Quantcast

Payola?

Glammie

General Manager
Joined
May 1, 2015
Messages
3,126
Reaction score
Reactions
13,833 652 243
14,649
Alleybux
86,407
I keep seeing fonts mentioning that some songs are being played on the radio because of payola and some are being played with no payola, etc. How do y'all know which artists are benefitting from payola?
 

rollerboogie

Team Owner
Joined
Jun 1, 2015
Messages
19,929
Reaction score
Reactions
119,521 14,140 887
118,978
Alleybux
22,000
Major League money involved. You can tell it if the song is in heavy rotation and it's extra wack. :rose-dead: #shambleshame
 

TWEET TOMLIN

HAUPTÜBUNGSLEITERIN
Joined
Dec 6, 2009
Messages
59,044
Solutions
1
Reaction score
Reactions
1,077,322 42,715 6,195
1,172,639
Alleybux
297,501
I keep seeing fonts mentioning that some songs are being played on the radio because of payola and some are being played with no payola, etc. How do y'all know which artists are benefitting from payola?

Sometimes it's known when an artist cuts a deal with radio, other times it's common sense: If a song hits radio and gets a gazillion plays out of nowhere, no build-up, nothing, it's highly likely money was paid to make that happen.
 

Isisleo86

FKA williams86
Joined
May 4, 2012
Messages
35,708
Reaction score
Reactions
511,261 8,969 1,173
570,152
Alleybux
133,066
All these white songs on hip hop and r&b stations, like Adele's Hello, Katy perry's Dark horse, etc.

Dare I say Alicia Keys' Girl on fire, I haven't met anyone who liked that song, everyone said it was terrible, but the song was played over 30 mins on my local station a few years ago.
 

KB.

Team Owner
Joined
Jun 6, 2014
Messages
8,816
Reaction score
Reactions
63,322 1,460 422
70,882
Alleybux
446,843
Sometimes it's known when an artist cuts a deal with radio, other times it's common sense: If a song hits radio and gets a gazillion plays out of nowhere, no build-up, nothing, it's highly likely money was paid to make that happen.

Yeah, but clear channel radio deals are legal and almost every mainstream artists have probably utilized them at some point. They usually last 24 hrs to a week. Payola is underhanded and extends the longevity of a song over time. That is, label CEOs usually pay stations overtime to keep songs in rotation. Clear Channel deals are usually just a matter of trying to get new material out there and they either stick or don't. If they don't they'll quickly tumble AI after the radio deal is over. If the GP catches on, they stay in rotation afterwards.

I don't necessarily agree with either, but there is a difference. No one truly knows about traditional Payola unless someone gets caught with their hands dirty ala Sony BMG back in 2005. Back then, it was way more scandalous considering the fact that BB relied mostly on airplay. Today, because a song has to at least perform average-above avg in at least 2 formats to be deemed a hit, Clear Channel deals aren't necessarily as effective. That's why I don't get why people say it's so easy to get a hit nowadays. Just because a song is being streamed doesn't necessarily mean it's being purchased or played on the radio or vice versa. Case in point, JT's song is the latest scenario of "payola", but it also went on to sell 400,000 units in the first week. It had decent streaming. That song would not have went #1 based on the alleged payola alone because other songs are performing better than it in that regard considering that BB measures overall AI and not just AI for the week.
 

xxMYSTiCxx

Mindstate Is Flowing
Joined
Mar 11, 2009
Messages
25,926
Reaction score
Reactions
66,018 403 558
67,198
Alleybux
197,762
Just how Justin Timberfuck went straight to number 1 that quick in like 2 days on the hot 100 :dead: the payola worked and now it got knocked down 2 spots :dead: trash.
 

