Update: FCC Shows Additional Renewed Interest In Payola

s we reported in a November 13, 2019 Advisory, Federal Communications Commissioner (FCC) Michael O'Rielly recently renewed interest in investigating illegal "payola" practices on broadcast TV and radio. Payola, also known as pay-for-play, involves paying commercial radio stations to broadcast particular recordings without informing listeners of the pay-for-play at the time of the broadcast. Following press reports of a continuing payola problem, Commissioner O'Rielly had sought information from the recording industry about possible violations of anti-payola laws and had asked for cooperation to stamp out these arrangements.

Consistent with our predictions in the November 2019 Advisory, on January 16, 2020, Commissioner O'Rielly wrote to various recording labels asking detailed questions "on the mechanisms put into place to prevent payola within [the] respective organizations, [the company's] understanding of the current payola rules, and what further steps may need