On a recent episode of the outstanding new podcast, Who Cares about the Rock Hall?, former Nominating Committee member Roy Trakin opened up about what actually happens in the meetings that decide the ballot. Trakin was on the Nominating Committee for 13 years, last serving in 2015. Some highlights from the episode:

• Although the criteria for nomination is vague, Trakin personally valued influence, originality and success
• Trakin believes there should be a Veteran’s Committee
• The Rock Hall holds the annual nomination meeting in New York, so members who don’t live there have to pay for their travel (the Rock Hall doesn’t allow participation via conference call). Trakin revealed that the manager for Hall & Oates paid for his travel expenses from L.A. knowing that Trakin would advocate for them at the meeting. (More on this below.)
• Trakin said The Replacements have a lot of enemies in the music industry, which may hurt their chances of getting nominated again
• Although he’s not on the Nominating Committee, Irving Azoff is a powerful force in the process and he may have helped his client Bon Jovi get in this year
• Trakin suggested that the Doobie Brothers may also benefit from having signed with Azoff Music, and could appear on the ballot soon
• Trakin personally nominated and advocated Blondie and Hall & Oates, but also supported the New York Dolls
• Trakin felt Atlantic Records artists had an advantage especially when Ahmet Ertegun was alive
• Although he never nominated them, Trakin discussed the lasting influence of Suicide and feels they deserve to be inducted
• Some members of the Nominating Committee use visual aids like PowerPoint in their presentations for particular artists
• It is Trakin’s opinion that Radiohead didn’t get inducted this year due to their unwillingness to attend the ceremony
• Trakin argues for more transparency in the process and that the fan poll should be worth more than a single vote (he mentioned 10%)
• Trakin said that Jann Wenner is the biggest culprit of holding personal grudges against artists

By far, the most surprising revelation of the interview was Trakin’s willingness to admit that the manager of Hall & Oates paid for his way to New York so he could advocate for the duo in the Nominating Committee meeting. Trakin’s advocacy certainly seems genuine, but this type of pay-to-play transaction only gives Rock Hall critics who say the system is hopelessly corrupt even more ammunition. If Trakin is allowed (or at least not prohibited) to accept a free trip to New York in exchange for a nomination, what other types of payments are happening behind the scenes?

The Nominating Committee is filled with agents, managers, record executives, and artists, who all stand to profit from a Rock Hall nomination for those they represent, so in a system like that why wouldn’t a writer like Trakin find a way to benefit too? The Rock Hall leaders have never addressed these obvious conflicts of interest, and until they do, anyone associated with the Nominating Committee deserves to have their motives questioned with every ballot and induction.

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