From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpayolapay‧o‧la /peɪˈəʊlə $ -ˈoʊlə/ noun [uncountable] especially American English informal 1 BBthe illegal practice of paying someone to use their influence to make people buy what your company is selling2 the money that is paid to someone to use their influence
Examples from the Corpus
payola• Even Dave Clark would admit payola had its dark side.• Along with these damaging revelations, an embarrassing set of criminal investigations involving corruption and payola in radio had been launched.• These conditions created payola, the practice of deejays getting paid by record companies to play their product.• As with most arms dealers payola - commission or bribes - is the key to his living.• The roots of that historic meeting were in a Newark grand-jury investigation into payola in black radio.• It is a shameless form of payola for those who have helped a political party to get elected.• Was the music, finally, about peace or payola?From Longman Business Dictionarypayolapay‧o‧la /peɪˈəʊlə-ˈoʊlə/ noun [uncountable] informal the practice of making secret payments to someone so they will use their influence, especially on television or radio, to help sell a particular producta four-year investigation into payola in the record industry → compare bribe1Origin payola (1900-2000) Probably from payoff 