Call it whatever you want: tip or token of appreciation. At the end of the day, it is payola, (bribery of an influential person in exchange for the promotion of a product or service, such as that of disc jockeys for the promotion of records).

Radio stations are extorting money from artistes to play their music on radio - artistes have confessed. Whereas artistes seem comfortable with the system, they have no choice but to pay some money to get air play on radio. Usually the money is paid to the music schedulers and the DJs so that they speak well of an artiste while playing his or her songs.

Each time an artiste takes his songs to the radio, they are aware that they have to pay some money to the music schedulers. The music schedulers also are always expecting something from them.

But some artistes think that giving money to radio DJs is okay. Tool Man, for example, believes that he does not bribe the DJs.

When he has heard one playing his song on radio, he will look out for him and give him a tip. "I don't give money to DJs in form of bribery. All I do is give them tips. Most times when I meet a DJ whom I have heard play my songs, I will buy him a bottle of beer just to show my appreciation," he says.

Tool Man however says that the big artistes have spoilt the system, because instead of giving small tips, they pay huge sums of money to the radios.

"They can give about Shs300,000 and for us who don't have the money, our music ends up not being played. DJs and some music schedulers are always expecting something big from the top artistes, so they will always pay little attention to us. It is the politics those top artistes play to keep themselves up there," he laments.

Song writer, Silver Kyagulanyi, describes the act of radio stations receiving money from artistes to play their music as very unethical.

"That's why you hear bad music playing on some stations, while on others it does not.

This is simply because some radios have been built on strong ethical foundations - these are the stations you never pay money for your music. The problem with this is that you pay money to promote your song yet when it becomes a hit, radio stations don't pay you royalties, they simply continue playing it, which is not right," he says.

For Bebe Cool, however, there is no problem with artistes giving some money to the DJs, because they (artistes) make a lot of money, and should give some.

"Some of us make enough and giving some away is not a problem. Some of the DJs ask for the money, though, which makes it hard for the upcoming artistes. But when they ask for money, I give them because I want them to play my music," Cool says.

According to Dr Hilderman, once the song has been playing four times a day and the money one has paid is "used up", the DJ will start playing it once a day, and later it will stop being played. "They do this as a signal to attract your attention so that you go back and pay more money. If you don't respond, they throw you out," he says.

Well, according to Betina Tumuhaise of KFM and Joel Isabirye of Capital FM, the formal system for an artiste to get his/her songs playing on radio would be for them to take a CD to the radio station reception, sign in a book which music they have brought and their name. If the song is deemed fit for the station's style, it will start being played there and then.

However, in some cases, if one does not see the music scheduler himself, he will never hear his song playing.Dr Hilderman says that most of the radios which are engaged in payola, are Luganda speaking radios.

"They are the ones which reach out to our target audience." He explains that an artiste and a scheduler engage in a dialogue that goes a little like this: Musician: "Sir I came to see you so that you can help me with business."

Music scheduler: "But you know you have to inject something."

In most cases, the artiste determines the amount to be paid, though one needs to know that the more he pays, the more times his song will be played. "If you make him happy, he will also make you happy. At least if the song is low quality, he will play it twice a day," he says.

One day, Dr Hilderman says that he entered the office of one music scheduler when a big artiste was just leaving. On his table was a big bundle of money. "He counted it and told me that we, the upcoming artistes, were in trouble. He told me blankly that this is how things went," he says.

The money however is not given only to the music scheduler, because the artiste always wants the DJs to speak well of their music (giving them mentions), so, after they have 'seen' the music schedulers, they need to 'see' the DJ/presenter. This is because if they are given something, they will shower the musician with praises whenever the song is played.

Musician Mega Dee however says that as long as you have good music, it will be played on the radio. Though a few radio DJs approach artistes to solicit for finances, "those are few; some DJs play our music because it appeals to their style.

I got in trouble with these DJs only when I was starting to sing. Some radios would not play my music. They only played it when they heard other radios playing it. But now all that is gone, several radios are now playing my songs."

He adds that he only gives money to DJs as a token of appreciation. "You see most of these guys are my friends and sometimes it's not for the job they do but because they are friends."

The music promoters also are partly to blame. In most cases, when they have an upcoming show/concert, they will visit numerous radio stations and pay them to play the music of the artistes that are going to perform at their shows. This is another way of advertising.

Qute Kaye says that one must pay. "You have to pay because if you don't, you will have no power play. That's why some artistes are big and others are small. It is not like a 'thank you for playing my music have this'. No, it is standard. There is a certain amount you have to pay; they will tell you frankly that they need money. For example on Dembe FM it is official, every artiste pays Shs500,000 and they are given a form to fill." he says.

Is it true then that Dembe FM officially asks for the money? Wilber Mpiima, the Production Manager at Dembe FM explains: "Artistes pay for power play (so that their music can be played several times). We used to receive many of them wanting power play, so we put a policy saying that those artistes who want their music to be played repeatedly have to pay for it. But this is not to say that all the other songs are paid for."

What do the music schedulers themselves say?

"The only thing I can say is that it's unprofessional and uncouth, even though these artistes give you the money, you lose your respect. Once they become big, they won't consider you as part of their success." says Bills Butodene of Vision FM.

"Such people always bend the rules of their radio. They play the music which does not even match their radio station format, and they risk losing their jobs."

He adds however that to a certain extent, artistes are to blame. "They are the ones who are pushing the money thing, they should concentrate on their work, hire good producers and studios and with time their music will be played. For me I cannot do such a thing because radio is my passion, but I know other people do it."

Tumuhaise agrees that that some stations do it, but she would not. "I never ask money from artistes. Although some of them bring it. I tell them "No, I don't need your money, if your music is good I will play it," she says.

Isabirye, the music selector of both Capital FM and Beat FM says: "At Capital and Beat we have a process that helps us to select the music we play. In fact if any radio presenter sneaked music onto the play list, we have a monitoring system that would detect it. It happens with other radios, but here it is impossible," he says.