Sony BMG steps in it again....

[Dr Mordrid]

with a payola scandal that goes right to the top;

When Sony BMG Music Entertainment, the nation's second-largest record company, settled with New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer in July and agreed to pay $10 million for engaging in "pay-for-play" practices, Spitzer said such corruption reached "the very top of the industry."

Documents released by Spitzer charged that bribing radio programmers with plasma TVs, vacations and laptop computers in exchange for airplay was not only commonplace at Sony BMG, but also had "been tolerated and facilitated by senior executives."

Investigators identified one such executive by title: the executive vice president of promotion at Sony Music's Columbia Records. Spitzer stopped short of naming names.

But an inquiry by The Times has found that Spitzer was told that the trail led to two of the company's highest-ranking executives and some of the most powerful men in music: the Columbia vice president, Charlie Walk, and his boss, Sony Music Label Group U.S. Chief Executive Don Ienner.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sony4dec04,0,3749240.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Jeezzzzz......

Dr. Mordrid

[Jammrock]

And this surprises anyone how... ?

[schmosef]

I read about this on slyck.com about a month or two ago. The article I read detailed a lot of examples of record companies calling DJs and asking them what it would take for a certain song to be played a certain # of times. And it included examples of various requests for freebies made by DJs.

[Taz]

In the UK the record companies always have controlled the radio stations The only exception was John Peel who played exactly what he wanted to play, sadly he's no longer with us

[Fluff]

That and the 30 or so London Pirate stations, but most of their management are probably equally as unsavoury.

I always thought the BBC could play exactly what they wanted due to the unique way that they are funded

[Dr Mordrid]

Payola is a touchy issue in the US because of our anti-bribery laws and a previous major scandal back in the 50's.

Dr. Mordrid

[Umfriend]

Remember kids: when you buy a CD, that you like so much cause your idol-DJ says it's cool (for a week, then something else is cool), you're paying for the DJ's Plasma-TV. When you make a copy to have in the cars' CD, the DJ only gets a 30-inch instead of a 42-inch. That's why you go to jail and he gets to sit with his fat ass in a $5,000 couch that he got for playing that other shit song by that other shit band last week.

[schmosef]

lol!