Government Quotas on German Music

[cegerer]

Socialism, run amuck:

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=52&story_id=15114&name=MP%27s%2Bwant%2Bquotas%2Bfor%2BGerman%2Bmusic %2Bon%2Bradio

[304065]

They will have to cut back on the David Hasselhoff spoken word programming!

Oh well, I suppose there's always Der Wolf (the Vanilla Ice of Germany.)

Interestingly, his song, "Sei Dein Eigener Held" runs afoul of German legislation that prohibits the use of the word "Held" (="Hero") in lyrics.

Broadcast is dead, anyway.

[hardflex]

Socialism run amuck? The article clearly says it was offered first up by conservatives, and is now being backed by the majority party.

My Dutch friend left me many hours of mp3's from Holland. I think it beats the heck out of most of our stations.

[ronin]

Canada's been doing similar things for quite some time. so what's the big deal?

[cegerer]

The big deal is the government dictating to the people that they WILL listen to 35% German music! You see nothing wrong with that? If, like the article infers, the German people don't want to listen to English-language music for fear of sublimal propaganda , the radio stations would have already stopped playing English music for fear of losing business. Why does the government need to get involved in this matter at all?

Of course, the answer is simple: there's no mandate from the Germans to change the music. The politicians are simply exploiting their anti-American agenda. Hmmmm, is there an election coming up in Germany anytime soon?

[hardflex]

hmmm, have you any idea how American radio is run these days. most of the airtime behind the scenes is sold to the major record labels, who use the time to push only their music. The Billboard charts don't reflect the fact that a song is heard because it was bought, therefore, you can "buy" a hit on the billboard charts. I suspect they may be doing, or trying to do, the same thing in over there. So, in effect, by this mandate they are not "closing down" the market, rather, opening it up from a closed system to a much more open one. I see nothing wrong with that....

read read all about it American Radio here.

[cegerer]

Yeah, but the US government isn't issuing quotas on foreign artists. Can you imagine if the US government decided today to ban British, Canadian and Australian music from the radiowaves? The US radio industry may be corrupt, but that's another issue.

[hardflex]

Is an English rock band on an American label English or American?

So our choice is between corrupt industry insiders or corrupt Govt. regulators picking the playlists. I'll take the govt, at least we can prosecute them if they are caught.

Besides which, Europe has Satellite radio, they have options in the marketplace. Let the market work.....

[Neilk]

I'd like to see what the FCC or Congress would do if all of a sudden French or Arab music started to dominate US airwaves. It's just protectionism of Germany' music industry and culture.

[cegerer]

"Let the market work....."

Huh??????? That's the point. They're not letting the market work. If the radio stations are making money playing English music, they're playing what the market wants. The German radio stations are against the quotas so they must believe the market doesn't want English music limited either. This is a classic case of social-engineering by the government ..... but trying to explain this to Liberals is useless.

[hardflex]

My point is, if it's a payola system like the US stations, it's not a free market at all, it's locked up. And if you're the one receiving the payola, you'd be against it too. You'd make all sorts of claims to bolster your position.

I've heard some of the crap we put out. I know it wouldn't get played without some payola over there.

But I have some European friends. I'll ask them.....

[Beethoven]

It's a ridiculous policy, and German commerical radio sucks, generally. If German music were any good that'd be another thing. But it sucks too, bigtime.
But they have terrific public broadcasting, with dedicated classical music and literature channels.
And they at least aren't as hypocritical as the Americans who claim to let the market work, but interfere massively with content, see Howard Stern and Janet Jackson. The rest of the world just howled in laughter last year that a nation that is supposed to lead the free world got their collective knickers in a twist of two inches of female breast.
Pa-bloody-thetic, if you ask me.

[Joeaksa]

French did this a while ago on language. They banned advertisments that had any English language in it and everyone was up in arms for a while.

The Germans can be difficult on things like this. They like to control everything and it can be rather over the top at times.

For instance, they have a "official" list of names you can use to name your child. If the name is not on the list its just not allowed. You can appeal any decision but its not easy and the name of the child has to also indicate the sex of the baby.

I could go on and on about all the crap you have to put up with over there. Ask someone who has lived there about getting paperwork stamped, and often at different offices where you have to wait in line for hours...

Its so much easier living in America...

Joe A

[azasadny]

Has anyone here ever listened to Hubert Von Goisern? Crazy Bavarian rock, like Led Zeppelin but with an accordion!!

[SteveStromberg]

Live in Califorina and there is Many stations playing Banda music. For you that dont know it a polka with a Mexican twist.
A lot of the song's glorify Drug Smugglers and the like.


When was the law changed to allow other than English to be broadcast?