Payola; A necessity or luxury

It is a no brainer that most (if not all) artistes would love their songs guarantee of success, it definitely goes a long way in song promotion and distribution.

In some quarters, Radio is said to have had its “effect” on the culture reduced by the advent of blogs and digital music platforms. Well, maybe, but irrespective of the presence and growth of these other mediums, radio still plays a major role in deciding which song is the hottest or biggest “jam” out .

At least, this can be seen from the excitement that comes with having the Number One song in the country in Top 10 or 20 charts hosted by different radio and Tv personalities.

The quest for radio airplay (and the subsequent exposure that comes with it) leads to the “often-denounced-but-accepted” transaction of “Money for Airplay” which is termed as “Payola”. Payola is the illegal practice of payment or other inducement by artistes (or their representatives : Cue Managers/Record Label Execs) for the broadcast of sound recordings/videos on commercial radio/Tv in which the recording/video is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast.

However, Payola is the norm in the music industry ,(if you want your song to gather some form of airplay, except you are an A-List artiste , wherein the radio/tv stations play your recordings due to the already attained status). Payola can be referred to as any secret payment made to cast a product in a favorable light (such as obtaining positive reviews). The number of times the songs are played can influence the perceived popularity of a song. Payola as a practice has obvious implications: when money changes hands in exchange for radio play, certain artists get more exposure than others. Exposure is key to making it big in the music business, and in an ideal world, the public's response to artists and songs should drive who receives the bulk of the media exposure.

Thus, when payola enters the picture, the media hereby decides which artists will fail and which will succeed. In other words, the playing field is no longer level, due to money exchange.

Just like everything, Payola has its merits and demerits which can be examined below:

Merits : Are there any merits? Not really, Unless the artist gets a massive career boost, or the label gets increased revenue. Unfortunately, since exposure is 99% of the battle in the business, payola CAN pay off for these people.

Demerits : Payola actually hurts almost everyone. Some of the problems that come with the practice of payola are:

• The public don’t get to hear artistes who can't afford to pay off the Radio/Tv personalities or DJs.

• Artists whose song(s) come out at the same time as another artist who engages in payola may see dreadful sales because of a lack of exposure , which inevitably leads to lack of revenue. This affects majorly, independent artists, upcoming artists and small labels.

• The integrity of the music business is compromised for a bit of cash.

• It pushes up the cost of producing music, since labels or indie artistes involved in payola need the money in their budget to pay the Radio/Tv personalities or DJs

• It's bad for radio, because it makes radio homogenous. When the same song is on every single station, people seem to lose interest.

• For up and coming artistes/labels there is no legal recourse to getting back any monies paid nor any way to force the broadcaster to air the recording/video, given that it was an illegal contract in the first place.

Stemming from the aforementioned, artistes are mostly faced with dilemma, - Do they continue the norm and engage in payola as it is a necessity to get exposure and “blow “? Or is it simply a luxury they can’t afford and would rather do without?

Written by Ife Idowu

E-mail : ifeidowuofficial@gmail.com Twitter : @ife_id_ Blog: www.legalbyte.com.ng