In a recent interview, Public Enemy founder Chuck D hearkened back to music’s early days, indicating that record stores today should look into working with radio stations to remain relevant.
“It’s not a futuristic idea,” Chuck D told Billboard, adding that broadcasting fees should be waived for record stores promoting music. “It’s right there in the ’40s and ’50s.”
This year’s Record Store Day Ambassador earlier cited Dolphin’s, a store open 24 hours a day, that in the ’50s would broadcast KRKD from its storefront in Central L.A. As Chuck told Billboard, the store and its parking lot became a gathering place, a non-stop party for music listeners of all races.
Before he ended his sit-down, the Hip-Hop pioneer (or, as deemed by some, the oracle), noted that radio stations ought to “set themselves up to be interview spots and performance spaces” in order to have a successful future. “Being able to be a venue to be a radio station, to be a home for a local artist who’s getting no love from anywhere.”
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Photo: WENN
