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And at the same time, publishing music has never been easier. There is so much good stuff out there but you aren't going to find it if your process for finding new music is letting the same guys that made top 40 with payola jam their same lowest common denominator shit down your through with algorithmically generated playlists.

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Interesting thing I found the other day:

> In 2006 Slichter said that payola was how his band Semisonic turned their song "Closing Time" into a hit. Slichter stated: "It cost something close to $700,000 to $800,000 to get 'Closing Time' on the air."[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Slichter

Damn near a mil to push that song up the charts, in the 1990s, and it wasn't even a crap song. I think of that track as iconic of the late-90s, I was surprised they had to run payola at all.

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