Why Radio Sucks, cont'd

[thefunkman]

"Payola is pervasive," says NY Attorney General Elliot Spitzer. Article on page 1 of the 7/26 N.Y. Times...LINK

 

Pasted Article:

 

Radio Payoffs Are Described as Sony Settles

By JEFF LEEDS and LOUISE STORY

 

To disguise a payoff to a radio programmer at KHTS in San Diego, Epic Records called a flat-screen television a "contest giveaway." Epic, part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, used the same gambit in delivering a laptop computer to the program director of WRHT in Greenville, N.C. - who also received PlayStation 2 games and an out-of-town trip with his girlfriend.

 

In another example, a Sony BMG executive considered a plan to promote the song "A.D.I.D.A.S." by Killer Mike by sending radio disc jockeys one Adidas sneaker, with the promise of the second one when they had played the song 10 times.

 

The gifts, described in a $10 million settlement with Sony BMG that was announced yesterday by New York's attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, exemplify what Mr. Spitzer called a broad effort by the recording industry to curry favor with radio station programmers in exchange for their promises to play specific songs.

 

The focus of Mr. Spitzer's inquiry is now expected to shift to the other three major record companies - Vivendi Universal, the Warner Music Group and the EMI Group - and the radio companies whose employees have accepted gifts in exchange for playing songs. Mr. Spitzer's investigators have served subpoenas on several radio companies, including Clear Channel Communications and Emmis Communications.

 

"This is not a pretty picture; what we see is that payola is pervasive," Mr. Spitzer said, using a term from the radio scandals of the 1950's in describing e-mail messages and corporate documents that his office obtained during a yearlong investigation. "It is omnipresent. It is driving the industry and it is wrong."

 

As part of the deal, Sony BMG acknowledged "that various employees pursued some radio promotion practices on behalf of the company that were wrong and improper, and apologizes for such conduct."

 

Yesterday, the company fired the top promotion executive at its Epic label. And it disciplined four executives in its Sony Urban unit and at Epic by imposing financial penalties and placing them on probation, said two people briefed on the actions.

 

Sony BMG also agreed to pay a $10 million fine, to be distributed to nonprofit organizations that promote music education; to follow new policies governing its efforts to cajole programmers; and to better monitor its promotional spending.

 

The finding that gifts were used to help tailor the playlists of many radio stations comes as audiences show signs of rejecting the music choices made by programmers. The iPod and other portable devices have begun cutting into the popularity of radio, and the growth of satellite radio has been putting pressure on the station owners to play a broader range of music.

 

For more than four decades, federal law has prohibited broadcasters from accepting secret payments or anything of value in exchange for airplay of a specific song. While music companies have long tried to sidestep the law, Mr. Spitzer says they have continued to violate it.

 

The state investigation found that Sony BMG, which releases music by acts including Jennifer Lopez, Good Charlotte and Beyonc