I thought some people might be intreasted, if not feel free to ignore: )

Sony BMG fined $10 million in payola scandal
Agrees to stop bribing radio stations

Tue Jul 26 2005

By Erin McClam

NEW YORK -- Recording industry titan Sony BMG Music Entertainment agreed yesterday to pay $10 million US and stop bribing radio stations to feature its artists in what a state official called a more sophisticated generation of the payola scandals of decades ago.
The agreement springs from an investigation by New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who called the practice "pervasive" in the industry and suggested other music industry giants could face similar penalties.

Pay-for-play "is driving the industry, and it is wrong," Spitzer told reporters.

The $10 million will be distributed to not-for-profit entities and earmarked for music education programs, Spitzer said.

Sony BMG, whose various labels include hundreds of artists from Aretha Franklin and Tony Bennett to Beyonce Knowles and the Dixie Chicks, said in a statement some of its employees had engaged in "wrong and improper" practices.

The company said it looked forward to "defining a new, higher standard in radio promotion," but did not say whether it had fired or disciplined any of those employees. A spokeswoman did not immediately return a call for further comment. A 1960 U.S. federal law and related state laws bar record companies from offering undisclosed financial incentives in exchange for airplay. The practice was called "payola," a contraction of "pay" and "Victrola," the old wind-up record player.

Asked why he did not bring criminal charges in the case, Spitzer noted the criminal laws governing pay-for-play are more specific and difficult to violate than the civil laws.

Companies in the recording industry depend heavily on airplay for their artists. It boosts sales by encouraging listeners to buy their music and helps them climb the charts, which are based on airplay.

Spitzer said Sony BMG's efforts to win more airplay took many forms, including outright bribes of cash and electronics to radio stations and paying for contest giveaways for listeners. In other cases, he said, Sony BMG used middlemen known as independent promoters to funnel cash to radio stations.

The attorney general called the system more sophisticated than the 1950s and '60s payola scandals, most of which involved direct payments of cash to DJs in exchange for airplay.

"This is a more formalized, more corporatized structure to get the same result," he said. He added, "I feel a little like Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day," a story about a cynical weatherman who is forced to continuously relive the worst day of his life. Jonathan Adelstein, a Democratic member of the Federal Communications Commission, said Spitzer "appears to have found a whole arsenal of smoking guns."

"We need to investigate each particular instance that Spitzer has uncovered to see if it is a violation of federal law. This is a potentially massive scandal," he said.

The FCC has power over the country's radio stations, which are licensed to use public airwaves.

-- Associated Press

"he said the record wouldn't have to be hot
it would depend on something else that I've got"

Very interesting. Thanks for the article. Certainly explains some of the crap that gets played. :D

As someone who's worked in independent radio, this sort of thing is all too familiar to me. And it is, obviously, the primary reason why there is so much very bad music played on mainstream stations -- including the ones that consider themselves "alternative" or "modern rock."

I am quite pleased to read this, though...glad to see that some of the slime is being brought to the surface. Thanks for sharing.

I am quite pleased to read this, though...glad to see that some of the slime is being brought to the surface.

Exactly my thoughts, it may only be a small win against the big corporate giants, bit it’s a win none the less!


Thanks for sharing.

No problem

It's not just the big corporate stations getting caught up in this -

WOODSTOCK - WDST-FM is among numerous radio stations implicated in a pay-for-play "payola" scandal being investigated by state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

It's not just the big corporate stations getting caught up in this WOODSTOCK - WDST-FM is among numerous radio stations implicated in a pay-for-play "payola" scandal being investigated by state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

I don’t know any USA stations, Sorry I just feel that it can only be a good thing that any Radio station that takes ‘kick backs’ to play music rather than playing things that they truly believe are worth listening to, deserve all that they have coming to them.

I understand that some radio stations may be less able to take the backlash from this and have become embroiled in this situation. However as with any situation in life, you make your bed, you lie in it and at least the money will be distributed to not-for-profit entities and earmarked for music education programs.

In the UK the Musicians Union has been campaigning for years to ‘Keep Music Live!’
And yet the amount of crap that commercial stations play is unreal. Unfortunately it is killing 'REAL' music, I mean honestly, we had ‘Crazy frog’ the ring tone at number one for weeks;)

I was about to argue that UK top 40 radio was better than US top 40, but in referencing the Radio 1 charts...ummm, really, just as bad. I'm used to reading the charts in NME and Q, which are a bit less, say, crap-oriented than apparently Radio 1 is. I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed.

I think John Peel was really the embodiment of what a proper DJ should be...I mean, how many folks on mainstream radio would have actually recorded enough live sessions of The Fall to have put out an entire box set?

Surely the fault doesn't remain entirely with the radio stations? I mean, if the general public in the UK weren't so unfussy and weren't to take any old crap that gets foisted on them, that crazy frog thing wouldn't have got a look in.

That's true, but at the same time, one has to consider how the general public's exposure to non-mainstream media is limited at best. Unless you're willing to explore other avenues, and a lot of people don't have the time or in some cases the initiative to do that, then all you have to choose from is what the major programmers throw at you.

