IT’S hard to prove and those who get involved are extremely tight-lipped, but music industry sources say payola, an old unethical pay-to-play or publish scheme involving the media, is on the rise.

So pervasive is payola that many producers, artistes, and artistes’ managers believe that if they don’t pay, they don’t get airplay.

But how much payola makes the rounds in newsrooms and radio studios is unknown; it has never been studied or assessed.

“No direct research of the music industry, in terms of the total amount of money turned over annually, exists,” says Dr Clinton Hutton, lecturer in cultural studies at the University of the West Indies.

And since payola is done in secret, he says, there is no way of even ‘guesstimating’ how much money is lost from the practice.

Top entertainment lawyer, Lloyd Stanbury, says he often receives complaints from artistes and producers about demands being made on them by radio personalities.

“Music needs to get a fair chance if the industry is to make sense once again. The payola thing is a demon because it destroys the fabric of our music,” says veteran reggae crooner, Freddie McGregor, one of the more vocal artistes against the corrupt practice.

According to McGregor, the system allows mainstream acceptance of inferior music.

“It just allow for the rotation of garbage over the local airwaves,” he said.

Payola, the term used to describe the pay-off that artistes give to persons in the media to ensure that their music gets played on the radio, or that they get favourable reviews and articles written about them in the press, is not always on the form of cash – some media workers ask for items like high-tech gadgets, cellphones, expensive jewellery, and trips to exotic locations.

The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) last reported in its Economic and Social Survey Jamaica 2004 that sales from locally distributed music – vinyl and compact discs – were recorded at $223.1 million, over the period June 2003 to June 2004; down from $275.7 million sold between June 2002 to June 2003.

The PIOJ notes, however, that what it reports is only a fraction of real sales, saying a lot of the business is done through financial transactions.

Despite the perceived widespread practice of pay-for-play, most media houses and industry players were unwilling to share their experiences publicly with the Sunday Observer.

Most denied even knowing about payola.

One exception was Brian Schmidt, marketing manager at IRIE FM, one of the top two radio stations in Jamaica, and who admits that he has been approached by people who try to bribe him to play their material, by offering cash or kind.

“We have people from all over the world ask us, ‘how much will it cost to play our material?’ The issue is not specific to Jamaica,” says Schmidt.

Reggae, a local music form internationalised by Bob Marley and others after him, was in 2004 valued at US$1.02 billion, representing about three per cent of the global music market, according to Wayne Wright, consultant in film music and entertainment commission at Jampro, a state investment promotion agency.

Jamaican producers, performers and songwriters, said Wright, collectively earn “approximately US$255 million each year.” That figure converts to about $16.5 billion.

A producer at one of Jamaica’s top artiste management firms, who spoke on condition of anonymity, acknowledged the “corrupt scenario”, but accepts it as a necessary evil.

Producers take big financial risks, frequently spending over $1.5 million to compose rhythms, and pay artistes to ‘voice’ on these rhythms and to book studio time, he said.

“Let’s face it, the music industry has become so demanding, talent alone can no longer propel an artiste,” said the producer. “Sometimes you find that a disc jockey will have your tune for all three weeks without ever playing it once – what must the producer do? He wants to make back his money, so he or she pays off the disc jockey.”

Radio 92 FM disc jockey and morning show host, Jennifer ‘Jenny Jenny’ Small also curses the practice, but says it won’t stop until the media fraternity collectively addresses it.

“Some of my industry mates are busy playing crap because they took money to do so… and it chokes talent. There are several people out there with real talent that nobody is looking at, just because they can’t afford to pay,” says Small.

Much of what drives payola, she said, is not need but greed.

“Many of them get good salaries, and are popular and well respected within the entertainment industry,” she says of broadcast colleagues, but they accept payola because “they are just greedy.”

Lester Spaulding, managing director of the RJR Communications Group, which includes radio stations 92 FM, FAME 95, RJR 94, and Television Jamaica, says his media, as a matter of policy, do their utmost to prevent and curtail payola.

“We have written guidelines which stipulate that any person found guilty of this will be instantly dismissed,” said Spaulding.

Still, both Spaulding and Schmidt agree that the practice of payola is hard to track or punish, because the arrangements are usually done in secret.

“It’s not easy. Payola is something that is not readily identified because it can take so many forms,” said Schmidt.

But what also appears as corrupt play, might not be.

“You have to be careful (in accusing people of taking bribes), because sometimes what people perceive to be payola really isn’t. The disc jock might just like what this artiste or label does, or get lots of request from the public,” said Schmidt.

Attorney Stanbury adds that while payola may be unethical, it is not illegal.

“I see no provisions that make payola illegal in the Broadcasting and Re-diffusion Act, which governs us here in Jamaica,” he tells the Sunday Observer.

Stanbury believes that to counter payola, media houses need to ensure that their on-air staff receive reasonable compensation for their work.

“Disc jockeys seek to justify their demands for pay-to-play by saying they are not being adequately compensated by the stations,” he said, adding that, more open discussions about the negative implications of payola should be encouraged.

henryr@jamaicaobserver.com