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Sony BMG Admits Payola, Settles Lawsuit

July 26, 2005 -

Yesterday, Sony BMG was fined ten million dollars for engaging in Payola. This is how the RIAA is keeping crappy music on the radio.

In one case, an employee of Sony BMG's Epic label was trying to promote the group Audioslave to a station and asked: "WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET AUDIOSLAVE ON WKSS THIS WEEK?!!? Whatever you can dream up, I can make it happen."

In another case in 2004, the promotion department of Sony BMG label Epic Records paid for an extravagant trip to Miami for a Buffalo DJ and three friends in exchange for adding the Franz Ferdinand song "Take Me Out" to the DJ's station's playlist.

And in another, a program director for Clear Channel radio station WKKF-FM, or KISS-FM, sent an e-mail to a Sony executive saying: "Looking for a laptop for promotion on Bow Wow," a reference to a rapper.

Let's hear it for Eliot Spitzer! In addition, he's asked for documents from three other RIAA Companies: EMI, Warner Music Group and Vivendi Universal. Maybe if he nails all their asses to the wall on this, we can put payola into remission for another few decades.

Comments on Sony BMG Admits Payola, Settles Lawsuit
 
Comment Wed, July 27 - 12:53 PM by Greg
I think they've just found that lawsuits profits are up and music sales are down, so they're pursuing the higher profits.
 
Comment Wed, July 27 - 3:43 PM by tagger
I know two things:

All's fair where there's money to be made (or lost).

Corporate lawsuits have become a revenue stream rather than a remedy.
 
Comment Wed, July 27 - 12:27 PM by Tony
Hmmm.. I guess that is why RIAA is so bent on stopping file sharing. They need the money so they can "Pay" the stations to play their music.