WHEN IS PAY TO PLAY -- PAYOLA?

[joshzz]

Like most owners, we get of letters/CDs from Independent bands desiring that we play their music. Several years ago we added an Independent Artist Program (half-hour weekend program) and get many artists on the air in this way. The response continues to be overwhelming.

With that said, I do wonder if there would be a legal way to receive compensation from bands for broadcasting music - I know there are some ways of doing it legally but still have the stink of being unethical. Whereas we would only do it if it is indeed, ethically moral and legal.

I read the following in another discussion group and thought it be best to explore this>>


Posts: 744


How is this not payola?
« on: December 10, 2009, 01:20:53 PM » Quote

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Found on Craigslist Boston:

http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/muc/1503731525.html

Edge Radio Band Promo Package:
„h 8 separate 30 second ads promoting your band running simultaneously on 38 radio stations
„h 1 full length 5 minute on air interview with your band
„h 2 Tracks played during the show your interview airs
„h Interview, ads and tunes podcasted and available for download @ www.lifestyletalkradio.com
„h Links to your band¡¦s website on our home page @ www.theedgeradioshow.com
„h On air mentions of all your bands gigs for the duration of the month in which your ads air
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john and mark

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[davideduardo]

With that said, I do wonder if there would be a legal way to receive compensation from bands for broadcasting music - I know there are some ways of doing it legally but still have the stink of being unethical. Whereas we would only do it if it is indeed, ethically moral and legal.


http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/muc/1503731525.html

Edge Radio Band Promo Package:
„h 8 separate 30 second ads promoting your band running simultaneously on 38 radio stations
„h 1 full length 5 minute on air interview with your band
„h 2 Tracks played during the show your interview airs
„h Interview, ads and tunes podcasted and available for download @ www.lifestyletalkradio.com
„h Links to your band¡¦s website on our home page @ www.theedgeradioshow.com
„h On air mentions of all your bands gigs for the duration of the month in which your ads air
Total price: $ 300 for the entire month. Discounted per spot rate given for multi month commitments.!!!!!!
Reach millions of potential new fans for the cost of a local print ad ! Contact us today for details

In broad terms songs can be played for pay as long as sponsor ID is obeyed and it is logged and billed.
If an on air interview is paid for as part of a deal, it has to be IDed as paid and logged.

Website ads don't need disclosure, but to be fair to the listeners, I would disclose as "paid for by..." anyway.

If you are an NAB member, consult their legal briefs or call. If you have regular FCC counsel, I'd advise contacting and getting a contract form written and guidance. This is too sensitive to rely on a message board and non lawyers, like myself, for guidance when the license is in play.

Remember, the songs bands often want to play are not the ones your listeners may like the most... that is why record companies guide artists.

 

[landtuna]

In broad terms songs can be played for pay as long as sponsor ID is obeyed and it is logged and billed.

Was it the lack of disclosure that got the 50's/60's DJ's in trouble ?

 

[davideduardo]

In broad terms songs can be played for pay as long as sponsor ID is obeyed and it is logged and billed.

Was it the lack of disclosure that got the 50's/60's DJ's in trouble ?

Actually, it was not paying income tax! Same way they got that guy from Chicago with the speakeasy joints.

Technically, payola was defined as being when a station staff memeber without the consent of management accepts consideration for the playing of songs.

Today, we define it as a management offense if money is taken by the business and there is no disclosure via sponsor ID, etc. It's still an employee offense if a song is spun for pay without management knowledge.

Again, these are generalizations... a station should have a written policy, regular affidavits by staff to indicate awareness and not having conflicts, etc. This is lawyer stuff, but it's important to say that anyone in radio should have a good awareness of the rules.

 

[landtuna]

Hmmmmm.....I was a radio-centric teen in those days and don't remember income tax evasion ever being mentioned. I also don't remember any local (Tucson) DJ's being accused either so maybe it just wasn't big news in small-town USA back then.

I do remember it had a huge effect on popular music though the the first two or three years of the 60's were terrible (girl groups, ballads UGH!).

 

[davideduardo]

Hmmmmm.....I was a radio-centric teen in those days and don't remember income tax evasion ever being mentioned.

That's what they got Alan Freed for... the "crime" of payola was not codified yet, so they got him for not disclosing the income as the practice was identified.

A certain infamous record promotor suspected of the process was prosecuted for loan sharking, which was alos discovered in a subsequent payola investigation decades later.

http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/miscellaneous-retail-retail-stores-not/4643853-1.html (this is an interesting read) and you might look at the book Hit Men by Fredrich Dannen, too.

One of the issues is that payola seems to have been paid in untracable cash and other "commodities" and the recipients could not be connected to the guys making the payouts as there was no clear path between them. So there have been lots of charges and few convictions; a few times the investigation shows up other "issues" that make for an easier prosecution.

I do remember it had a huge effect on popular music though the the first two or three years of the 60's were terrible (girl groups, ballads UGH!).

That's an interesting observation; that was right after the Freed / Dick Clark / et. al. investigations and one would think that the record ducks would have been on their best behaviour then.

 

[landtuna]

That's an interesting observation; that was right after the Freed / Dick Clark / et. al. investigations and one would think that the record ducks would have been on their best behaviour then.

