Question: How did the payola scandal affect the future of radio?
Answer: Most critics and historians agree now that the period of rock and roll immediately following the payola scandal and before the advent of the British Invasion -- 1960-1964, in other words -- was inferior to the five years which had preceded it. That's largely a matter of personal taste, however, and therefore cannot be proven. Nor can it be proven that the music suffered from the scandal's dismantling of the payola practice -- a crucial method of promotion that allowed the independant labels to compete on an equal footing with the established majors. And it's also true that while many indie labels folded immediately during the scandal, the early Sixties saw the rise of indies like Motown, Stax, and Atlantic, companies that prove the majors' stranglehold on radio was not complete. However, it's also true that rock and roll had become such an ingrained part of musical culture by 1964, spreading even to foreign countries, that it was unstoppable. If anything, the payola scandal may have simply given the major labels more time to secure footholds in the industry, as can be witnessed by the fact that both ASCAP and BMI are more or less equally powerful today.
