Payola
Encyclopedia
Payola, in the American music industry, is the illegal practice of payment
or other inducement by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music radio
, in which the song is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast. Under U.S. law, , a radio station
can play a specific song in exchange for money, but this must be disclosed on the air as being sponsored airtime, and that play of the song should not be counted as a "regular airplay
".
The term has come to refer to any secret payment made to cast a product in a favorable light (such as obtaining positive reviews).
Some radio stations report spins of the newest and most popular songs to industry publications. The number of times the songs are played can influence the perceived popularity of a song.
The term payola is a blend of the words “pay” and “Victrola”, a trade name of early home music reproduction devices from RCA Victor. Payola has come to mean the payment of a bribe in commerce and in law to say or do a certain thing against the rules of law, but more specifically a commercial bribe. The FCC defines "payola" as a violation of the sponsorship identification rule that recently resulted in tens of millions of dollars in fines to cable corporations in New York.
for 20 years refused to reveal the specific methods that were used to determine top hits. Attempts to create a code to stop payola were met with lukewarm appreciation by publishers.
Prosecution for payola in the 1950s was in part a reaction of the traditional music establishment against newcomers. Hit radio was a threat to the wages of song-plugger
s. Radio hits also threatened old revenue streams; for example, by the middle of the 1940s, three-quarters of the records produced in the USA went into jukebox
es.
Alan Freed
, a disc jockey
and early supporter of rock and roll (and also widely credited for actually coining the term), had his career and reputation greatly harmed by a payola scandal. Dick Clark
's early career was nearly derailed by a payola scandal, but he avoided trouble by selling his stake in a record company and cooperating with authorities. Attempts were made to link all payola with rock and roll music.
The amount of money involved is largely unpublished; however, one deejay, Phil Lind of WAIT in Chicago disclosed in Congressional hearings that he had taken $22,000 to play a record.
Partially out of payola concerns, a very large majority of DJs are cut out of the song-picking decisions and are instead told, in the form of a playlist
, what to play and when, by their superiors (who may include music directors, program directors, general managers, and even owners).
s), who will then go and "promote" those songs to radio stations. Offering the radio stations "promotion payments," the independents get the songs that their clients, record companies, want on the playlists of radio stations around the country.
This newer type of payola was an attempt to sidestep FCC regulations. Since the independent intermediaries were the ones actually paying the stations, it was thought that their inducements did not fall under the "payola" rules, so a radio station need not report them as paid promotions.
Former New York
State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer
prosecuted payola-related crimes in his jurisdiction. His office settled out of court with Sony BMG Music Entertainment
in July 2005, Warner Music Group
in November 2005 and Universal Music Group
in May 2006. The three conglomerates agreed to pay $10 million, $5 million, and $12 million respectively to New York State non-profit organizations that will fund music education and appreciation programs. EMI
remains under investigation. The largest independent firm headed by Rick Hendrix
of the Rick Hendrix Company was cleared of any wrong doings and became the only promoter reinstated with full rights.
Concern about contemporary forms of payola prompted an investigation during which the FCC
established firmly that the "loophole" was still a violation of the law. In 2007, four companies (CBS Radio
, Citadel, Clear Channel
, and Entercom) settled on paying $12.5 million in fines and accepting tougher restrictions than the legal requirements for three years, although no company admitted any wrongdoing. Because of the increased legal scrutiny, some larger radio companies (including industry giant Clear Channel
) now flatly refuse to have any contact with independent promoters.
involves payments by bands to promoters or club owners to play live at a live venue, club, or auditorium. Most often a band does this to get increased exposure to a large audience.
The promoter is usually looking to minimize the financial risk involved in putting on an unknown band by asking them to help ensure the cost of the event are covered somewhat by their own efforts, rather than leave it all to the promoter. This usually involves the band pre-selling tickets, publicising the event etc. In return they get a platform for their artistry. As a band builds a following the risks are diminished.
