payola

Related topics: Business basics

pay·o·la /peɪˈəʊlə $ -ˈoʊlə/ noun [uncountableU] especially American EnglishAmE informal

1. BBthe illegal practice of paying someone to use their influence to make people buy what your company is selling 行贿〔利用某人影响推销产品〕

2. the money that is paid to someone to use their influence 贿赂金

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 Dictionary

payolapay·o·la /peɪˈəʊlə-ˈoʊlə/ noun [uncountableU]

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 product

a four-year investigation into payola in the record industry

→ compare bribe1

Origin payola

(1900-2000) Probably from payoff

pay·o·la noun

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus