Clear Channel Communications, the nation's largest radio broadcaster, wants a share of the tens of millions of dollars in record company promotional funds that go to independent promoters—and sometimes smack of payola, The Los Angeles Times reports Friday (3/9).

The Times says Clear Channels' move is sending a shudder through the major labels, which see legal and ethical problems with paying money directly to broadcasters to help get their artists on the air.

The initiative, which the company expects to roll out around May, reflects a fundamental shift of power in the record business. In the past, powerful record labels were accused of bribing DJs operating at small, independent radio stations to influence what songs got airplay.

Industry mergers have moved the balance of power to radio groups, which today have the clout to launch a song simultaneously in scores of markets across the country—or consign it to oblivion, the paper offers.

Through its new deal, Clear Channel, which controls 1,200 radio stations and owns the world's biggest concert promoter, hopes to generate more than $20 million annually by selling chain-wide advertising packages, research and a variety of airplay data to labels whose songs are played on its stations.

Further breaking down their offer, the Times reports that Clear Channel plans to sell ads to labels that would air immediately after the station plays the latest song by one of their artists. The brief ad would identify the artist who performed the preceding song, a practice that many stations have dropped.

Clear Channel said it would sell such an ad only if programmers had already determined the song was a hit. Sources tell the Times that the company is pitching ads at $1,000 a pop that would run on 60-some stations.

Critics contend that the broadcast giant is using its newfound leverage as the nation's largest chain to extract deals from record labels that appear to sidestep payola laws. "Clear Channel is trying to skirt the law, using its power to shake down record companies in what amounts to legal payola," said Steve Rendall, senior analyst for the New York-based media watchdog group FAIR.

Record company officials say they are reluctant to buck Clear Channel, with its dominant market position in radio and concert promotion, but they are uncertain how effective the new promotions will be. However, radio industry sources say there is another reason: Record companies could lose the power they already have to influence airplay at Clear Channel stations under the current system with independent agents, the paper reports. And a direct play-for-pay arrangement between record company and radio broadcaster could be illegal.

Randy Michaels, CEO of the company, acknowledged that the plan would probably rattle some cages in the music industry, but he insists the program is legal and not just a new corporate version of payola.

"We've been moving very slowly in launching this initiative, trying to make sure we dot all the I's and cross all the T's in terms of the legal issues," Michaels told the Times. "The fact is the industry spends a tremendous amount of money promoting records to our radio stations, and what we have here is an opportunity to take some of that money in right through the front door and put it on our books. We've come up with some innovative ways to generate new revenue streams for our shareholders' benefit. And in the process, I think we can save the labels money by cutting out all of these middlemen."

Record labels have long skirted payola laws by shelling out millions of dollars each year to independent consultants who can dangle money, audio equipment, luxury cars and exotic vacations before station personnel, the Times says. Independent promoters, who function as a buffer between labels and radio personnel, typically do not pay cash for airplay of specific songs but circumvent payola law by providing stations with annual promotion budgets.

Last fall, Clear Channel issued an internal edict barring programmers at its stations from renewing any contracts with independent promoters. As the company began kicking around ideas for its music initiative, Clear Channel initially considered installing an in-house promotion czar who would act as the radio giant's exclusive liaison with the music industry, Michaels said.

In recent weeks, however, Michaels said the company has backed away from running its own record promotion arm and is now contemplating cutting an exclusive promotion pact with a third party. Michaels confirmed to the Times that at least two independent promoters have put in bids that could add more than $20 million to its bottom line.

The bet in the industry is that Clear Channel will ultimately cut an exclusive pact with Cincinnati-based Tri-State Promotions, which is run by Michaels' longtime friends Bill Skull and Lenny Lyons.

"We haven't made any decisions yet," Michaels said. "Of course, Tri-State is the devil I know, and on the trust scale, they rate the highest in my book. I've been doing business with them a long time, and that's where the comfort zone is. But we are still studying every option. Our plan is not exactly ripe yet. It's a work in progress, but we should be able to announce something within a month."

Michaels said the company's think tank has come up with a variety of revenue-generating ideas, including selling research to labels based on reaction to records played on its stations.

"We are trying to test the appetite of the labels for real information that comes directly from us, not just guessing by some third-party independent," Michaels said. "We don't have anything in mind that would tie the payment from record labels to airplay for specific titles. We may well sell information about what we are playing. We may well also sell research that would help guide labels to the songs that we believe have the greatest hit potential."