A beautiful symmetry

When the interests of large record companies and the owners of commercial radio networks combine, the result is millions of listeners hearing the same handful of tunes over and over, and a handful of listeners hearing the other millions of tunes once, if they're lucky. When cash incentives and coercive programming practices are added in, it is called payola--a crime. When governments prosecute payola, the result can be an out-of-court settlement for big American dollars. And the government may establish something like the New York State Music Fund to channel that settlement back into the arts.

When NCPR got wind of the fund, we asked ourselves (as we often do) "What would Robin Hood do?" Well--he might reach out to all the composers, songwriters and performers in the region and pay a bunch of them to come into the studio and record. He might buy publishing rights for performers and produce CDs and podcasts and pay royalties to all the artists. He might put everybody's music together in one place and get it out to the public and on the air. He might organize a paid concert tour and send the best performers all around the region. He might have a blast. So we sent in the Robin Hood proposal. It seems we were not the only ones to see a beautiful symmetry in using payola money to promote and support the independent legions of the seldom broadcast--we received one of the largest awards made from the fund in order to do just that. Look for a whole lot more over the next two years.