In rock and metal music, some clubs and bars ask some bands to pay to perform. Metal/rock
drummer Richie Rivera states that the best clubs to play "...are usually pay-to-play (or what the clubs call 'pre-selling tickets')". Rivera says that while his band has done "pay to play" to perform at venues, in the future, the band will "...only do it for a support slot for a national act."
Jazz trumpeter Marvin Stamm has described a similar "pay to play" issue in New York city jazz clubs. Stamm says that if a jazz "...artist or group is new or unknown, some clubs - even the larger clubs - will ask that the artist or group’s record company guarantee that the club will break even. If there is no record company to back the artist, then he will probably have to guarantee this himself." If there is a poor turnout at the club, the jazz band leader may have to pay hundreds of dollars to the club.
In the US, there are "pay-to-play" "Battle of the Bands" contests where bands pay to perform on stage. Billboard Magazine's Oct. 21, 2006 article "Pay to Get Played" described how a "third-party booking agency in New Jersey" called Audible Spectrum Records was "charging bands up to $350 per show, promising services and opportunities that were never delivered." "Battle of the Bands" are becoming increasingly common in both the U.S.A. and Europe, particularly the U.K. Typically, each band that enters the "battle" will pay a fee, returnable only if a minimum number of tickets is sold for the first round of the contest. Progress in the contest is dependent on "votes". A prize is usually given to the winner.
to Industry: The Business of Stereotypes and Degrading Images. In her testimony, Lisa Fager Bediako argued that misogynistic
and racist
stereotypes permeate hip hop music
because record labels, radio stations, and music video channels profit from allowing such material to air while censoring other material. In that context, Fager stated:
did a parody on the Payola Scandal, by calling it "Old Payola Roll Blues", a two sided single, where the promoter gets an ordinary teenager, named Clyde Ankle, to record a song, for Obscurity Records, entitled "High School OO OO", and then tries to offer the song to a Jazz radio station with phony deals that the Disc Jockey just won't buy it. It ends with an anti-rock song, saying hello to Jazz and Swing, and goodbye to amateur nights, including Rock and Roll.
In episode 6 of season 4 of the CBS
show Cold Case, the detectives investigate the murder of a DJ in 1958 who was suspected of accepting a payola.
The Vancouver, BC, new wave
band the Payola$ chose their moniker during the punk explosion of the late 1970s.
The practice was criticized in the chorus of the Dead Kennedys
song "Pull My Strings
", a parody of the song "My Sharona" ("My Payola") sung to a crowd of music industry leaders during a music award ceremony.
The They Might Be Giants
song "Hey, Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal" is another song about the practice. It is narrated from the point of view of a naive and inexperienced musician who has been coerced by a disc jockey
into paying for airplay the disc jockey then disappears and does not deliver on his promise.
The song "Payola Blues" by Neil Young
from his album Everybody's Rockin'
. It opens by saying "This one's for you Alan Freed" and then states "'Cause the things they're doing today would make a saint out of you," implying that Payola corruption is bigger now than it was in the '50s.
The practice was also referenced in Billy Joel
's song "We Didn't Start the Fire
," during the verse dealing with the events of 1960.
"Sell Out
" by the Reel Big Fish
can be seen as a satire of payola scandals.
In 2002's video game "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" the DJ for Flash FM, in a Freudian slip admits that the station used an inverted payola (the musicians paid the station off) scheme to have Love Fist's songs on the radio ahead of their concert.
The Basque country band Berri Txarrak
record a LP/CD called Payola.
The Dead Milkmen song "Methodist Coloring Book" contains the line "God is honest; he don't take payola."
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
or other inducement by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music radio
Music radio
Music radio is a radio format in which music is the main broadcast content. After television replaced old time radio's dramatic content, music formats became dominant in many countries...
