Bongo Flava bowing to pay for spin

Tipping for a service is a virtue that has long been upheld in the hospitality industry as a show of gratitude.

The temptation to ask or give this token or tip as you might choose to call it seems to be taking root among our DJs and artistes though the official policies at radio stations bar this.

But at the end of the day whatever you might want to call it, it is nothing less than Payola.

Two week s ago I met one young artiste who was a product of one of the numerous talent searches in the region and we somehow struck a conversation.

I was most interested on how far she had got after her stint at the talent search show where she was quite a hit with the television audience.

This is because I had not heard anything musical from her apart from appearances on the red carpet events.

“ It is not that I have done nothing after the contest, I have recorded a couple of songs but each time I take them to the radio stations the DJs who receive the CDs want me to oil their hands,” she says with a tinge of frustration.

As it turns out, it is a common practice not only in Tanzania but across East Africa for some DJs and presenters to exhort money from artistes.

These according to insiders, they are the king makers and you either play by their rules or you are doomed.

“It is a well protected clique and a circle that one can’t easily breakthrough, unless you subscribe to their whims,” says a source.

Whereas some artistes are comfortable with this arrangement, others do it because of lack of choice.

It is difficult to really get how this whole arrangement works in established stations, back in the days, many radio DJs would choose which songs they wanted to play, sharing their favourites with thousands of listeners.

In modern era of management, most radio stations base their music choices on centrally controlled playlists, which are lists of songs that are put together by programme directors and producers who use research to decide what music will bring in money.

DJs and on-air announcers usually have very little to do with what is played; they just promote the music and manage presentation.

Most hit by this unscrupulous conduct are the up and coming artistes as they try to challenge the established order.

“This industry is endowed with talented artistes but the truth is that these young people don’t have the cash to sooth the egos of these DJs,” says a veteran producer who preferred anonymity.

They just have to do it, as it has now become a norm, each time an artiste takes his new song to the DJ he or she knows that they have to pay in that notorious scheme commonly referred to as ‘You Pay We Spin’.

It is an evil that that the artistes have now accepted to live and it is well guarded secret as the amount depends on the occasion and requirements.

According to sources, the DJs usually connive with music schedulers who put the songs on a playlist, whereas the DJs on their part not only play the songs but also speak well of the artiste.

“This is why you wonder why certain very good songs never get on the playlist and nothing is ever said about the artistes despite doing a good job,” says a source at one radio station.

These revelations beat the logic as in normal terms it is the radio stations that that are supposed to pay for the content.

However, though it is something that threatens the credibility of the guys on the wheels of steel; there are some that don’t condone this practice. In an earlier interview with the beat, former EA radio DJ admitted to have heard of the practice but he says it was such a foreign thing at the station.

He says such desire for quick money degrades the profession and the dignity of the station given the fact that they are supposed to be the voice of the artistes.

“I have heard of this before but according to the story it is mainly the artistes who come up to the DJs asking for favours and this is mainly because the work is sometimes substandard,” he said.

“Pay-for-play,” is not a strange arrangement in the world of radio and music as long as it is open enough and the payments are disclosed in fact it is still around in many countries. In January 1998, Flip/Interscope Records paid a Portland, Oregon radio station $5,000 to play one Limp Bizkit song 50 times over a five-week period.

Through this promotion the band was able to generate enough interest to play a successful concert there.

Other stations showed interest in their music, and Limp Bizkit broke into the music business in a big way.

However, the argument against pay-for-play, even if the parties are upfront about it, is that it allows big labels to buy their artists’ way onto the charts and the limelight too.

It’s not common now, and with so many radio stations owned by conglomerates, there’s less opportunity for the local market deal making that was so prevalent in payola’s heyday.