Quotas Must Be Seen And Heard

green-party

Wed Mar 27 2002 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Quotas Must Be Seen And Heard

Wednesday, 27 March 2002, 9:09 am
Press Release: Green Party

Voluntary quotas for New Zealand music on commercial radio will only work if the public is told which stations are meeting their targets, Green Party Youth Affairs spokesperson Nandor Tanczos said today.

"Today's commitment from the Radio Broadcasters' Association to play an average of 20 percent New Zealand music by 2006 will be good if it works," said Nandor.

"But this is a voluntary agreement, and the Music Performance Committee set up as a watch-dog has no teeth.

"Unless the public is informed how much Kiwi music each station is playing, and whether they are meeting the target for their genre, there isn't much point having voluntary targets.

"Whether this happens will be up to the Music Performance committee. I really hope they will take their job seriously enough to make sure station by station figures will be released in each quarterly report."

Nandor, who went to many orientation gigs as part of his tour of universities this year, said he is continually blown away by the quality and range of New Zealand music.

"Unfortunately lots of people don't get the chance to see live Kiwi music, and they rely on commercial radio stations to keep them up to date.

"If all they hear is American crap, then that's all they're going to buy. Air play is essential for New Zealand bands to get known and make enough cash to survive.

Nandor said non-commercial stations like student radio and National radio were way ahead of the game in their commitment to Kiwi music, and they deserved massive props for that.

Ends

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