Indies Finally Gain From Payola

Soon the Federal Communications Commission will approve a settlement concerning the practice of payola. The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists sent the FCC a list of suggestions on a settlement on which they felt both parties would agree, says the Hollywood Reporter.

Thomas R. Carpenter, AFTRA General Counsel and Director of Legislative Affairs, makes the very important point that in addition to fines totaling about $12.5 million paid by the likes of Clear Channel and CBS Radio, "meaningful remedies for the insidious practice of payola must include requirements for the minimum airplay of independent artists."

It would be just like radio to have this settlement imposed upon them and be a huge blessing in disguise. To many, the guise is thinly veiled. If radio were to quit playing the same seventeen songs back to back; if radio were to integrate something fresh into its programming--a new format or new music; people may actually listen. In a letter dated from February, Carpenter wrote that while independent artists make up about forty percent of music sales, those artists receive less than 10 percent of the airplay on commercial radio. The consumers have not been getting what they are willing to pay for, so they drop out.

AFTRA applauds the settlement, reminding the people that, "payola hurts all of [its] members who are recording artists, but it is particularly devastating for [its] independent artists; independent record labels often lack the resources to secure airtime for their artists in an industry where the practice of 'pay for play' runs rampant."