Clear Channel Cuts Promoters

from the power-shift dept

While they've been talking about it for a while, Clear Channel finally got up the guts to tell their independent promoters to shove off. Independent promoters are basically the way the music industry got around anti-payola rules a while back. Basically, the system still worked the same. Promoters charge music labels to get their songs on the air. Then, promoters pay the radio stations to get their songs into regular rotation (the promoters will claim the story is a little different - but this is what's happening). The business has gotten a bit out of hand, and Clear Channel finally realized they had control over the situation (since they basically own every radio station out there), and have now announced they won't renew any contracts with promoters. Of course, let's see how long this lasts - or how quickly promoters figure out a new way to reinstate the payola scheme that makes them rich.