When Bill Clinton Killed Music

By: MODI

Lately there has been some discussion on this board on the decline of music put forth by radio. There has always been bad music on the radio but is there a higher proportion of singers who can’t really sing, rappers who can’t really rhyme, and guitarists who can’t even… you get the point.

Generational nostalgia or reality?

My vote is for the latter. And former president Bill Clinton deserves the blame.

Commenter “kos” brought up the 1996 Telecommunications Act which eliminated media ownership regulations and overhauled the radio industry. I thought the subject deserved some extra attention, especially since you will NEVER see any mainstream news organization ever talk about it.

When Clinton signed the Telecom Act on February 8, 1996, the TV and music industries would never be the same. The bill was passed in overwhelming Senate (91-5) and House (444-15) votes.

Most significantly, the Act removed the caps on the number of national radio (40), local radio (4), and TV (12) stations that one company could own, and the effect was devastating. The Telcom Act promised more diversity and competition in music, but with hindsight of 13 years it is the exact opposite has happened (full report). The effect on television and all music has been profound, but none has been more negatively effected than the hip hop industry.

– Clear Channel Communications, went from owning 40 to 1200 local radio stations. Today only four companies own about half of America’s airwaves. This includes Viacom who also owns MTV, BET, and VH1.

– Many local DJ’s in touch with local emerging musical movements and local public affairs were fired and replaced by DJs who play homogenized cookie cutter playlists from a central location. Voice-tracking (also known as “cyber jocking” or “robojock”) emerged as a practice of media giants, but still simulated an appearance of locality. Had the Telcom act been legislated 10 years earlier, it is quite possible that movements that produced Public Enemy or Nirvana would never have been heard by the masses.

– Minority-owned radio stations dropped significantly. New playlist decision makers no longer looked like members of local communities, and more like… Bill Clinton.

– Diverse hip hop radio playlists pre-1996 gradually gave way to corporate tried-and-true sellers that disproportionately highlighted violence, misogyny, and materialism. More innovative music and songs with alternative messages were often viewed as risks not worth taking (see testimony).

– The practice of “payola” (illegal “pay for play”) became more rampant and often forced artists to pony up as much as one million dollars to get their songs played on radio. Most often artists with the most uplifting or political messages were the most negatively affected by payola.

The effects of the Telcom Act , and the possibility of revisiting and repairing that act have gone virtually unmentioned from all of the mainstream media’s commentary. Why? That’s easy. Would YOU publicly criticize your boss while you were at work? Well don’t expect news anchors to do so. As bad as the Act has been for music, it’s effect on the likes of ESPN and the nightly news has been even worse (for another article).

Go to the mainstream media if you want to learn about public opinion. Go to alternative media sources if you want to learn the truth.

And if you want to assess blame to the state of today’s music, start with Bill Clinton and work your way down from there.

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Some References, Reports, and Resources:

Report: Fallout from the Telecommunications Act of 1996: Unintended Consequences and Lessons Learned

Report: False Premises, False Promises: A Quantitative History of Ownership Consolidation in Radio Industry

Report: Out of the Picture: Minority and Female TV Station Ownership in the United States

Testimony: “From Habermas to “Get Rich or Die Tryin:” Hip Hop, Telecom Act of 1996, & Black Public Sphere

Article: Why Commerce is Killing the True Spirit of Hip Hop

Article: Davey D: Hip Hop Clean Up involves Musicians and the Corporate Execs who Back Them

Act Now: Stop Big Media: Save your Local Media from Monopoly Control