In radio, payola is bad, m’kay? But music webcaster Jango has launched a new initiative called Jango Airplay which sounds pretty similar, in that indie bands pay to have their music programmed to certain users – $30 for 1,000 plays, $50 for 2,000 plays, and $100 for 5,000 plays. Wired’s Epicenter blog makes the payola comparison, but Jango defends itself by saying that Airplay helps it sift through the millions of new artists out there, and that in beta tests, spending $30 results in around 100 “positive actions” – users becoming fans of the artist, writing a comment or clicking the `like’ button. “If it weren’t for Airplay, there is no way these emerging artists and these new fans would have connected,” says CEO Dan Kaufman. “That’s not bad, it’s good!” Hmm.
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