data." In other words, data rocks.

FMC on Payola and Localism

There's been some buzz around FCC Chairman Kevin Martin's public backing of the XM-Sirius satellite radio merger, but we at FMC think that terrestrial radio is still worth making noise about.

FMC has long been involved in the push for better radio. We've conducted studies that show that commercial radio routinely excludes local and independent artists, largely due to the excessive station ownership consolidation that occurred in the wake of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. (See our 2002 and 2006 Radio Studies for more info).

We recently filed reply comments in the FCC's localism proceedings, in which we made the case for greater diversity on the public airwaves. But we're not just complaining about the crappy state of things — we're offering possible solutions. In our reply comments, we describe concrete ways for stations to make localism a priority, and urge the FCC to collect playlist data so it can track and analyze playlists in order to ensure that stations fulfill their public interest obligations.

Another reason that local and independent artists have difficulty getting radio play is payola. Under this system, labels pay independent promoters to promote certain records to radio stations. The promoters in turn pay radio stations annual fees and give them perks if they add the songs to their playlists.

In April 2007, the FCC brokered voluntary agreements between radio groups and major labels, which were supposed to open the door for a wider range of music to be heard on the airwaves. From what we can tell, it hasn't exactly worked.
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Today, we released Change that Tune: A Payola Education Guide for Musicians and Citizens, which outlines the history of payola, the development of the “indie promoter” system and the investigations by the New York State Attorney General’s office and the FCC. Also included are the contents of the “Rules of Engagement” and the indie-set-aside, which were signed by the four largest radio station group owners in April 2007. Finally, the guide offers practical tips about how artists can interact with radio in the 21st century.

We believe that if terrestrial radio were to open itself to more diverse and local content, they might just re-attract those listeners who have given up on the medium in favor of other entertainment. Given the precipitous decline in listeners, it's definitely worth a try.

Click here for a PDF of our reply comments; click here to read or download the Payola Education Guide.

Merge on the Hill

Yesterday's Senate Commerce Committee hearings on "The Future of Radio" covered a surprising amount of ground -- everything from media ownership, to localism, to webcasting royalties. In fact, there's so much to talk about that we've created two blog posts. (This is the second!)

Senators aside, the hearing had some real star power in the form of witness Mac McCaughan — longtime rocker and co-founder of Merge Records. (You know, the 20 year-old North Carolina label with acts like Arcade Fire and Spoon?) McCaughan spoke clearly and eloquently about how non-commercial broadcasting in its many forms has made a major difference not just on his business, but also in his personal development.

“As a kid I went to sleep and woke up to the radio in an era when even on album rock radio the DJ was playing his or her favorite new records,” he said. “Then at the age of 12, college radio exposed me to music that I had never heard on top 40 or album rock stations. The music I discovered then set me on the course of making music myself and starting a record label. And since that time, as both a performer and a label owner, I have relied on radio as an essential component of the work we do helping audiences learn about our music.”

McCaughan talked about the importance of diversity, competition and localism in radio, urging Congress to “take action to allow for the growth of non-commercial radio, and the expansion of Low Power FM into more urban settings.” Certainly Senator Dorgan was in agreement — he’d earlier suggested holding official proceedings to deal with the FCC’s recent movements towards changing laws regarding media ownership, which would have an extremely negative impact on the non-commercial radio that McCaughn and so many others cherish and rely on.

“I want to urge this committee to take the necessary steps to ensure that our media landscape does not become even more consolidated,” McCaughan said. “The deregulation that followed the 1996 Telecommunications Act allowed for unprecedented consolidation in commercial radio, which has resulted in a homogeneity that is often out-of-step with artists, entrepreneurs, media professionals and educators — not to mention listeners.” Check out FMC's 2006 Radio Study for extensive documentation on the effects of consolidation.

But what about the internet? Although there was plenty of discussion about online royalty structures, the important issue of network neutrality was not explicitly examined. McCaughan made plenty of room for the topic in his written testimony, but due to time constraints, didn’t get the chance to fully speak his mind about the subject. Still, he stressed that “labels and artists should have the benefit of competing on an equal playing field,” stating that “Any policy decision that enables the reestablishment of old bottlenecks or creates a tiered internet would be a step backward.” FMC's ongoing Rock the Net campaign is a great way for bands and artists to get involved in the fight for net neutrality.

Much of the focus of the hearing remained on radio, although its actual definition was at times unclear. In his opening statement, Senator Inouye waxed nostalgic for simpler times: “I suppose radio isn’t as sexy as the internet,” he offered. “But I remember growing up on it, back when it was local.” Senator Snowe, who talked about the decline of local stations in her home state of Maine and asked questions pertaining to broadcast diversity, echoed Inouye’s comments about localism. FMC has published a media ownership factsheet that should help clarify these issues. While you're at it, check out our low-power FM factsheet for info on other community radio possibilities.

It’s definitely encouraging to know that many of our representatives are concerned about diversity, competition and localism in radio. And it’s doubly great that Mac McCaughan would take the time to offer his perspectives on these issues in the very place where they most need to be discussed.

Watch McCaughan's testimony (and the rest of the hearing) here.