: 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
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
There remain battles to be fought, whisper campaigns to be hatched, payola scandals to be investigated.
—Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 19 Jan. 2024
Government lawyers allege that Google protects its franchise through a form of payola, shelling out billions of dollars annually to be the default search engine on the iPhone and on web browsers such as Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox.
—Paul Wiseman, Fortune, 12 Sep. 2023
At the time, the regulatory agency was reeling from payola scandals, involving bribes paid to disc jockeys in exchange for promotion of certain records, and rigged quiz shows.
—Adam Bernstein, Washington Post, 6 May 2023
Despite the risk, payola continued.
—Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 19 May 2022
The Discovery Mode feature, which is somewhat reminiscent of a payola – currency in exchange for plays – creates an interesting business case for artists and labels alike.
—Jacqueline Schneider, Forbes, 9 Mar. 2023
Or the payola allegations (2011).
—Dan Snierson, EW.com, 11 Jan. 2023
When payola Demoraea retired.
—Laura Johnston, cleveland, 7 June 2022
Christopher Null, WIRED, 7 Feb. 2024
There remain battles to be fought, whisper campaigns to be hatched, payola scandals to be investigated.
—Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Times, 19 Jan. 2024
Government lawyers allege that Google protects its franchise through a form of payola, shelling out billions of dollars annually to be the default search engine on the iPhone and on web browsers such as Apple’s Safari and Mozilla’s Firefox.
—Paul Wiseman, Fortune, 12 Sep. 2023
At the time, the regulatory agency was reeling from payola scandals, involving bribes paid to disc jockeys in exchange for promotion of certain records, and rigged quiz shows.
—Adam Bernstein, Washington Post, 6 May 2023
Despite the risk, payola continued.
—Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 19 May 2022
The Discovery Mode feature, which is somewhat reminiscent of a payola – currency in exchange for plays – creates an interesting business case for artists and labels alike.
—Jacqueline Schneider, Forbes, 9 Mar. 2023
Or the payola allegations (2011).
—Dan Snierson, EW.com, 11 Jan. 2023
When payola Demoraea retired.
—Laura Johnston, cleveland, 7 June 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'payola.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near payola
Cite this Entry
“Payola.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/payola. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
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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)
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