JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Legitimizing Pay-for-Play

Sorry I couldn't get to this earlier. Family stuff, Little League, etc.

First off, if you could take a couple minutes to read my short article on Jango, I think you'd gain a better understanding of how it works and how artists stand to benefit:

http://www.passivepromotion.com/jango

You may want to compare/contrast with my experience at Last.fm, but it's not essential for the purposes of our discussion:

http://www.passivepromotion.com/powerplay


That model simply doesn't apply to Jango. As I explained earlier, I've had plenty of radio "success." Over 40 commercial stations in Italy and France were spinning my stuff. We chose to focus on Europe because they were more receptive to electronic pop, not because they were easy to impress. I've also promoted in the US, once with a pro and once myself. I gave up on radio promotion in 2001 after seeing nothing come of making the CMJ Top 20. So again - been there, done that. Jango is cheaper and more effective.

I agree with both of you on the value of filters. Jango has three stages of filtering. First, every song needs to be approved by the staff. The handful of indie tracks I heard in my few hours of listening were all good to great. Secondly, each song is played only to listeners who like similar bands. Depeche Mode fans might hear my song, but Metallica fans won't. Finally, a listener can choose to ban the song. If they don't like it, they'll never hear it again.

Brian, I appreciate what you're trying to do in calculating my return on investment, but I've already done that in my article, citing response rates and my take on what it means for a listener to become a "fan." I don't disagree with any of your hypotheticals, but we're both speculating wildly. I doubt I'm making back 50% of my investment in short-term sales, but I'm trying to position myself for a future in which everyone can stream anything, anywhere (as many already do with Spotify). My goal is more listeners, regardless of whether they currently buy, stream, or steal.

Pandora has done a lot for me over the past few years, and other than it being free, they pretty much do the same thing. In my experience, Pandora is worth paying for, so why shouldn't Jango be?

The bulk of the objections I'm hearing in this thread concern the morality of "payola" on traditional radio. To me, Jango is completely different, but in order to draw the distinction, allow me to ask:

1.If Pandora started charging an analysis fee, would that make it a scam?

2.If I make back 100% of my investment in Jango over time, does that exonerate the service?

3.If Jango ran a special offering 1,000 free plays, no strings attached, would participating pose a moral dilemma for you?

p.s. As for royalties, I expect to see some from Sound Exchange, but nothing to write home about. They currently owe me a whopping $41. Maybe I won't receive royalties for the paid plays, but certainly the unpaid ones qualify.