I can take or leave John Cougar Mellencamp, but I thought this part of his Salon interview was darned interesting and totally unexpected. The interviewer asks him about pay-per-play (modern-day payola), where independent record promoters (indies) working for record companies pay radio stations to add songs to their rotations:

SALON: Another topic that's come up lately is pay-for-play in the radio business -- the way artists and labels actually get songs on the radio by paying indie middlemen. I was just wondering if you had any thoughts about that process.

JCM: You might be surprised about how I feel about that: That's the way it's supposed to be.

SALON: In what sense?

JCM: That's the way the music business has always been. And to take that away from a business that has never really operated aboveboard? [Laughs.] Listen, there is no way that you can devise it so that people are not going to figure out how to get around it.

SALON: When it comes to getting songs on the radio?

JCM: Sure. There is no way it can be done. Look, in the '80s when people were paying openly to get songs on the radio, here's the way it worked. "We want you to play this record and we're going to give you a spiff [kickback] of $100 to get it on the radio." OK, the guy plays it for a week and says, "I've been playing the song for a week and nobody likes it." "Well, here's $200 to play it next week." They've been playing the song for two weeks and nobody likes it. Guess what, they're done paying. It's over at that point. You cannot pay your way into having a hit. It won't happen. The only thing you can pay your way into is having the opportunity to have a hit. If you don't pay, you don't even have the opportunity. That's the way it should be done.

SALON: What about the folks who can't afford to have an opportunity?

JCM: I hate to be cruel about it, but that's the way it's always been.

That's a different take on it: end the failed War on Payola and let the free market rule. The war started in the 1960s with Congressional hearings concerning early rock DJ Alan Freed. Maybe it's time to end this war, just like some of us think should be done for the failed war on some drugs.

Chris Range comments that the RIAA - via webcasting fees - is now forcing Internet radio stations to pay the RIAA when they play an artist's records, whereas record companies pay broadcast radio to play those same records. That makes Internet radio a tough gig.

(I'm still having technical problems with Blogger Pro and Charter cable, so posts will be sporadic this week.)

While living in the pre-Internet age this weekend, I burned stumps in the yard, took the dog to the lake, and went swimming with friends in the Smokies. (Jay told me not to say where. No reason to ruin a good swimming hole by telling people where it's at.)

You've heard of Bug and Sun? It's a combination insect repellent and sunscreen. When we were packing for the river I accidentally called it Sun and Run, which got me thinking...

Product	Recommended Usage
Bug and Sun	Bug repellent and sunscreen
Sun and Run	Sunscreen and laxative
Bug and Rug	Bug repellent and spray-on toupee
Chug and Hug (AKA Beer)	Social lubricant
Lots of Fun and Number One (AKA Beer)	Social lubricant and diuretic

Bug and Rug is copyright 2003 Anne Robinson. All others copyright 2003 Les Jones.