PYT88

I feel God in this Chili’s tonight.
Joined
Dec 21, 2013
Messages
1,278
Reaction score
Reactions
6,334 279 31
6,353
Alleybux
3,109
I keep seeing fonts mentioning that some songs are being played on the radio because of payola and some are being played with no payola, etc. How do y'all know which artists are benefitting from payola?
-----



nav

[h=2]Entertainment[/h][h=1]Payola Probe Settled For $12 Million[/h]
  • BOOTIE COSGROVE-MATHER
  • AP
May 11, 2006 5:22 PM EDT


info
image620814x.jpg
APUniversal Music Group Recordings Inc., the world's largest record company, has agreed to pay $12 million to settle a payola case that claimed the company provided vacations, electronics and other bribes to increase radio play for their artists, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said Thursday.

The bribes and gifts were used to gain airplay for songs that included records by Nick Lachey, Ashlee Simpson, Brian McKnight, Big Tymers, and Lindsay Lohan, Spitzer said.

The California-based company agreed to pay the cash to charity along with $100,000 to cover the cost of the investigation and to adopt reforms, Spitzer said. The company didn't admit guilt, but acknowledged "various employees and independent promoters acting on behalf of the company" engaged in the illegal practice, Spitzer said.

"UMG has illegally provided radio stations with financial benefits to obtain airplay and boost the chart position of its songs," Spitzer said in papers filed in state Supreme Court along with the settlement. "UMG has obtained airplay for its songs through such deceptive and illegal practices as bribing radio station employees, on occasion, to play UMG songs, providing a stream of financial benefits to radio stations, to assist with stations' overhead costs or to provide promotional support, on condition that UMG records receive airplay," Spitzer stated. UMG was also accused of "engaging in fraudulent call-in campaigns to increase airplay."

In January 2003, a WFLY-FM program director was provided use of a Miami hotel room for playing "Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda" by Brian McKnight and putting it on the Albany, N.Y., station's play list, Spitzer said.

The room was listed as a contest prize for accounting purposes. UMG e-mails showed WFLY asked UMG to provide an airplane trip to Madrid to see U2 perform last year, but required assigning the better seats to the program director and less expensive seats to contest winners, according to the court filing.

The same program director was provided a Miami hotel stay to play a Nick Lachey song and he received use of a hotel room in New York in April 2004, along with Yankees tickets.

"We have been working cooperatively with the attorney general's office in resolving these promotion issues and are pleased to have completed the process with this agreement," UMG said in a statement. "The reforms that we have agreed to with the attorney general are consistent with the policies that we voluntarily implemented over a year ago."

"Consumers have a right not to be misled about the way in which the music they hear on the radio is selected," Spitzer said. "Pay-for-play makes a mockery of claims that only the 'best' or 'most popular' music is broadcast."

The $12 million payment will be distributed through the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors to nonprofit groups in New York state to fund music education and appreciation programs.

Spitzer said UMG used interns and employees and "outside vendors" to pose as listeners requesting UMG songs. In July 2004 UMG started pushing "Rain on Me" by Ashanti through its Island Def Jam label, paying $3,500 for six weeks. For the first two weeks, WGCI in Chicago and WQHT in New York City each received 25 calls. Forty calls were made to these and other stations in the final four weeks targeting black women between 18 and 24 years old, Spitzer said.

Its Island Def Jam label hired another group to drum up airplay for Ludacris' "Stand Up" at numerous radio stations including CKEY and WBLK in Buffalo and WDKX in Rochester.

UMG has a nearly 26 percent share of the world market and sells one in three albums sold in the United States, according to the court filing. UMG's labels include Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Universal Motown Records Group, UMG Nashville and Verve Music Group. The types of music involved included Top 40, Urban, Alternative Rock and Adult Contemporary.

Spitzer launched a nationwide investigation in 2004 into alleged wrongdoing by music and radio companies. Earlier this year, Spitzer sued Entercom Communications Corp., accusing its executives of running scams to trade cash for airplay of songs.

Entercom has denied the allegations.

Sony's music arm has already agreed to pay $10 million to settle with Spitzer, and Warner Music agreed to a $5 million settlement.







------This^^^^Seriously who really was requesting a Lindsay Lohan song??? This is why we have Spotify, Rhapsody, Pandora, Tidal...etc... Most people don't really listen to the radio much anymore and it's because the same songs were played over and over and over..
 

Similar Threads

News Alley

The Lounge

General Alley

Top Bottom