Broadcasters Say They're Fighting Payola With Training
Broadcasters, facing regulatory scrutiny over payola (CD Nov 23 p10), say they've been fighting the practice at the source: using training and other techniques to ensure adherence to FCC rules, industry officials said. Self- policing began in some instances before N.Y. Attorney Gen. Eliot Spitzer hammered stations, but efforts intensified after the AG undertook several high profile probes. On Tues., Spitzer’s office touted a payola settlement with Warner Music Group. That inquiry “uncovered a rampant industry practice of record labels offering streams of financial inducements to radio stations and their employees to obtain airplay for the recordings by Warner’s artists,” Spitzer’s office said.
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FCC Chmn. Martin has the Enforcement Bureau reviewing the Warner pact, telling the bureau to “investigate any incidents in which the agreement discloses evidence of payola rule violations,” said a FCC statement. The move recalls Martin’s response to an earlier Spitzer settlement with Sony BMG. That FCC effort hasn’t resulted in publicly disclosed enforcement action. “If the Bureau determines violations of the payola rules have occurred, the Commission will take swift action,” said the FCC. A potential issue is whether radio stations disclose each episode of financial remuneration for playing a song, said a FCC spokesman. Enforcement Bureau officials weren’t available Wed. to discuss the review.
Broadcasters aren’t waiting for FCC action to study and change their ways, they said. In June, NAB sent members a sheet on what NAB labels “sponsorship identification rules,” according to a spokesman. “We've advised our members on what the statutes and the rules are related to promotional airplay issues,” the spokesman said. “We don’t believe it’s a widespread problem.”
Clear Channel has had a “zero tolerance” payola policy for “quite a while,” said a person familiar with that firm. The No. 1 U.S. radio broadcaster has done payola training for some time. Training was “strengthened” and made more specific after the July Sony BMG settlement, the person said. “We take this issue very seriously,” Clear Channel Chief Legal Officer Andy Levin said in a statement: “We investigate any allegation of improper conduct by our employees.” In 2003, the firm cut ties to independent promoters, as Emmis did almost 2 years ago, a spokeswoman said. “We have a series of checks and balances… in place in this regard,” she said, “including, but not limited to, a committee approach to new ads.”
Spitzer isn’t alone in calling payola pandemic. Comr. Adelstein, an aggressive anti-payola campaigner, said the latest Spitzer settlement “adds more dirt to the mountain of evidence that payola is pervasive in the music business.” But some doubt whether the FCC will move quickly -- if at all -- on the problem. “I am skeptical, frankly, as to whether anything will come out of the Commission on this,” said George Wash. U. Prof. Christopher Sterling, an 8th floor staffer 1980-1982. Congress could pressure the FCC into bearing down, he said. But proving payola can be tough, Stirling said: “It’s a little tough to prove that literally some kind of consideration greased somebody’s palm.”