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: undercover or indirect payment (as to a disc jockey) for a commercial favor (as for promoting a particular recording)
Examples of payola in a Sentence
These radio disc jockeys accepted payola to play particular songs.
payola in the music industry
Recent Examples on the Web
Read: How Google ran out of ideas But even if the payola is forced to end, that doesn’t mean competitors would arise or thrive in the search market.
—Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 6 Aug. 2024
These promoters had monopolized radio airplay through payola and other questionable practices.
—Jessica Lynch, Billboard, 25 July 2024
The internet, on the other hand, is capable of disseminating virtually limitless data, and therefore the payola laws don’t apply.
—Rebecca Jennings, Vox, 1 July 2024
The payola scandal of the 1950s, where radio DJs in the US were paid to play records, was one of the first big shots.
—Christopher Null, WIRED, 7 Feb. 2024
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Word History
Etymology
pay entry 1 + -ola (as in Pianola, trademark for a player piano)
First Known Use
1938, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near payola
Cite this Entry
“Payola.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/payola. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Legal Definition
payola
noun
pay·o·la
pā-ˈō-lə
: a secret or indirect payment (as to a disc jockey) for a commercial favor (as for promoting a particular record)
More from Merriam-Webster on payola
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about payola
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