iHeartMedia Settles FCC Payola Probe With Consent Decree
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- iHeartMedia agreed to a consent decree with the FCC ending an investigation into whether it rewarded or punished artists' airplay based on whether they performed for free or at reduced rates at a company-sponsored Austin festival
- The compliance plan requires iHeart to designate a compliance officer, submit regular annual reports, run a training program, and establish a whistleblower hotline
- FCC Chairman Brendan Carr framed the agreement as protecting artists' right to decide when and where they perform, invoking payola and "showola" regulations in his statement
- Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) alerted the FCC on Jan. 30, 2025 about a potential new payola practice linking free performances to airplay decisions, prompting the agency to issue an enforcement advisory the following month
- The investigation focused specifically on artists who performed at the iHeart Country Festival '25 in Austin on May 3, 2025
- The consent decree includes a provision in which iHeart "makes no admission of liability or violation of any law, regulation, or policy," with both sides citing the time and resource cost of continuing the probe
Why it matters: iHeart now operates under an FCC compliance officer, annual reporting, and a whistleblower channel — the first time this kind of airplay-monitoring regime has been attached to a major radio conglomerate over festival-linked showola concerns. Artists cut out of paid bookings at radio-sponsored events gain a formal reporting pathway, yet iHeart avoids any admission of past misconduct, so the decree binds future conduct without resolving what happened at the Austin festival.
