UZA Payze

Rip It Up, Issue 219, 1 November 1995, Page 8

UZA Payze

Okay, there are a million and one pointed questions out there. Let’s throw some at the wall and watch the shit stick.

How the hell did that half-assed soul fakester, Matty J, get $5,000 of my tax bucks outta NZ On Air for a freaking Smokey Robinson cover, and why should I help subsidise his trip to Miami, USA, to film the video? Can anyone at NZ On Air explain this ridiculous travesty? What is so ‘New Zealand’ about this song that it had to be shot overseas? Doesn’t this clearly contradict NZ On Air’s funding policy and guidelines? Is this NZ On Air and the broadcasters’ definition of ‘commercial New Zealand music’? Christ, I hate the status quo. So, word up, Fatty J: enjoy your Miami ‘holiday’ (such hard work, the music biz). Love your work. Next up before the firing squad: unfunky record mogul Kane Massey, in the September RipitUp, decries having to give up $2,500 of his NZ On Airfunded videos to local music video makers for editing and post production. Being a forward thinking, do-it-yourself kiwi, he sets up his own digital editing facility, meaning: ‘We’re pulling down our outgoing overheads and costs, and increasing our turnover.’ Does this mean every time NZ On Air gives his company $5,000 of my tax bucks that he turns a profit on the clips? What does NZ On Air have to say about this business practice? The Ultra Zealous Assassins (aka UZA Payze).

NZ On Air’s Brendan Smyth replies: Covers are okay. As far as we are concerned, ‘New Zealand music’ is music made by New Zealanders. Matty J Ruys is a New Zealand artist. We don’t dictate the artist's choice of song. Nor do we dictate the site of the video shoot. If EMI wants to spend its contribution to the costs of the ‘Cruisin’’ clip on sending Matty J and Mark Tierney to Miami to make the video, that's okay by us. Every time a record company applies for music video funding, the application must be supported by a budget for the project. The budget forms part of the contract between NZ ON Air and the record company. Under the contract, we can audit projects. We are doing some spot audits of music video projects at the moment, using Coopers and Lybrand auditors.