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David Rogerson
David Rogerson has been involved in nearly every facet of the radio and media industry from on air personality to Group Program Director to National Marketing Manager and senior consultant.
David’s background covers over 25 years in Media and Communications. He holds an Honours Diploma in Advertising through the University of Technology, Sydney and is a graduate of Radio Executive Management from the Notre Dame University, USA:
Founded in 1997 Strategic Media Solutions, is a program, marketing and research based media consultancy business providing services to the media and communications industries in the Asia Pacific Rim.
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The current stoush between record labels and commercial radio operators should come as no surprise to those who’ve been in the industry for some time. While the relationship between radio and records has ebbed and flowed over the years, for the most it’s been a reasonably harmonious one, with both sides of the fence perhaps reluctantly realising that in the end they each need the other for their on-going success.
Back in 1970 there was a major Mexican stand off between commercial radio and the record labels. This stoush was more closely aligned to the UK music repertoire radio was playing and primarily involved EMI. We had no ARIA, at the time quotas were in place and how much money radio was prepared to pay the record company’s in order to feature their product on air was the big question. An alliance of the record labels demanded from radio an annual payment not exceeding one percent of the industry’s revenue.
The answer was, there was no answer. Even the Beatles who were about to release “the Long and Winding Road” were barred from radio in 1970 as the band released their final song before breaking up. Radio ceased to play many of the record company’s UK artists as US performers were exempt. There was an upside though. Labels like Ron Tudor’s “Fable” started to bloom as local Aussie artists had opportunities created for them to record their local versions of songs that were on radio’s unofficial banned list. Liv Maessen, Jigsaw and Autumn were just a handful of the artists who achieved enormous success by recording cover versions of UK hits.
Fast forward to 2006. We see a similar story but with a somewhat different twist. This time around, it appears that the one’s to feel the potential impacts are Australian artists, with the US singers and songwriters being let off the hook. If you’ve not heard the latest story, the Federal Government’s proposed changes to the copyright laws have forced the record companies and Commercial Radio Australia back into the sparring ring with both sides putting their points of view as to how they will or won’t be affected by the Government’s changes. The key change being a lift in the one percent cap on the fees radio would pay to record companies to play Australian music.
It seems that every 5 or so years, these small skirmishes between the labels and radio become a little more serious, a truce is called and things settle down for a period of time. This time around though, there are even bigger issues at stake. The major commercial labels have undergone large scale global mergers, radio is now operating on a landscape of more stations as opposed to the 114 commercial stations back in 1970 , but with fewer owners. It’s going to be interesting to see in 2006 which party is going to blink first.
The Australian Music industry is far more diverse and has a far greater base than it did back in the early 70’s. Same with radio – more diverse formats, and more money spent on research to identify what listeners want from their stations. We have far more independent labels, and a significantly increased number of independent artists all trying to gain their commercial foothold in the market. On the “broadcasting “ side, you can now hear and buy music across a variety of sources from on line, to internet radio, myspace and so many more. Some commercial operators in regional markets, where a lot of new music and first release songs are broken before they hit the cap city stations, are just keeping their head above water when it comes to making profits.
In all of this it’s hoped that should the larger revenue pie fall the way of the record companies then money finds its way through to support the new artists coming through. A healthy industry is good for both radio and labels. Animosity and a state of distrust will only limit the opportunity for all involved in both sides of the music industry to enjoy the fruits of their labor, while driving consumers to seek other alternatives to hearing and purchasing their favourite songs.
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