Music in Broadcasting

Holger Schramm MUSIC IN BROADCASTING In German Music Council / German Music Information Centre, ed., Musical Life in Germany (Bonn, 2019), pp. 536–565 Published in print: December 2019 © German Music Information Centre http://www.miz.org/musical-life-in-germany.html https://themen.miz.org/musical-life-in-germany Kapitel | MUSIC IN BROADCASTING 21 Music has always loomed large in broadcasting. Here Holger Schramm describes its importance to radio and television to- day and what options these media offer for its consumption. A live broadcast of a King’s Singers concert at the 2018 Schwetzingen Festival, transmitted by the South-western Broadcasting Corporation 536 537 Music in Broadcasting | West German Radio in Cologne recording | Holger Schramm a concert performance (left) and a studio session (right) MUSIC IN BROADCASTING For broadcasters, and especially for radio broadcasters, music is a paramount element in their programming. Rightly so, for music is greatly in demand by the population. Of the 16 hours that we spend awake each day, we hear on average more than five hours of music transmitted by the media, most of it via radio and television.1 In short, broadcast music plays a central role in the daily lives of most Germans. Over the last ten years, however, broadcasters have received stiff com- petition from the musical offerings of the internet. ‘30 million songs. Streaming services such as Spotify or Apple Music offer unlimited access to the songs of hu- manity. Now anyone can hear anything at any time’, proclaimed Germany’s news magazine Der Spiegel in an article headline in early 2016. Since then Amazon has super vision of broadcasting. In consequence, it is statewide broadcasting laws even made it possible to access 50 million songs under the revealing title ‘Amazon that provide the constitutional framework for the state’s own public broadcasting Music Unlimited’. At least since the founding of streaming services, including the corporations (Landesrundfunkanstalten). State media legislation does the same for video portal YouTube, the amount of music accessible online has reached a dimen- private broadcasters, regulating their authorisation and supervision by the states’ sion beyond the scope of descriptive statistics. Moreover, broadcasters themselves own regulatory authorities. Interstate regulations and laws are set down in so- are increasingly presenting music online, making it accessible anywhere at any called ‘state treaties’ (Staatsverträge), which must then be signed by the minister- time on many different platforms. As a result, it is sometimes very difficult to sepa- presidents of the states concerned and ratified by the states’ parliaments. In 1987, rate broadcast offerings in the strict sense from telemedia in the broader sense. following a series of landmark decisions by the Federal Constitutional Court, the This essay will therefore describe the structure and development of musical con- dual broadcasting system was finalised by the federal states in the ‘State Treaty for tent unambiguously assignable to broadcasting and transmitted in the classical the Reorganisation of Broadcasting’ (Staatsvertrag zur Neuordnung des Rundfunk- sense, whether by analog or digital means. wesens). It regulates all the details of Germany’s broadcasting landscape and broadcasting operations, including not only the rules of programming and advertising LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND TASKS OF BROADCASTING but especially the division of tasks between public and private broadcasting. 2 It has done so as a pan-German state treaty since 1991 and in the form of the Twen- The major legal source for broadcasting in Germany is, first and foremost, its tieth Amended State Broadcasting Treaty since late 2016. Basic Law (Grundgesetz). Alongside freedom of the press, information and opinion, the Basic Law explicitly guarantees freedom of broadcasting as a basic right Public broadcasters must thus provide basic coverage in terms of a cultural and to which broadcasters, whether public or private, can appeal. The Basic Law as- educational mandate – i.e. wide-ranging, comprehensive and, where possible, signs culture, and thus broadcasting, to Germany’s federal states (Bundesländer). balanced offerings in the fields of information, education, culture and entertain- The states are thus primarily responsible for the legislation, administration and ment – while paying heed to regional needs. Conversely, to enable them to carry 538 539 Music in Broadcasting | out this mandate with sufficient equipment, organisation and staff, their finances This is ensured through monitoring by external commissions or by the state media are secured by a compulsory license contribution from every household (Rund- agencies (which are likewise financed via license contributions) so as