Press Releases
STATEMENT OF CONGRESSMAN ANTHONY WEINER REGARDING CLEAR CHANNEL’S DECISION TO CUT TIES WITH INDEPENDENT PROMOTERS
WEINER: PAY FOR PLAY BAD FOR MUSIC INDUSTRY, ARTISTS, CONSUMERS
Washington, D.C. Clear Channel, the nation’s largest radio station owner, has announced that it will cut ties with independent promoters hired by record labels to get their artists onto station play lists. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens & Brooklyn), a Member of the House Judiciary Committee who will introduce legislation to stop so called "radio pay for play", released the following statement:
"The songs that make it onto radio play lists should be determined by traditional market forces, like the quality of the product and consumer tastes. But pay for play and other payola schemes substitute cash payments for market forces, lining the pockets of some promoters, at the expense of everybody else.
"That’s bad for the music industry, bad for small and unknown artists who don’t have the resources to hire a promoter, and bad for consumers who, ultimately, have to absorb the costs of these murky transactions while listening to a watered down selection of songs. It’s about time Clear Channel lived up to its responsibility as the largest radio owner in the nation, and cut its ties with independent promoters."
Record labels hire independent promoters to lobby radio stations to play their songs. To do so, the promoters first pay station owners, like Clear Channel, for their play lists, then push the station to add their client’s artists to the list. According to industry watchdogs, these transactions can devolve into pay for play–only those songs that are paid for get played.
Rep. Weiner will introduce legislation to close the loop hole in FCC regulations to ensure that stations are not improperly influenced by payments. His Competition in Radio and Concert Industries Act is companion to legislation offered by Rep. Russell Feingold (D-WI) in the Senate.
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Congressman Anthony D. Weiner
