Music Industry Seeks Payola Inquiry

An Anonymous Coward writes "The big media story of the day seems to be that the RIAA, artists, and others in the industry are complaining that there are monopolies (such as Clear Channel) forming in the radio broadcast industry. The group is stating that the practice of "independent promotion" is really a new form of payola and that it is hitting the artists' bottom line directly." Another submitter writes in with another story on the subject and the industry's Joint Statement on Current Issues in Radio.

Comments

The more things change...

[cybrpnk2]

A brief history of the original 1950s payola scandal is here. Another interesting payola scandal that I don't think ever went anywhere is that Salon ran an article accusing the US government of payola for having Hollywood run anti-drug plots...

Clear Channel Station List

[cheesyfru]

Not to side with the RIAA (shudder), but Clear Channel is a pretty ugly company. You probably listen to them now and don't even know it. There's a station list available at http://www.cjr.org/owners/clearchannel.asp

Salon summaries on Payola

[abischof]

For reasons I'm unsure of, Salon really seems to really be on top of the poison that is payola:

• Pay for play "Why does radio suck? Because most stations play only the songs the record companies pay them to. And things are going to get worse"
• Fighting pay-for-play "Sources in the music industry call for a federal clampdown on the new payola"
• The "Bootylicious" gambit "Can a hot new single from Destiny's Child help Columbia Records crack the indie promoters' control of pop radio?"
• Payola City "In the wild world of urban radio, money buys hits -- and nobody asks questions. "

Man, that reminds me -- I really ought to subscribe to Salon :-/.

PS Since ClearChannel has a large stake in XM Radio, I completely expect XM Radio to support payola >:-[. But, does anyone know if SiriusRadio also support payola? I'm thinking of subscribing, but I wouldn't want to do so if they're corrupt as well.

Re:Well, of course...

[Sherloch Hemloch]

The sad thing is that the radio stations don't even ASK the public about what they like! I used to work for a small radio station and there was this interesting conversation I had to have with major labels every week, it went kinda like this:
Major Label(ML): I've noticed our band is not in your (billboard)top ten.
Program Manager(PM): yup, people haven't requested it (because it sucks).
ML: what would it take to get the band into the top ten?
PM: (now here is where I fill in my 'wish' card) I would need to do some promotions, how about a stack of CDs T-shirts and a signed item or backstage passes.
*A bit of dickering, later*
ML: OK well send that stuff out to you and we HOPE that this'll get us into the top ten.

This conversation would then occur again to try and get their bands closer to number one - that's when the anty gets upped. You can then ask for interviews, and probably other interesting stuff - and get it. Don't think that all of this stuff is handed directly to the listeners...most are divied up by the radio station owners and the sloppy seconds are relagated to promotions.

I quiver to think of what the offerings are to larger (real) radio stations! It's sad when thinking that labels who put out some really good product *cough* Thrilljockey, Touch and Go *cough* can't compete.

So, the moral of the story is that sometimes 'payola' is not money, but 'promotional goods'.
*Now that I've divulged this sensitive information , this may be the last time you hear from me before my door gets busted down.

Re:Devil's Advocate

[EllisDees]

The reason that radio stations were regulated is because the airwaves are a public asset. When they accept pay for play, they are essentially becoming a giant commercial for the record companies.