, in which the song is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast. Under U.S. law, , a radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
can play a specific song in exchange for money, but this must be disclosed on the air as being sponsored airtime, and that play of the song should not be counted as a "regular airplay
Spin (radio)
In radio broadcasting, a spin is a single play of a song. The term is also used as a unit to measure popularity, typically in spins per week...
".
The term has come to refer to any secret payment made to cast a product in a favorable light (such as obtaining positive reviews).
Some radio stations report spins of the newest and most popular songs to industry publications. The number of times the songs are played can influence the perceived popularity of a song.
The term payola is a blend of the words “pay” and “Victrola”, a trade name of early home music reproduction devices from RCA Victor. Payola has come to mean the payment of a bribe in commerce and in law to say or do a certain thing against the rules of law, but more specifically a commercial bribe. The FCC defines "payola" as a violation of the sponsorship identification rule that recently resulted in tens of millions of dollars in fines to cable corporations in New York.
History
"Payola, in one form or another, is as old as the music business." In earlier eras there was not much public scrutiny of the reasons songs became hits. The ad agencies which labored for NBC radio & TV show Your Hit ParadeYour Hit Parade
Your Hit Parade, is an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1955 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco's Lucky Strike cigarettes. During this 24-year run, the show had 19 orchestra leaders and 52 singers or...
for 20 years refused to reveal the specific methods that were used to determine top hits. Attempts to create a code to stop payola were met with lukewarm appreciation by publishers.
Prosecution for payola in the 1950s was in part a reaction of the traditional music establishment against newcomers. Hit radio was a threat to the wages of song-plugger
Song-plugger
A song-plugger was a piano player employed by music stores in the early 20th century to promote and help sell new sheet music, which is how hits were advertised before quality recordings were widely available. Typically, the pianist sat on the mezzanine level of a store and played whatever music...
s. Radio hits also threatened old revenue streams; for example, by the middle of the 1940s, three-quarters of the records produced in the USA went into jukebox
Jukebox
A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media...
es.
Alan Freed
Alan Freed
Albert James "Alan" Freed , also known as Moondog, was an American disc-jockey. He became internationally known for promoting the mix of blues, country and rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll...
, a disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
and early supporter of rock and roll (and also widely credited for actually coining the term), had his career and reputation greatly harmed by a payola scandal. Dick Clark
Dick Clark (entertainer)
Richard Wagstaff "Dick" Clark is an American businessman; game-show host; and radio and television personality. He served as chairman and chief executive officer of Dick Clark Productions, which he has sold part of in recent years...
's early career was nearly derailed by a payola scandal, but he avoided trouble by selling his stake in a record company and cooperating with authorities. Attempts were made to link all payola with rock and roll music.
The amount of money involved is largely unpublished; however, one deejay, Phil Lind of WAIT in Chicago disclosed in Congressional hearings that he had taken $22,000 to play a record.
Partially out of payola concerns, a very large majority of DJs are cut out of the song-picking decisions and are instead told, in the form of a playlist
Playlist
In its most general form, a playlist is simply a list of songs. They can be played in sequential or shuffled order. The term has several specialized meanings in the realms of radio broadcasting and personal computers.-In radio:...
, what to play and when, by their superiors (who may include music directors, program directors, general managers, and even owners).
Third-party loophole
A different form of payola has been 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 labelIndependent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
s), who will then go and "promote" those songs to radio stations. Offering the radio stations "promotion payments," the independents get the songs that their clients, record companies, want on the playlists of radio stations around the country.
This newer type of payola was an attempt to sidestep FCC regulations. Since the independent intermediaries were the ones actually paying the stations, it was thought that their inducements did not fall under the "payola" rules, so a radio station need not report them as paid promotions.
