Ending the Rant of musicFIRST

69° - sunny at 7:53am

Conclave: Under way in Minneapolis. Wish I was there! The Conclave has evolved into radio's premiere event. More here. In preparation, Sean Ross writes about the Twin Cities oldies/classic hits/classic rock stations here.

Those wackos at musicFIRST. Calling radio stations "pirates" for not paying additional fees to use music. What if radio picked a few artists and simply stopped playing their music (if you were an artist - would you want to be on that list?)

As Jerry Del Colliano pointed out in his blog the other day:

"We could really end this desperate move by rich record artists to earn even more by remembering what Sinatra, The Eagles – all of them – would have made if radio didn’t play their music. How about – zero. How about no platinum records. No gold. No silver. No tin. No junk metal. Nothing could be earned without radio airplay. Nothing."

Exactly. NAB efforts gave broadcasters the majority of votes in the House on the performance "tax" issue, as announced on Tuesday. But the fight continues. Meanwhile, record company promotion people continue to beg for radio airplay.

Great Promotion. As tipped by Dave Martin (who was tipped by Emily DiTomo). Entercom teaming up with Guitar Center for "Get Schooled with Guitar Center". Here.

Dave writes: "A very cool concept and well done. Creating memorable experiences, real dream come true moments, is powerful magic." Kudos to Entercom and all involved.

Atlanta's Dave-FM/WZGC launches second website "E-Dave". A cool presentation and layout that begs the question: why not just make this "the" website? See here.

Added: From Boston.Com - a review/preview of Wi-Fi ready radios. Here.

Late Night Add: Received a great piece in my in-box this afternoon from Fred Jacobs. A must-read for PDs and air talent. A lesson learned from the late George Carlin. Here.

Have a good night.