Say it ain't so....

[catesta]

Radio conglomerates target of `payola' probe

By MICHAEL GORMLEY

Associated Press Writer

February 8, 2006, 4:23 PM EST

ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said Wednesday he has subpoenaed many of the nation's largest radio conglomerates in his "payola" investigation of major artists and songs that he claims got air time because of payoffs by recording companies.

"A lot of the major songs have been implicated in this and it showed how pervasive the payola infrastructure had become," Spitzer told The Associated Press. "Probably many of the songs that were beneficiaries of the payola scheme would have succeeded without it, but certainly payola became part of the promotional structure and was integral to the game to get songs to the top. Major artists, major songs were sent up the charts through improper payments to buy spins on the air that translated into sales."

He said the victims of payola are listeners who didn't hear music based on objective criteria, including popularity, and artists who can't get their big break because they had no player in the payola scheme.

Spitzer is investigating the largest nine radio corporations in a scheme that involved Jennifer Lopez's "I'm Real" and John Mayer's song "Daughters." Songs by other artists are also being examined, including those by Jessica Simpson, Celine Dion, Maroon 5, Good Charlotte, Franz Ferdinand, Switchfoot, Michelle Branch and R.E.M. The radio companies that have received subpoenas control thousands of stations nationwide, including Clear Channel Communications Inc., Infinity which now operates as CBS Radio, Citadel Broadcasting Corp., Cox Radio Inc., Cumulus Broadcasting Inc., Pamal Broadcasting, and Entercom and ABC.

"Cox Radio has cooperated fully with Attorney General Spitzer's investigation," said Bob Neil, president and CEO of Cox, in a prepared statement. "Years before this investigation began, Cox Radio was the first radio group to terminate all relationships with independent record promoters to avoid any suggestion or appearance of `pay-for-play.' We continue to be a leader in our industry on this issue." The other companies had no immediate comment.

"Our policy couldn't be clearer," said Andy Levin of Clear Channel. "We have zero tolerance for pay-for-play. Any employee who violates that policy faces disciplinary action up to and including dismissal."

Jason Finkelberg, general manager of Pamal Broadcasting based in Beacon, N.Y., said he knows of no payola being practiced. He said music company representatives take radio personnel to lunch, but there is no cash or gifts exchanged at his company or others he's worked in. He said a couple decades ago record company "junkets" were provided to radio executives, but that has ended.

"We never accepted anything in exchange for air play," he said. "It's not something we'd ever do ... we base it entirely on its merit."

The practice has evolved but appears to be have been underway in its current form since the mid- to late 1990s, said Terryl Brown Clemons, assistant deputy attorney in charge of the payola investigation. She said the practice was found across the spectrum of music, from Top 40 to urban to rock, she said.

Artists and writers are not targets, she said. In fact, they have supported the probe and provided several complaints that assistant investigators.

News that Spitzer was widening his probe into alleged payola was reported Tuesday by the ABC and CBS networks.

Last year Warner Music Group Corp. agreed to pay $5 million to settle its part of the investigation and Sony BMG Music Entertainment agreed to pay $10 million.

A 1960 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.

In the 1950s and '60s, most payola involved direct payments of cash to DJs. Today, payola is in the form of "direct bribes" to radio programmers, including airfare, electronics, iPods, tickets to top sporting events and concerts; as well as payments to radio stations for expenses and for use in contests. Spitzer said companies had hired "independent promoters" to act as conduits for payments to radio stations and pay for "spin programs" to increase airplay of some recordings that are supposed to be based on popularity among listeners.

[Big Al]

Shocked I am! Just shocked, I tell you!

[Stereojack]

Shocked I am! Just shocked, I tell you!

Oh come on, we all know that Mariah Carey's success is all about talent.

[Christiern]

I remember well the late 1950s payola scandal. I was the only dj on my station who didn't get his name in the papers negatively. I hope these mega, hog-it-all radio networks really get punched out.

Imagine what would happen if music was played on its merits? The unemployment lines would be crowded with the non-talent we hear every day--including most of the people who will receive a small Victrola tonight.

[Chuck Nessa]

This crap goes on all the time and at all levels of the biz. I remember one night (in the '80s) when a NY indie jazz label owner told me he'd just paid a couple of Chi djs. No reason to believe it has stopped.

[BERIGAN]

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/articl...t_id=1001993401