The company that owns the radio pays a onetime fee for a contract that stipulates how many times per day they can play it , and for how long the contract is good . After that time , the contract will be renegotiated . The contract is made with the label who owns the music or the manager for the artist . They base the value of the songs on the popularity of the artist Taylor Swift gets more money for her songs than a smalltime artist , the popularity of the song as it ' s been played by local stations , and the size of the radio station an artist who is not wellknown may ask for less money from a station they think will get more exposure for them . Local stations might pick up a song from a local artist who is not known outside of that area , but who is popular there . If it gets enough traction , a bigger , national stations might approach the artist for a contract for national or even international play . Big artists that are already internationally popular , like Taylor Swift , will probably be approached by a station before their music is even released in anticipation , especially if the station can secure an exclusive deal to be the only station playing that song in the area , or to get it sooner and play it for a while before other stations get it . No royalties are payed for each individual play of the song . It ' s just a big calculation based on how much the station wants to play it and how much the artist or owner wants for it .