The FCC is taking a look at iHeartMedia’s upcoming iHeartCountry Festival in Austin as part of a sweeping investigation into whether radio stations have been boosting artists' airplay in exchange for them performing at the event for free. The move has fans on social media praising Drake, who recently filed a defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group, accusing the company of allegedly using payola to artificially boost the popularity of Kendrick Lamar's diss track, "Not Like Us."
FCC chairman Brendan Carr laid out the commission's concerns in a lengthy letter he sent to iHeartMedia chairman/CEO Robert Pittman on Monday. As caught by Billboard, Carr explained that he wants "to know whether iHeart is effectively and secretly forcing musicians to choose between, one, receiving their usual, ordinary, and full scale compensation for performing or, two, receiving less favorable airplay on iHeart radio stations.” He went on to warn that “certain owners of federally licensed radio stations are effectively compelling musicians to perform at radio station events or festivals for free (or for reduced compensation) in exchange for more favorable airplay." Doing so would violate federal bans on practices like payola.
Why Is Drake Suing UMG?
iHeartCountry Festival Comes Under Scrutiny by FCC in Payola Investigationhttps://t.co/3hr0vS2HBk
— billboard (@billboard) February 26, 2025
As for Drake's lawsuit, he's alleged that UMG boosted the success of "Not Like Us" in an effort to devalue his brand amid contract negotiations. In his latest filing, his attorney, Michael J. Gottlieb, referenced Kendrick Lamar's performance at Super Bowl LIX. Gottlieb explained that "delaying discovery would unfairly prejudice [Drake], who is continuing to suffer the consequences of UMG’s defamatory campaign. Indeed, at the same time UMG has been delaying here, UMG launched new campaigns to further spread the defamatory content [“Not Like Us”], including at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show, which had over 133.5 million viewers.”
When Billboard shared news about the FCC investigation into iHeartMedia on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, many users shared gifs of Drake in response. "It just seem like all hip hop media outlets work for the record labels SMH. Including most reactors. This is some nasty disgusting work right here. NGL The last Drake album I rocked with was NWS but he definitely making me look at him differently, exposing the industry like this," one user wrote. Another replied: "Drake lawsuit is exposing the truth."
