Payola
From Freepedia
In the music industry, the practice of record companies paying money for the broadcast of records on music radio is called payola, but only if the song is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast.
Under United States law, a radio station has always had the ability to play a specific song in exchange for money; however, this must be disclosed on the air as being sponsored airtime, and that play of the song should not be reported as a "spin". Some radio stations report spins of the newest and most popular songs to industry publications, which are then published. The number of times the songs are played can influence other stations around the country to play or pass on a particular song. On influential stations (and particularly on television) payola can become so commonplace that it becomes difficult for artists to get their records/videos played without offering some sort of payment. The term gets its name as a take-off of the names of some early record-playing machines, such as Victrola.
Alan Freed—a disc jockey and early supporter of rock and roll—saw his career and reputation greatly harmed by a payola scandal. Another early disc jockey who was nearly derailed by the payola scandal was Dick Clark, but he avoided trouble by selling his stake in a record company and cooperating with authorities.
The practice was criticized in the chorus of the Dead Kennedys song "Pull My Strings," a parody of the song "My Sharona" sung to a crowd and music industry leaders during a music award.
Currently a different form of payola is used by the record industry through the loophole of being able to pay a third party or independent record promoters ("indies"; not to be confused with independent record labels), who will then go and "promote" those songs to radio stations. Offering the radio stations "promotion payments", the indies get the songs that their clients, record companies, want on the playlists of radio stations around the country.
Because of this, a very large majority of DJs are cut out of the song-picking decisions and are instead told what to play and when (for the most part) by music directors and/or "higher ups" at their radio stations.
This new type of payola sidesteps current FCC regulations requiring that, if a song is paid for by the record company, the radio station must state that it was paid for. Using indies allows for the record company to not directly pay the radio station, thus the radio station doesn't have to report it as the FCC regulations mandate.
External links
- Slashdot article on payola
- "Joint statement on current issues in radio" on May 2004 by radio industry associations.
References
- Peneny, D. K. (January 31, 2005). "Payola." The History of Rock n' Roll.
- Cartwright, Robin (August 31, 2004). "What's the story on the radio payola scandal of the 1950s?." The Straight Dope.
- McCarthy, Jamie (June 5, 2001). "Payola: Another Brick in the Wall." Slashdot Features.
- Boehlert, Eric (March 14, 2001). "Pay for play." Salon.
- Dannen, Fredric (1991). Hit Men: Power Brokers & Fast Money Inside the Music Business. New York: Random House. ISBN 0679730613.
