in 1996 Clinton signed the Telecommunication Act which completely eliminated the rules of how many channels or stations one entity could own. before 1996 large corporations controlled less than 65 radio stations....& now we have one company like Clear Channel who owns about 1200 of them which in more real world terms translates to 99.9% of the top 250 markets in the U.S. it's no wonder everything completely sucks now. now we get our "rock n roll" (only) from marginal American men in suits who have to buy their pussy & don't forget how much ugly loser guys like that just LOVE to have the Bowies of the world around. Thanks Bill ya fuckin' splotchy red bulbous-nosed douche.
now when you walk down the street you'll hear someone say "MTV sucks now" before you'll hear one word about what you read above. noone ever says that MTV really had no choice. they went from a commercial in the mid 80's that boasted "we play a wider variety of videos & more of them in a row than ever before...doodle doodle dee....wubba wubba wubbba" to having little to work with a little over a decade later because the corporations who came in & took over basically fucked their mission straight up the ass without vasoline. yeah maybe they DO suck but don't blame them. in other words if someone stabs you you don't get pissed at the nurse who stings the wound with the medicine you go after the fucker with the knife.
LOWRY MAYS Clear Channel CEO (1999) quote: "if anyone said we were in the radio business it wouldn't be someone from our company. we're not in the business of providing news & information. we're not in the business of providing well-researched music. we're simply in the business of selling our customer's products."
and this my friends is why you turn on any Clear Channel radio station & hear the same songs about 75% of the time.
now an early 80's D.I.Y. guy like Ian MacKaye looks like a prophet. His independent label Dischord Records has moved over 700,000 copies of Minor Threat alone. He never used radio & beyond that he has a loyal fanbase who does not buy into any of the corporate bullshit so it doesn't matter how the landscape changed. It never existed to him. Its movements are not much different than clouds passing by in the sky. It is of little to no consequence to a guy like MacKaye. Not to mention he has new people converted to his church every time another year goes by not to mention as things get worse & worse he looks more & more like SAINT. Plus in "business" speak he never had to change his prices ONCE because "inflation" can't touch a bubble like that.
we can sum this all up by just going through the most telling music & recording industry figures that were happening at the same time "mp3" overtook "sex" as the most widely searched term, sites like Napster are in full swing, & the R.I.A.A. starts suing thousands of people for file sharing. they hung themselves & cost a lot of people a lot of hopes, dreams, money, & the most important one of all: FUN & its long-lost companion COMMUNITY.
~ 2001 is the 1st year since 1966 that at least one major label release does not sell 5 million copies.
~ from 1999-2001 they released 25% less new music so people naturally started trolling the internet for music from the past.
~ at the same time CD prices rose another 10% reaching an all-time high.
~ they reduced the manufacturing of CD singles for those people who didn't want to buy their full (shitty) albums by 75%
~ AND they continued to treat the fans, the people who kept them in business, like garbage & assassinated thousands of those great little independent record stores we used to love like a favorite aunt or long lost friend.
all this while their livelihood is literally under attack & people can access millions of tracks online at any given time.
know what this all adds up to ???
MORONS
Occupy THAT bitches.
