Trace TV West Africa’s managing director, Sam Onyemelukwe, has blamed “unscrupulous people” as being responsible for the several payola allegations that dogged the station last year.
Onyemelukwe said in a statement made available to Music In Africa that individuals not connected to his organisation were responsible for charging unsuspecting labels and artists for airplays.
“We even heard of a guy in Ghana who offers a price list for airplay on Trace and other music channels and shows.”
The Managing Director explained that his organisation did not often charge for airplays on its station.
“We do not sell video spins on the channel and anybody who tells you otherwise is a liar.”
He said his organisation was conscious of the heavy demand for airplay on its network by artists and their labels.
However, he added that they have created a new paid platform to meet up with the demands so that artists could pay and be sure of receiving airplay for their videos.
“We know how much demand is out there, so we offer a promotion package called Zoom that can be purchased and guarantees a short profile and a few clips of an artist’s music video.”
Recall that last year, Dammy Krane called out the station for allegedly not playing his music video after paying to the station’s representative.
Trace TV did not provide any immediate response to the singer’s allegations.