The Payola Education Guide briefly looks at the history of payola, the development of the "indie promoter" system, the investigations by the New York State Attorney General and the FCC from 2003-2007, the contents of the "Rules of Engagement" signed by the four largest radio companies to provide context of what it means for musicians and independent labels, and how artists are interacting with radio in the 21st century.

Click here for Kid Rock's interesting take on illegal downloading. 

Merlin's position is now equal to that of EMI Music and represents the largest bundle of rights outside of the four major labels.

Luncheon to take place from noon to 2pm on July 29, 2008 at Savarino's Cucina in Nashville, TN. Jim Van Hook, Chair of the Word Music Group, will host a discussion on Independent Labels. Open to both A2IM members and non-members.

The United States is the only OECD (the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development) country in the world where only the songwriter is paid a royalty when a song is played on terrestrial commercial radio. The performance right holders (which include the featured performing artists, back-up artists and music labels) are not paid any royalty at all for the performance on the radio.

Legislation has been introduced in Congress that would enable labels & artists to get paid a "performance right" whenever a song gets played on traditional, over the air radio.

Independent Label 2008 Grammy Award Results