Payola is a big no-no in the music business, and yet it is a persistent problem. Payola is the word used to describe the act of a record label or other interested party paying a radio station to play a certain artist (either in cash or in goods). The practice has obvious implications: when money changes hands in exchange for radio play, certain artists get more exposure than others. Exposure is key to making it big in the music business, and in an ideal world, the public's response to artists and songs should drive who receives the bulk of the media exposure. When payola enters the picture, the record label is deciding which artists will fail and which will succeed. In other words, the playing field is no longer level.
A payola scandal turned the world of rock radio on its head in 1959, taking down one of the eras most beloved DJs, Alan Freed, and almost costing Dick Clark his career. Since then, the music industry has made an effort to crack down on payola, but the practice persists.
Latest Developments
The issue of payola reared its head again, when, in 2005, Sony BMG, one of the world's largest record labels, was forced to pay out $10 million in fines after the state of New York found the company guilty of engaging in payola. The cases says several labels within the Sony company rewarded DJs with cash and goods for playing Sony artists, with the majority of the charges involving plays of the latest Jessica Simpson album. The label went to gerat lengths to hide their practice - in some cases, they ran fake promotional competitions and gave all the prizes to DJs. This scandal is one of the largest payola scandals in recent years.
In 2006, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), who oversees radio in the US, announced it was launching an investigation into payola practices of hundreds of US radio stations.
Background
Payola, which is sometimes also referred to as "pay for play", is as old as commercial radio, but it really took off in earnest with the advent of rock music and profitable rock music radio. The act itself is not illegal in the US, as long as the radio station excepting money for the song discloses that fact to listeners. Several songs have been recorded that parody payola practices, including:
- Hey Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had A Deal - by They Might Be Giants
- Pull My Strings - by The Dead Kennedys
The topic of "pay to play" live performances often enters the discussion when talking about payola. Pay to performances are when a band pays a promoter for a chance to play a show. The practice is not illegal, but is highly criticized and definitely inadvisable for bands.
