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This tendency to show suggestions more prominently than other, more useful, UI is most likely because this enables Netflix, Amazon, et al. to make more money, i
by gpvos 11y ago
This tendency to show suggestions more prominently than other, more useful, UI is most likely because this enables Netflix, Amazon, et al. to make more money, i.e., payola.
- thaumasiotes 11y agoIt's not payola if you're paying yourself for placement. That's just a placement decision. On a tangential note, I've never understood why payola was supposed to be a bad thing.
- spacecowboy_lon 11y agoUm because its corruption and in the USA's case Organized crime was involved
- thaumasiotes 11y agoThe same argument proves that labor unions should be illegal too. Grocery stores accept money from food producers for placement within the store. As far as I can see, this is precisely equivalent to payola. Nobody thinks there's a problem there.
- Ensorceled 11y agoActually, lots of people do think that's a problem. Especially since the food producers playing for placement are usually placing unhealthy things.
- spacecowboy_lon 11y agoAnd bullying their suppliers this is well known problem.
- cortesoft 11y agoBecause the airwaves are public and regulated by the FCC.
- thaumasiotes 11y agoI don't follow you. So what? If the airwaves weren't regulated by the FCC, why would payola suddenly stop being a bad thing?
- cortesoft 11y agoPaying someone to promote your work isn't bad on its own. People do it all the time, and no laws are broken. The reason it is bad over public airwaves is because the airwaves are communal property. The spectrum is licensed by the FCC so that all of society can benefit from the limited resource. The FCC therefore sets fair usage rules for the use of those airwaves, and one of the rules is that you can't pay to get airplay.
- thaumasiotes 11y agoYou can pay to get airplay. That's the entire business model of radio stations. We call it "commercials". Assuming you're not in the business of producing music, you can even pay to have your stuff included in public broadcasts as part of the main programming rather than the commercials. This is called "product placement". (If your stuff was music, it would be "payola".) You have yet to advance any argument that payola is a bad thing; you've limited yourself to "it's against the rules".
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- TheOtherHobbes 11y agoBought and paid for "rankings" are noise, not useful information. Payola is a feedback loop that rewards cash, not free consumer choice, and is more or less guaranteed to enable consumer-hostile monopolies. At the very best you'll get a race to the bottom like the one that happened in online advertising.
- thaumasiotes 11y agoSo use the rankings that you approve of. Music rankings aren't, and cannot be, subject to American law, and they exist in infinite variety. However, I'm most curious about the consumer-hostility that you envision resulting from payola. What is the harm that consumers will suffer?