What was so significant about the payola scandal in radio in the 50s/60s? Radio stations or DJs were getting kickbacks for playing certain songs to help make them popular? Now some record label provides some incentives to execs at iheartmedia or however this works to get play for their next version of Taylor Swift. Can someone explain.
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Payola never really died. Labels were being fined for violating payola laws as recently as the 2000s. If someone could prove the situation you describe, that too would be a violation.
However, people and regulators alike are paying less attention to traditional radio because it’s now a tiny part of the music distribution system. Just about everybody, even people in cars, can and do play music from streaming services like Spotify now. Spotify takes money to promote songs, but they’re upfront about it and allow users to opt out. I’m not saying they’re not being shady – maybe they are – but the regulations underlying the original payola scandals are quite old and may not be able to carry a prosecution in the modern day.
The payola laws forbid the employees and management of radio stations from accepting money for air time. So what happens now, is the labels buy a marketing package from Clear Channel (who owns all the stations). That package includes ads, contests, dj chatter, etc. And mysteriously, their artist also gets played more. No one at the station gets paid to play, but it happens all the same while avoiding violating the actual law.
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