Thursday, December 26, 2024

'Playback-Disgruntlement'?

 If you are a regular viewer of ARD or ZDF (the two public TV channels in Germany).....you will admit that around 10-percent of the nightly offerings....are pop music shows....some live and some taped.

Then if asked....are some of the shows featuring older singers (say from the 1970s/1980s/1990s)....who aren't really singing (it's a playback situation where a CD is playing the actual music).  And in most cases....you can tell....making you a bit disgruntled that it's a fake show.

There's one particular show on ZDF....which is probably about 99-percent playback.

This starting to turn into a scandal-like situation?  Well....once you realize it's a fake act....you start to wonder how much the network paid for them to show up and do a 'playback'?

Just a recent thing?  No.....it's probably been brewing for 50 years.  It's just that people have large-screen TVs and better sound on modern TVs.

2 comments:

Daz said...

Generally you don't get paid a performance fee as part of appearing on a 'playback' music video style show. It's all part of the press grind and touring to promote your image and songs to the public.

So I wouldn't worry too much about any of the tax money going to entertainers. It's generally a vehicle to sell albums and concert tickets.

Schnitzel_Republic said...

There are certain shows where the moderation is 'hard-ass' about NO playback (Giovanni Zarrella on ZDF is one of those). That Sunday morning show from Mainz (ZDF) is probably 100-percent playback. Personally, I don't care....but if they are faking you in a lousy way, and it's been 30 years since they had a 'hit'....I'm not likely to watch.

On profits....usually, they sell enough tickets to cover half the cost of a produced show.