Former New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...
prosecuted payola-related crimes in his jurisdiction. His office settled out of court with Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Sony BMG Music Entertainment was a recorded music company, which was a 50–50 joint venture between the Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann AG...
in July 2005, Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
in November 2005 and Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
in May 2006. The three conglomerates agreed to pay $10 million, $5 million, and $12 million respectively to New York State non-profit organizations that will fund music education and appreciation programs. EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
remains under investigation. The largest independent firm headed by Rick Hendrix
Rick Hendrix
Richard Binghames Hendrix Jr. , better known by the name Rick Hendrix, is an American entertainment promoter and songwriter of southern gospel, country music and pop music...
of the Rick Hendrix Company was cleared of any wrong doings and became the only promoter reinstated with full rights.
Concern about contemporary forms of payola prompted an investigation during which the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
established firmly that the "loophole" was still a violation of the law. In 2007, four companies (CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
, Citadel, Clear Channel
Clear channel
A clear-channel station is an AM band Radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. Usually known as class A stations since 1982, they are occasionally still referred to by their former...
, and Entercom) settled on paying $12.5 million in fines and accepting tougher restrictions than the legal requirements for three years, although no company admitted any wrongdoing. Because of the increased legal scrutiny, some larger radio companies (including industry giant Clear Channel
Clear channel
A clear-channel station is an AM band Radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. Usually known as class A stations since 1982, they are occasionally still referred to by their former...
) now flatly refuse to have any contact with independent promoters.
"Pay to play" for live music
While payola involves payments for the playing of recorded music, the related practice of "pay[ing] to play"Pay to Play
Pay to play, sometimes pay for play, is a phrase used for a variety of situations in which money is exchanged for services or the privilege to engage in certain activities...
involves payments by bands to promoters or club owners to play live at a live venue, club, or auditorium. Most often a band does this to get increased exposure to a large audience.
The promoter is usually looking to minimize the financial risk involved in putting on an unknown band by asking them to help ensure the cost of the event are covered somewhat by their own efforts, rather than leave it all to the promoter. This usually involves the band pre-selling tickets, publicising the event etc. In return they get a platform for their artistry. As a band builds a following the risks are diminished.
In rock and metal music, some clubs and bars ask some bands to pay to perform. Metal/rock
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
drummer Richie Rivera states that the best clubs to play "...are usually pay-to-play (or what the clubs call 'pre-selling tickets')". Rivera says that while his band has done "pay to play" to perform at venues, in the future, the band will "...only do it for a support slot for a national act."
Jazz trumpeter Marvin Stamm has described a similar "pay to play" issue in New York city jazz clubs. Stamm says that if a jazz "...artist or group is new or unknown, some clubs - even the larger clubs - will ask that the artist or group’s record company guarantee that the club will break even. If there is no record company to back the artist, then he will probably have to guarantee this himself." If there is a poor turnout at the club, the jazz band leader may have to pay hundreds of dollars to the club.
In the US, there are "pay-to-play" "Battle of the Bands" contests where bands pay to perform on stage. Billboard Magazine's Oct. 21, 2006 article "Pay to Get Played" described how a "third-party booking agency in New Jersey" called Audible Spectrum Records was "charging bands up to $350 per show, promising services and opportunities that were never delivered." "Battle of the Bands" are becoming increasingly common in both the U.S.A. and Europe, particularly the U.K. Typically, each band that enters the "battle" will pay a fee, returnable only if a minimum number of tickets is sold for the first round of the contest. Progress in the contest is dependent on "votes". A prize is usually given to the winner.
Criticism
On September 25, 2007, the U.S. Congress held a hearing on hip hop music entitled From ImusDon Imus
John Donald "Don" Imus, Jr. is an American radio host, humorist, philanthropist and writer. His nationally-syndicated talk show, Imus in the Morning, is broadcast throughout the United States by Citadel Media and relayed on television by the Fox Business Network.-Personal life:Imus was born in...
to Industry: The Business of Stereotypes and Degrading Images. In her testimony, Lisa Fager Bediako argued that misogynistic
Misogyny
Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls. Philogyny, meaning fondness, love or admiration towards women, is the antonym of misogyny. The term misandry is the term for men that is parallel to misogyny...
and racist
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
stereotypes permeate hip hop music
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
because record labels, radio stations, and music video channels profit from allowing such material to air while censoring other material. In that context, Fager stated:
Payola is no longer the local DJ receiving a couple dollars for airplay; it is now an organized corporate crime that supports the lack of balanced content and demeaning imagery with no consequences.
