From Adrian Goldberg’s The Stirrer: Robin Valk on local radio strategies for local music promotion.

A Birmingham-centric argument in favour of local radio promoting local music — from the perspective of a local music radio legend — but pretty much universally applicable. These days, Robin is the host and presenter of the Radio To Go podcast.

Music may be like water — but it’s not water. Applying a tariff for all users of digital devices misunderstands consumers, music, the industry — and water.

One of the debates I get dragged into quite regularly is the Music Like Water thing — the idea that if everyone pays a little bit of money as a kind of flat tax (or the way we pay utility bills) and then listen to whatever they want over the internet, the music business will be just fine and dandy.

I’m skeptical.

I was interviewed via email for Denmark’s largest music community: MyMusic.dk, and with their permission, I repost the entire interview here for your entertainment — and hopefully to spark a bit of debate in the comments.

My interviewer writes: The debate on the whole music-like-water has been very one-sided in Denmark and everyone seems to think it’s a good idea. Inspired by your blog post on the subject, I would like to ask you a few questions.

Fire away.

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Now Oasis and Jamiroquai want to give their music away too. But do they actually understand what’s going on?

It’s amazing how many massive acts are currently without record deals at the moment. Oasis and Jamiroquai are just the tip of the iceberg. But they’ve had a look at what Radiohead are doing, and they want a piece of that.

VI (Virtual Intern) Laurence pointed me towards an article in the Telegraph in which major recording stars have noticed that Radiohead are getting a lot of press and reaching the ranks of most popular music website on the Briternet.

Their solution? Give music away for free.

And, in a sense, they’re absolutely right — but I’m not convinced they’re sure why or how.

I mean, this feels like a bubble, doesn’t it? Sooner or later Elton John, Billy Joel or Def Leppard, Amy Winehouse, Norah Jones or Britney is going to come along with a shiny new album, get a bit of token coverage in the Daily Mail, LA Times and the Sun, get a modest 20,000 downloads and come away with not very much at all.

Something’s going to go ‘pop’ and it’s not that catchy single.

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Radiohead may be pushing the boat out on retail music, but Moby lays out the new territory when it comes to synch.

One of the best ways to make money from music, if you hadn’t figured it out yet, is to get your tunes attached to moving pictures — be they television commercials, movie sound tracks or a few seconds in the background in a cafe scene on East Enders or CSI.

But these days — perhaps even more than the increase in the amount of music that’s become available — there’s an absolute explosion of independent video, animation and film makers, in part thanks to the likes of YouTube, Atom Films and Spike/iFilm.

It makes a lot of sense to hook up with these independent film makers. After all, not all of them will be low- or no-budget forever. It’s also a great way to get a music clip made on the cheap, just quietly. But we’re not the only ones that have noticed that explosion in the visual media, and Moby has made an interesting offer on his website.

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