Overview
The face of rock and roll music began to change in the early 1960s. The payola scandal effectively ended Alan Freed’s career, along with many other disc jockeys who had promoted rock and roll in the 1950s. With the rise of shows such as American Bandstand and the promotion of pop-oriented artists such as Frankie Avalon, Bobby Vee, and Leslie Gore, rock had changed from a forbidden fruit to an everyday commodity.
Objectives
- Examine the commercial aspects that led to many changes in rock and roll music of the early 1960s
- Examine the different interests of major record labels, television stations, and disc jockeys and the conflicts between different parties which brought unprecedented changes in the music of the era
- Discuss the role of songwriters in the creation of popular music of the time
Payola
Musicians had resorted to all sorts of tactics to get their music played, going as far back as bribing vaudeville singers with cigars, liquor, and song-writing credits to perform the latest Tin Pan Alley song on their traveling circuit. Bribery and special favors were nothing new in the history of popular music. Recall that Alan Freed had promoted Chuck Berry’s "Maybellene ♫" in exchange for a credit as co-author of the song. In order to crack down on independent labels and disc jockeys, however, the major labels went after them for engaging in these practices, which were known as payola.
The payola scandal occurred when major record labels went after the disc jockeys and the independent labels in such a way that drew the attention of a congressional committee and, eventually, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). As a result, many disc jockeys lost their jobs, including Alan Freed. Radio stations were forced to revise their programming in order to keep their FCC broadcasting licenses. The payola scandal cast rock and roll as a trashy music whose popularity only came as the result of independent labels that bribed greedy disc jockeys to play the music on-air. American youth were victims of underhanded marketing ploys and dirty deals concocted between record labels and disc jockeys. From the point of view of independent record labels, disc jockeys, and recording artists, they were promoting their music using the same means that had been used for over half a century.
It is worth nothing here that it is not illegal for a disc jockey to accept gifts, money, or songwriting credits in exchange for playing a particular record. However, the disc jockeys were required by law to declare those gifts on their income taxes, which most of them did not. They were also supposed to state on-air that they had received compensation for promoting the music. Convicted of accepting bribes and fired from his radio and television shows, Alan Freed was the most notable victim of the payola scandal.
Eventually, a bill was passed that made payola illegal. As a result, radio stations were subjected to very strict supervision, which then made it much easier to control the distribution of popular music that was played and heard. Many radio stations began playing as few black artists as possible in order to remain in good graces with the FCC. Having wrested power away from disc jockeys and independent labels, the music executives of the major labels now needed to find a way to reach the teenage market that had developed an appetite for rock and roll.