Satire of payola practices
In 1960, Stan FrebergStan Freberg
Stanley Victor "Stan" Freberg is an American author, recording artist, animation voice actor, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer, and advertising creative director whose career began in 1944...
did a parody on the Payola Scandal, by calling it "Old Payola Roll Blues", a two sided single, where the promoter gets an ordinary teenager, named Clyde Ankle, to record a song, for Obscurity Records, entitled "High School OO OO", and then tries to offer the song to a Jazz radio station with phony deals that the Disc Jockey just won't buy it. It ends with an anti-rock song, saying hello to Jazz and Swing, and goodbye to amateur nights, including Rock and Roll.
In episode 6 of season 4 of the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
show Cold Case, the detectives investigate the murder of a DJ in 1958 who was suspected of accepting a payola.
The Vancouver, BC, new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
band the Payola$ chose their moniker during the punk explosion of the late 1970s.
The practice was criticized in the chorus of the Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....
song "Pull My Strings
Pull My Strings
Pull My Strings is a song by the Dead Kennedys, written by lead singer Jello Biafra and drummer Ted specifically for the 1980 Bay Area Music Awards...
", a parody of the song "My Sharona" ("My Payola") sung to a crowd of music industry leaders during a music award ceremony.
The They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...
song "Hey, Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal" is another song about the practice. It is narrated from the point of view of a naive and inexperienced musician who has been coerced by a disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
into paying for airplay the disc jockey then disappears and does not deliver on his promise.
The song "Payola Blues" by Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
from his album Everybody's Rockin'
Everybody's Rockin'
Everybody's Rockin' is the thirteenth studio album by Canadian musician Neil Young, released in 1983. The album was recorded with the Shocking Pinks , and features a selection of rockabilly songs . Running 25 minutes, it is Young's shortest album...
. It opens by saying "This one's for you Alan Freed" and then states "'Cause the things they're doing today would make a saint out of you," implying that Payola corruption is bigger now than it was in the '50s.
The practice was also referenced in Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...
's song "We Didn't Start the Fire
We Didn't Start the Fire
"We Didn't Start the Fire" is a song by Billy Joel. Its lyrics are made up from rapid-fire brief allusions to over a hundred headline events between March 1949 and 1989, when the song was released on his album Storm Front...
," during the verse dealing with the events of 1960.
"Sell Out
Sell Out (song)
"Sell Out" is a song by California ska punk band Reel Big Fish, released as the first track on their 1996 album Turn The Radio Off. The song has proven to be one of Reel Big Fish's more popular releases. It has been interpreted as chronicling the payola scandals of early FM radio. However, it can...
" by the Reel Big Fish
Reel Big Fish
Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Huntington Beach, California, best known for the 1997 hit "Sell Out". The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s, during the third wave of ska with the release of the gold certified album Turn the Radio Off. Soon after, the band...
can be seen as a satire of payola scandals.
In 2002's video game "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" the DJ for Flash FM, in a Freudian slip admits that the station used an inverted payola (the musicians paid the station off) scheme to have Love Fist's songs on the radio ahead of their concert.
The Basque country band Berri Txarrak
Berri Txarrak
Berri Txarrak is a Basque rock power trio whose songs are sung in Basque. It was founded in 1994 in Lekunberri, Navarre, Spain.-History:...
record a LP/CD called Payola.
The Dead Milkmen song "Methodist Coloring Book" contains the line "God is honest; he don't take payola."
External links
- "Joint statement on current issues in radio" on May 2002 by recording artist groups.