Who was involved in the payola scandal?

Answer 1

The 1950s Payola scandal was primarily directed toward shutting down the idea of pay-for-play music: in the early years of radio, it was common for music to air based on a fee provided by the artist or their agent, which in turn determined which songs were played often enough to become hits.

It was a politically- and economically-motivated move, designed in large part to quash the new genres of Country Music and rock-and-roll, which were a threat to the established recording companies and agencies of the time (including ASCAP).

It worked itself out, but not before destroying the career of deejay Alan Freed (the discoverer and biggest early promoter of Rock Music) and threatening to do the same to promoter Dick Clark (who wound up having to sell off his shares in the recording industry to avoid being brought down similarly).

To this day, the word 'payola' still means a bribe or other form of ill-gotten revenue.