Entertainment critic Chris Tsormanah has opined that PAYOLA is not different from using BOT for music promotion.
In his view, pay-for-play, popularly known as PAYOLA, becomes illegal when the one paying pays directly to the employee of the radio station.
He argued that the music business allows labels and other stakeholders to negotiate with radio stations on the best promotional packages that can favour musicians.
”The music business environment allows labels or indies to negotiate with marketing or program directors of radio stations for promo support. This arrangement between labels and management of a station could take any form of commercial transaction.”
Read his full post below
PAYOLA is no different from using BOT for music promotion.
Actually, pay-for-play or payola becomes illegal only when money is paid directly to an employee of a radio station.
The music business environment allows labels or indies to negotiate with marketing or program directors of radio stations for promo support. This arrangement between labels and management of a station could take any form of commercial transaction.
Sometimes labels buy airtime in guise of advertisement…or they enter into a full scale promo partnership agreement with the media outlets.
The end game is to influence the station to put specific songs on rotation and there’s nothing unethical about such inducements.
If the mainstream media could be manipulated to force songs on consumers, what makes it more organic than another manipulation through Bot?
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
