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Sony BMG Busted.


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Sony's radio playlist sweeteners strike a sour note

Sony BMG, one of the world's largest music companies, will pay $US10 million ($13.11 million) to settle a probe into payoffs by record labels to ensure radio airplay.


Under the agreement, Sony BMG undertook to stop making payments and providing expensive gifts to radio stations and their employees in return for broadcast time - a practice widely known as "payola".


"Our investigation shows that, contrary to listener expectations that songs are selected for airplay based on artistic merit and popularity, air time is often determined by undisclosed payoffs to radio stations and their employees," New York Attorney-General Eliot Spitzer said in a statement.


"This agreement is a model for breaking the pervasive influence of bribes in the industry," he added.


In September, investigators subpoenaed executives at Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI Group as well as Sony BMG.


They requested copies of billing records, contracts, e-mails and other correspondence regarding the companies' relationships with independent music promoters who suggest new songs to radio programmers.


After a year-long investigation, Mr Spitzer's office determined that Sony BMG and its record labels had offered a series of inducements to radio stations and their employees to obtain airplay for the recordings by the company's artists.


The sweeteners included outright bribes to radio programmers, contest giveaways for listeners and payments to cover the stations' operational expenses.


Under the settlement, Sony agreed to stop making payoffs in return for airplay and fully disclose all items of value provided to radio stations in the future.


It also agreed to corporate-wide reforms, including hiring a compliance officer responsible for monitoring promotion practices and developing and implementing an internal accounting system designed to detect future abuses.


The settlement was welcomed by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), which described "pay-for-play" as a pernicious system that hoodwinked the public.


"We look forward to (Mr Spitzer's) continuing investigation of the other record labels," said AFTRA director of sound recordings Ann Chaitovitz.


-AFP


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cheers

john

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