to offset their funkbeitrag), known until 2012 as a license fee (Rundfunkgebühr). This gives public power to influence opinion. Public broadcasting is organised along demo cratic lines broadcasters a guaranteed inventory and developmental potential, ensuring that through broadcasting commissions (Rundfunkräte) with representa tives from rele- they can keep pace with and accommodate evolutionary changes in technology, vant areas of society, including musical life. This involves the state music councils in society and culture. To a very limited extent, public broadcasters are also allowed particular, but also composer organisations (with the Bavarian Broadcasting Corpo- to finance themselves with proceeds from advertising. These proceeds are some- ration) or the State Academy of Cultural Education (Saarland Broadcasting Cor- times viewed with suspicion, especially by private broadcaster associations, given poration). Public broadcasting is thus subject to social control. Private broadcasters, that income from license contributions amounts to more than €8 billion annually, in contrast, are chiefly sustained by specific business, media or political groups as with ARD receiving approximately €6 billion, the ZDF €2 billion and Deutschland- shareholders. Since they are wholly financed through advertising proceeds, their radio €250 million. It seems legitimate, however, to view advertising information entire programme can be geared to the market, to viewer and listener ratings and as part of a comprehensive information coverage involving products, services, and lucrative target groups. Germany’s private television broadcasters receive some sometimes political parties in run-ups to elections. €4 billion annually through adver tising, with pri vate radio broadcasters receiving The Witten Days of New Chamber Music: most of the roughly 600 works premièred at the festival since 1969 were commissioned by the Western Broadcasting Corporation. Private broadcasters need only fulfil a so-called basic standard (Grundstandard), i.e. their programming does not follow a cultural and educational mandate and roughly half a billion. Never theless, despite their market orientation and lack of an need not satisfy criteria of diversity and balance. Nonetheless, they must adhere educational mandate, private broadcasters are likewise enjoined by the State Treaty to certain rules, e.g. regarding child protection, personality rights and other con- to con tribute to Germany’s cultural diversity in their programmes. This can and stitutional principles, including the inviolability of the dignity of the individual. ought to be a key criterion in the granting of licenses by the state media agencies. 540 541 Music in Broadcasting | ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE AND CHANNELS tri-national cultural channel 3sat (in cooperation with ZDF, the Austrian Broad- casting Corporation and the Swiss TV broadcaster SRG SSR) and the Franco- German Public and private broadcasters alike offer a wide range of channels, various cultural channel ARTE (with ZDF and France Télévisions). The Second German Tele- degrees of which are taken up by music. vision Channel (ZDF) also operates the dig ital chan- Germany’s public broadcasting corporations are de- Public broadcasting nels ZDFinfo and ZDFneo. scribed on the German Music Information Centre’s The channel ZDFkultur, spe- website, along with their music-related depart- Germany’s nine state-run public broadcasters – WDR (North Rhine-Westphalia), BR cialising in music, cinema ments and producers and the representatives for (Bavaria), hr (Hesse), SR (Saarland), radiobremen and the multi-state broadcasters and the performing arts, had music and culture on their governing boards. NDR (Northern Germany), MDR (Central Germany), SWR (South-western Ger many) a strong inclination toward and rbb (Berlin-Brandenburg) – operate altogether seven regional television chan- nostalgia, airing reruns of such popular music shows as ‘Melodies for Mil lions’, nels known as Germany’s Third Television Channels. As the Association of Public ‘Musik liegt in der Luft’ (Music Is in the Air), ‘Show Palast’ and ‘ZDF Hit Parade’. It Broadcasting Corporations in the Federal Republic of Germany (ARD) they jointly was discontinued in 2016. present the nationwide television channel known as ‘Das Erste’ (The First) as well as the digital educational and cultural channel ARD alpha. The ARD is also respon- Depending on the size and the cultural heterogeneity of its transmission area, each sible for the children’s channel KiKA (‘Kinderkanal’, in cooperation with ZDF), the state broadcaster also offers from four to eight analog radio stations with contrast- ing contents and listener segments, thereby helping to fulfil its programming mandate as a whole. All

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