According to the L.A. Times, Clear Channel is telling record labels that it signed new agreements with three independent music promoters and given them the exclusive right to pitch songs to Clear Channel PDs at its top urban outlets.
“Those promoters, in turn, have dramatically raised the prices they charge record labels for new songs added to a station’s weekly playlist,” the newspaper reported.
“At KHHT(FM) in Los Angeles, promotional prices surged 50 percent, with Clear Channel’s new gatekeepers charging $2,000 for each song added to its weekly playlist,” the story stated. “By last week, rates had jumped 20 percent to 100 percent at 42 Clear Channel black music stations across the nation after the company signed exclusive deals with promoters Ted Astin, Wes Johnson and Reuben Rodriguez.”
An official of the media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting was quoted criticizing the Clear Channel and executive Mark Mays for the company’s practices. The story also reiterated Mays’ past defense of the company’s music promotion strategies, which it contends are legal.
Clear Channel Urban Promotion Deals Questioned
Clear Channel Urban Promotion Deals Questioned
