What Payola In The Music Industry Can Teach Us About Paying Bloggers For Coverage
June 11, 2010 – 1:07 pm | by Daryl Tay
While it’s true that we’re living in revolutionary times, there is a lot we can learn from history, specifically from payola in the radio industry in the 1950′s.
What Is Payola?
Before we get into the “formal” definition, basically what payola is was record companies (let’s think of them as the agency for the bands, their clients), paid radio stations (media outlets) to feature their bands either because the song would not get played otherwise, or they wanted it to be played more often.
From Wikipedia:
Payola … is the illegal practice of payment or other inducement by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music radio, in which the song is presented as being part of the normal day’s broadcast.
Let’s put this back in context – paying bloggers for positive coverage is the practice of buying blog posts, in which the content is passed off as being part of the blogger’s regular content.
Needless to say this didn’t end well for the music and radio industry, and even on Wikipedia, the page on payola is associated with the criminal law page.
So what can we learn from the corner-cutting (and greed) of generations before us?
1) Reputations Suffer
Although prominent DJs got heavily fined, later investigations believed that songs became “hits” only because these DJs were paid off. In otherwords, they wouldn’t have stood a chance otherwise.
2) Regulations Become Enforced
Just like the FCC clamped down on DJs who engaged in payola, the FTC in the US has already introduced disclosure regulations and it is a matter of time before the rest of the world follows suit. You can engage in paying bloggers now and deal with untangling yourself from the regulatory web later, or just remain clean throughout.
3) Damages Occur
As recent as 2006, three record labels were fined a combined 27 million for payola breaches. How much would you like to end up paying?
Now, I’m sure the DJs and radio stations (bloggers and media outlets) as well as the record companies (agencies) and bands (clients) all thought payola was the easiest way for all parties to “benefit” back in the ’50s. But as it is with history, it takes some time for the dirt to be unearthed and truth to come free.
Why This Matters
More than ever, nothing you do will be forgotten. This isn’t the ’50s where people would only read about it in the papers or see it on the evening news. We’ve seen what happens when crises happen with Toyota and BP – do you really need to engage in a practice that could send more bad press your way, as well as the scrutiny that comes with it?
Let’s end with a lovely story from earlier in the week about how the Singapore Navy engaged with a stranger in a wonderful, authentic way. Will paying get the same kind of emotions and authenticity? Will your paid post even be remembered a week from today?
Building a true human connection is difficult, but we have to start somewhere and that somewhere is not reducing said “relationship” into a transactional one.
[edit: Check out Seth Godin’s take on payola where he says, with reference to social media “… there’s a significant market opportunity for someone who can, as Billboard did, clean up the charts and make the payola worthless or at least more transparent”
Tags: 1950s, bp, criminal law, cutting corners, ftc blogger disclosure, greed, media outlets, music industry, paying bloggers, payola, radio stations, record companies, regulations, reputations suffer, revolutionary times, Toyota
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