Clear Channel Communications, the nation's largest radio broadcaster, wants a share of the tens of millions of dollars in record company promotional funds that go to independent promoters--and sometimes smack of payola.
The move is sending a shudder through the major labels, which see legal and ethical problems with paying money directly to broadcasters to help get their artists on the air.
The initiative, which the company expects to roll out around May, reflects a fundamental shift of power in the record business. In the past, powerful record labels were accused of bribing deejays operating at small, independent radio stations to influence what songs got airplay.
Industry mergers have moved the balance of power to radio groups, which today have the clout to launch a song simultaneously in scores of markets across the country--or consign it to oblivion.