The São Paulo state government pays R$ 40/month to an NGO to manage a music playlist on the subway.
The scheme costs R$ 468 per year. The owner of the company benefiting from the scheme works for the French government and was placed there by Alckmin.
By Pedro Zambarda, editor of DigiClub.
Since July 6, 2018, the São Paulo state government under Márcio França has been paying R$ 39 per month to a company called Institute of Culture and Citizenship (iCult) Manage playlists within the São Paulo subway. This information was provided by Good morning SP From Globo on July 11th.
According to the website TecMundoiCult is using the existing sound system of the São Paulo Metro to broadcast national and international music, including classical, jazz, bossa nova, MPB (Brazilian Popular Music), and samba genres. The playlist has more than 200 songs. According to the São Paulo government, "Metrô+Música is a project to provide sound for the 55 stations of Lines 1-Blue, 2-Green, and 3-Red and their respective trains (142). To operate the system, the Metro used existing loudspeaker infrastructure and therefore only pays for maintenance and the collection of copyright fees for the music, which is done by ICULT (Institute of Culture and Citizenship). These payments are R$ 39/month; copyright fees are due for approximately 30% of the songs on the playlist, and the rest are free to play." The technology website called the two numbers provided by the Institute of Culture and Citizenship to check the cost spreadsheet: the first redirects to a residential building and the second is unavailable. We contacted them by email, but received no response by the time this article was published.
The site Rede Brasil Atual (RBA) It is reported that the superintendent of ICult, Julio Antonio Arelaro, was appointed as a member of the Evaluation Committee for the Execution of Management Contracts of Social Organizations in the Area of Culture in October 2017, according to the Official Gazette, by the then secretary José Luiz Penna. His status as a council member was reaffirmed in April of this year. In other words, the owner of the NGO, who receives almost R$ 40 per month, is an employee of the Márcio França government itself, works transparently – and was placed there during the Geraldo Alckmin administration.
Recently, Spotify raised its monthly subscription fee from R$14,90 to R$16,90. The Swedish service offers access to 35 million songs, has 75 million subscribers, and pays royalties to numerous artists worldwide. Deezer, its direct competitor, is also available for R$14,90. Google Music has the same monthly cost, and GVT Music is available for R$9,90.
Why does the state government spend R$ 39/month for an unknown company to play background music in the subway, a place that already has enough noise pollution for people to use headphones most of the time? No one knows.
What we know is that this little game costs R$ 468 per year. Paid in taxes by me and by you, the reader.