The relationship between the record producers and the radio stations
has a history of shady dealings.
The record producers used to pay the radio stations to give their records air time.
Remember payola?
The business model has changed, and now they want it the other way round, I guess.
It was really only shady because it wasn’t allowed. The ‘payola scandals’ were little different than food companies paying supermarkets for favorable positioning on shelves or in displays at the end of their aisles.
Likewise, music publishers used to pay to have their songs featured in Broadway productions.
Nobody buys records anymore.
And the most they can charge for a download is about a buck. Much more than that and people decide it’s worth the risk to try and pirate the song.
Hence they’re making almost no profit selling music to consumers anymore. Most of their profit is coming from touring. This is a way to put the squeeze on the broadcast industry to try and augment their bottom line.
Also, since younger people don’t really listen to radio, broadcasters have kind of lost their leverage in that they no longer can make or break an act with decisions about airplay.