Iggy Azalea is feeling vindicated following reports of allegations against G-Eazy doing pay for play.
Payola is a very touchy subject when it comes to the music industry. Apart from being illegal, it’s viewed as unethical. One artist who has been vocal as it relates to payola is Australian rapper and songwriter Iggy Azalea. In 2019, she put direct streaming platforms on blast in a series of posts that went viral. She commented on the fact that while radio payola is policed, this did not seem to be the case for the streaming platforms.
The “Fancy” rapper has again come out to voice her opinion on the controversial topic. This after Rolling Stone published a new expose. The article has in the past done quite a few articles on payola, often referred to as “pay-for-play.” However, their most recent article not only spoke about the fact that the practice was still well and alive, but they also named dropped labels and artists who have benefitted from payola on radio and stream services. One artist mentioned was G-Easy.
In the new report, audio of a call that took place between G-Easy’s team and a marketer is revealed. He had reportedly given them a promise that he could artificially boost their streams on the “black market” for a price. When Iggy heard about the expose call, she re-tweeted the Rolling Stones article with the caption: “Remember when the internet said I was making up that streaming has payola worse than radio. [upside down smiley face emoji].Glad someone’s starting to expose the secret world of streaming and ‘curators’ its time.”
Iggy Azalea is sick and tired of PAYOLA pic.twitter.com/UTNFxp06Dl
— ? (@BigBankBurt) March 16, 2019
Remember when the internet said I was making up that streaming has payola worse than radio.
? https://t.co/wrojrE77PN— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) March 11, 2021
According to FCC rules, there are regulations governing radio payola. However, there is no set authority with responsibility for the manipulation of streaming services. Larger platforms such as Spotify have in the past tried to implement a system to penalize anyone caught doing so.
In the end, Iggy Azalea appears to feel some validation following the revelations.
Glad someone’s starting to expose the secret world of streaming and “curators” it’s time.
— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) March 11, 2021
