As rock and roll emerged as the most popular music genre in America in the late 1950s, opponents pounced on a legal means to reduce the power of the radio DJ.

You step into a moment when popular music and political power collided, and the airwaves themselves became evidence. The 1960 congressional hearings exposed how pay-for-play deals warped which songs ...

Spotify has been hit with a second class-action lawsuit, accusing the streaming giant of committing “modern payola.” Spotify is being accused of reviving the music industry’s oldest ...

On April 22, 2026, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that he has issued Civil Investigative Demands (“CIDs”) to five major music streaming platforms—Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Amazon ...

On this day, Jan. 20, in 1965, the “father of rock n’ roll” died of alcoholism while facing federal charges in the radio payola scandal. He was 43.Alan Freed, credited with coining the term rock ‘n ...