I seem to remember, in retrospect, that one reason the girl groups were played so hard was they had no linkage to payola.

 

[JbeJay]

I do remember it had a huge effect on popular music ...

That would make sense. Without payola influencing the playlists, top 40 stations went back to playing what the listeners wanted to hear rather than what they were being paid to play.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

That would make sense. Without payola influencing the playlists, top 40 stations went back to playing what the listeners wanted to hear rather than what they were being paid to play.

Careful about assuming that today's "available information" was also available then. During that era when payola was making headlines, how would programmers/station operators have known "what listeners wanted to hear"? My memory is that there was a lot of "flying by the seat of your pants" back then. I didn't work any of the really big/major markets but I can assure you that our in what we today call "flyover country" we had our opinions about what people wanted to hear, but few facts.

I also remember it being a time of rapid, radical change in music. Even the listeners did know what they wanted to listen to.... they didn't know what was available to WANT to listen to. Programming was a bit like fishing. Cast your bait over here. No strikes? Cast your bait over there. See a fisherman in the distance pulling in a catch? Move your boat over there and fish in that area. Maybe you, too, can catch something.

That was about the scientific level of programming research for most of us during the era when the word "payola" became part of our language.

 

[davideduardo]

Careful about assuming that today's "available information" was also available then. During that era when payola was making headlines, how would programmers/station operators have known "what listeners wanted to hear"?

The research was generally based on sales of 45's, determined by calls to record shops. Usually, since shops did not tabulate sales any too well, it was "is it going up, going down or about the same?"

Some stations developed relationships with one-stops and distributors. That was a bit better, but often those folks distributed outside the station coverage area.

A second source used by some was juke box plays. Operators kept tabs on plays for two reasons... after a certain number of plays, they replaced the 45's, and second, stiffs kept songs people would play from being availble to make money.

In both cases, we had no idea of the demographics of the buyers.

By the mid-70's call out was in use by people like Todd Wallace, Jack McCoy and Bill Tanner. Music tests of the library followed soon after.

My memory is that there was a lot of "flying by the seat of your pants" back then. I didn't work any of the really big/major markets but I can assure you that our in what we today call "flyover country" we had our opinions about what people wanted to hear, but few facts.

There was an explosion of trade publications and tip sheets by the early 70's... FMQB, Gavin, then Hamilton, R&R, etc. Stations in smaller markets looked at what the bigger ones did, and used that to help program.

Of course, every reaction has a counterreaction. Record labels would give free product to stores that reported their songs as going up or being hot. They would give extra copies to the juke box operators. So the data stations got was frequently tainted by the record ducks.

 

[davideduardo]

That would make sense. Without payola influencing the playlists, top 40 stations went back to playing what the listeners wanted to hear rather than what they were being paid to play.

Back then, stations were not paid to play songs. It was individual DJs. Tight playlists and controlled clocks made this less an issue, and moved the record promoters' interest from the DJs to the PD.

 

[Kabrich]

Like most owners, we get of letters/CDs from Independent bands desiring that we play their music. Several years ago we added an Independent Artist Program (half-hour weekend program) and get many artists on the air in this way. The response continues to be overwhelming.

With that said, I do wonder if there would be a legal way to receive compensation from bands for broadcasting music - I know there are some ways of doing it legally but still have the stink of being unethical. Whereas we would only do it if it is indeed, ethically moral and legal.

I read the following in another discussion group and thought it be best to explore this>

As long as its disclosed on the air and on the log, paid to the station, its 100% legal.

You may as get into the action if you so desire, as every virtually major broadcast group already has plans at a Corporate level to be doing the same with their Contemporary Music stations if a performance rights bill is ever passed.

 

[OldNumber7]

That would make sense. Without payola influencing the playlists, top 40 stations went back to playing what the listeners wanted to hear rather than what they were being paid to play.

Back then, stations were not paid to play songs. It was individual DJs. Tight playlists and controlled clocks made this less an issue, and moved the record promoters' interest from the DJs to the PD.

The truth is payola (in some form or another -- let's just call it bribery) exists in any industry in which a product is marketed for sale. A manufacturer provides incentives for a distributor to accept its products. It's true in pharmaceuticals, auto and appliance sales, product placement in supermarkets and -- God knows -- the entertainment industry. Outsiders often have a misconception that payola in radio meant people getting bribed to play crap. That may have once had some truth to it, but payola in radio has really been about making a likely blockbuster product into an even bigger one. By the late 70s, in the new era of tight playlists, the record labels used payola to guarantee a likely hit would make a huge splash in its first week of release. Label promoters would get a bonus for getting a R&R reporting station to add a priority record in its first week and the promoters would kick back part of the bonus to the station music director or PD. The records usually would have become at least moderate hits anyway, but the idea was to push them up the chart as fast as possible -- to create a tsunami that would capitalize on momentum to boost sales. I've been out of the business for a long time, but I am sure there is some favored scheme that still operates to serve this purpose. It certainly continues in book publishing, movie releases, etc. Payola in radio was always a particular no-no because the airwaves are supposed to be a public trust. The demise of radio in favor of online media is actually a potential boon to record labels, since the new media distribution avenues are not subject to those pesky FCC regulations.