Posted on 10/22/2004 10:13:30 PM PDT by Stoat
Music industry face US radio playlist probeEMI Group, the world's third-largest music company, said on Friday it and other music companies faced a US probe into how music companies influence what songs are played on the radio. "We are cooperating fully with this inquiry, which is at a preliminary stage," EMI said in a statement. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who has already taken on the investment banking, mutual funds and insurance sectors, has served subpoenas against Universal Music, Sony BMG Music, EMI and Warner Music, sources familiar with the matter said, confirming a report in the New York Times. Mr Spitzer has requested information on the companies' relationships with independent promoters who serve as middlemen between music companies and radio stations, one source said, confirming reports. The investigation revisits a decades-old practice of employing middlemen to sidestep US laws restricting the bribing of broadcasters to air particular songs without disclosing this to listeners. A spokeswoman for Mr Spitzer declined to comment. Warner Music and Sony BMG declined to comment. A spokesman for the Universal Music Group was not immediately reachable. The investigation, which several sources said was still in the "preliminary" stages and may yet lead to no official charges, started in September. EMI said in the statement it had a strict, long-standing policy against unlawful radio promotion practices. "EMI has no reason to believe that there will be a material financial impact on the company," it added. One music industry source said the investigation could be beneficial to the music industry, which shells out hundreds of millions a year to the promoters. "If the process is changed, where we no longer played that game, it would probably be a benefit to us," said one music industry source regarding the practice. Clear Channel Communications, the largest US radio conglomerate with 1,200 stations, said in April 2003 it had stopped dealing with independent promoters altogether. Ms Spitzer has targeted the music industry before, securing $US50 million in unpaid royalties to thousands of artists such as David Bowie and Dolly Parton in May. |
the last line is the best, where he is called 'ms spitzer'.
Is he going to sue every big company he can just to make a name for himself???
LOL!! What a shock this revelation is!! </ sarc>
I listen to a lot of channels, mostly talk, but I was a good country music listener for a few years....
believe me, they really push the junk down your throat.....
you wonder why.....
I predict music radio broadcasting will be gone within ten years. FM is so lo-fidelity, and cable and satellite digital signals have so much more in the way of features to offer that people will switch. The people who rely on music radio for their livelihood are going to have to adapt to new technologies, and this includes song promoters.
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