My cousin and I have both worked for different college stations. Mine was open-format, while hers was strictly computerized and quite inflexible. They still only played singles from major labels, "mainstream" tag or not. I called up once to request the Cure, figuring they'd have plenty since they are a well-known band even to the general public, and the only song of theirs that was available was the single ("Cut Here") from their most recent album at the time (this was in 2001). Even if she'd had a CD with her, she had to play from the computer's list. And while that may sound kind of stupid, my cousin was going to communications school. This station was set up to be just like a "real-world" radio station, and that is exactly the way that Clear Channel, Cumulus, and the other large conglomerates work. I don't know much about the whole pay-to-play thing other than that it does happen, and while I doubt that it was happening at that college station, the people who were training them were doing so with such an environment in mind.

There are two stations in my area other than the one I worked at that buck the trend: WERU-FM, which is an 'eclectic' station with a very broad spectrum of programming (and I noticed was on CoRo's request list), and WKIT-FM, which is a classic rock station with a few uncharacteristic subgenres tossed in and an unusually flexible format...and the only reason that it's like that and not like other general 'rock' stations that have a playlist of only a couple hundred songs or so is that it is owned by someone who has enough money to buy a station and do whatever the hell he wants with it: horror writer Stephen King.

These are anomalies, though, and the vast majority of the offerings you the listener have on the radio dial are like the ones I mentioned above: computer-automated with relatively short playlists full of major-label bands. I met a guy a while ago who was working for a Clear Channel top 40 station; he would record his on-air dialogue in advance...he didn't even actually have to show up to do his show. It was all automated. This is what 'real' radio, at least in the U.S. and am now willing to suspect in the UK, is actually like.

Sorry for the rant, but there is SO many artists that I love that get hardly any exposure (at least Stateside, I do like a fair amount of reasonably well-known British acts) because they're not on a major label or handing out tons of cash. It's actually pretty disgusting.

correction: there ARE many artists, not there is many artists. I changed the wording of that sentence but forgot to change that one word. Yikes.

FCC set to probe payola scandal
By Chris Baker
The Washington Times
Published August 9, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Communications Commission will investigate the "pay for play" scandal that has spooked the radio industry and forced music giant Sony BMG to pay $10 million to settle payola charges in New York, the agency's chairman announced yesterday.

"The FCC has long-standing rules prohibiting payola. ... Broadcasters must comply with these rules. The commission will not tolerate noncompliance," said FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin, who holds one of the three Republican seats on the five-member panel that oversees the agency.


"While payola may not be a widespread practice in the broadcasting industry, to the extent it is going on, it must stop," Mr. Martin said.

Jonathan S. Adelstein, one of the FCC panel's two Democrats and its harshest payola critic, said he believes "this payola scandal may represent the most widespread and flagrant violation of any FCC rules in the history of American broadcasting."

The FCC's Enforcement Bureau, which also handles penalties for indecency on the airwaves, will conduct the payola investigation, Mr. Martin said. The agency could fine violators $10,000 per violation.

"If the bureau determines violations of the payola rules have occurred, the commission will take swift action," he said. Any evidence about payola violations beyond the Sony settlement also will be "thoroughly" investigated, Mr. Martin said.

Scandals involving payola -- a contraction of "pay" and the old "Victrola" windup record players -- erupted in the 1950s and 1960s, when disc jockeys such as Alan Freed charged with taking bribes to spin songs.

Congress and the states later passed laws that prohibit music labels from offering broadcasters financial incentives to play records on the air.

Sony BMG, a top record label, agreed July 25 to pay $10 million and to stop paying radio station employees to feature its artists to settle an investigation by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat.

The company said some of its efforts to promote its artists on the radio were "wrong and improper" and apologized for its conduct.

Mr. Spitzer -- who is seeking his party's gubernatorial nomination -- has released e-mail messages and other documents that outlined Sony's practices. The artists cited in the documents include Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, Celine Dion and Good Charlotte.

Mr. Spitzer also is investigating EMI, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group.

The radio industry has been largely silent on the Sony scandal. Spokeswomen for two of the nation's largest chains of radio stations -- Clear Channel Communications Inc. and Infinity Broadcasting Corp. -- either declined comment or did not return telephone calls yesterday.

Privately, radio executives have said they are concerned about the impact of Mr. Spitzer's findings on their business.

The FCC has not sanctioned a broadcaster for payola violations since October 2000, when it fined stations in Texas and Michigan $4,000 each for not disclosing payments they received from A&M Records to play Bryan Adams songs.

The FCC's announcement of an investigation into the Sony settlement represented a victory for Mr. Adelstein, who has waged a public campaign urging the FCC to crack down on runaway commercialism in broadcasting.

Mr. Adelstein has criticized television news programs such as "Today" and "Good Morning America," which have featured consumer specialists who tout products without disclosing payments they received from the manufacturers.

"The airwaves belong to the public, not the highest bidder. The vitality of radio is sapped when music is selected based on bribes rather than merit," he said.

The artists cited in the documents include Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, Celine Dion and Good Charlotte.

Tons and tons of money is probably the only way they can get ANYONE to listen to those artists.

"The airwaves belong to the public, not the highest bidder. The vitality of radio is sapped when music is selected based on bribes rather than merit."

At least SOMEONE out there's got a bit of a clue.

I was kind of baffled by the citing of each individual's political party in the article. Obviously the FCC, being a government organization, is obviously going to have politics involved in some way. However, it just kind of sounds dumb in this article. It could just as easily read something like, "New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, a portly man with a persistent hankering for smoked Gouda," and not be any less relevant. Just an observation.

I'm liking this, though! Smackdown! Smackdown! Smackdown!