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Posted on 07/28/2005 12:41:54 PM PDT by voletti
Sony BMG admits to bribing radio stations to play its artists.
IN 1980, according to a book about the music industry by Fredric Dannen called “Hit Men”, CBS Records decided to run an experiment with a band, Pink Floyd. Their concert dates were sold out in Los Angeles, and radio stations everywhere were playing “Another Brick in the Wall (Part Two)”. Dick Asher, the deputy president of CBS Records, wanted to find out whether the band's popularity meant he could refuse to pay the usual bribes, or illegal “payola”, to the four big Top-40 radio stations in Los Angeles. Like stations across the country, they claimed to make independent choices based on taste. But Mr Asher lost; only after Pink Floyd's manager insisted that CBS Records hand over the money did the stations spin the record.
Payola began in the 1950s and it is still rampant today. This week Sony BMG, a leading record label, apologised and agreed to pay a fine of $10m for bribing radio stations. New York's hyperactive attorney-general, Eliot Spitzer, said that bribes are pervasive in the industry, and that he is continuing his investigation into the other big record labels—Universal, EMI and Warner Music—as well as the radio business.
That seems fair: the radio industry, after all, is just as much to blame for payola. Employees at Clear Channel, America's biggest radio company, crop up frequently in the incriminating e-mails that Mr Spitzer published this week. The bribes they received came in the form of electronic goods, free airline tickets and hotels, sneakers and musical instruments and equipment. Some of the methods its labels used were quite basic, such as hiring girls to call in posing as listeners with requests for songs.
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
/sarc off
Record companies' hands are/were tied. No pay, no play.
I knew it wasn't just her butt.
This can't be true. I read an article yesterday that suggested that J-Lo wasn't very talented and it was only payolla that got her records played.
If I could remember a J-Lo song, I'd write the reporter and tell him he was wrong.
I'm surprise Paris Hilton doesn't have a gold record.
You mean stations had to be bribed to play classics like "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" ??? My faith has been shattered.
.....its all a game for the pretty boys and girls in country music land, and its no matter how bad they sound or their obvious lack of talent .......
".....its all a game for the pretty boys and girls in country music land,"
It's sad but one has to look like a supermodel to make it in country these days.
Agreed. The great Patsy Cline could never compete with a mega-talent like Shania Twain. (Uughhhhh)
so why do they try to sue for downloads? its the only free advertising they have.
speaking of Patsy Cline......the more I hear her, the more I realize what has been lost for all time...
The only bands that are objecting to downloading are the bands that know they need the RIAA and payola to make it.
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Ain't that the truth? She was a little bit before my time, but she really had "it." I love her music.
Ha! In college, we used to sing that as "Lift the seat before you go-go."
That's funny! My husband thought the one line was, "don't leave me hanging on the phone with Yoko." Between the 2 of us we could come up with a new/improved version! : D
There's good stuff if you know where to look. Good musicians? Nickel Creek . Excellent vocals? Sara Evans . Off-Beat roots music? Old Crow Medicine Show .
The whole package? Brad Paisley. He's the most talented man in country today. Decent singer, EXCELLENT guitar player, peerless songwriter.
I am not young, and I grew up loving Don Williams, Glen Campbell, Walon and Willie, Linda Ronstadt. But I have found plenty of good music coming from today's country artists. Oh, and I wouldn't call Toby Keith "pretty" - at least not twice.
Or that Jessica Simpson little sister with no talent who kept showing up on TV. Who greased the skids there.
thanks for the continued pings.
these threads are a brief respite from the daily WOT
ronnie t.
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