iHeartMedia has responded to FCC Chairman Brandon Carr’s inquiry regarding the iHeartCountry Festival and any potential payola violations.
The question arises from the relationship between artists and iHeart and whether performing or not performing impacted artists’ spins across the company’s footprint.
Carr’s inquiry followed an FCC advisory earlier this year regarding sponsorship identification rules and “covert manipulation” of airplay in exchange for promotion or artist performances.”
In a statement obtained and first published by Radio Ink, iHeartMedia said:
We appreciate FCC Chairman Carr’s interest in ensuring the radio industry is compliant with all applicable laws and regulations and will be responding expeditiously to the specific questions posed in the Chairman’s letter about iHeart’s upcoming Country Festival.
The Commission’s recent Enforcement Advisory to the radio industry as a whole stated that manipulating airplay based on artist participation in station events without proper disclosure violates federal laws.
We look forward to demonstrating to the Commission how performing at the iHeartCountry Festival – or declining to do so – has no bearing on our stations’ airplay, and we do not make any overt or covert agreements about airplay with artists performing at our events.
The iHeartCountry Festival provides the same kind of promotion that we see with artists on talk shows, late night television, the Super Bowl, and in digital music performances and events: the promotional value to the artists is the event itself, and, in our case, is unrelated to our radio airplay. We’re very proud that over the years we’ve had artists ask us to be a part of the iHeartCountry Festival, and in fact we’ve had artists make repeat appearances over the years because it is an important event that enables them to reach our audiences and enhance their careers.
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