Quote Originally Posted by MindGoneHaywire
Anyone still care to insinuate that major labels don't pay mob-connected independent promotion specialists to control what gets played on the radio?

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,4233398.story

Thanks for the post.

1. I'm not sure Sony BMG is connected to the mob.

2. Spitzer has a very poor record when it comes to winning in court. Unfortunately, as he knows, it's easier for BMG to submit to Spitzer's blackmail tactics than go to court. If they aren't guilty they should go to court anyway. Note that a settlement is not considered by the Attorney General's Office to be an admission of guilt.

3. Sony's fine is said by anonymous insider who is gulty of breach of confidentiality and is likely committing a crime by talking to the press (and likely from Spitzer's office), is said to be $10 million. Other companies expect to be finedd "in proportion to each company's share of the U.S. market." Sounds like a shakedown, not justice.

4. Most importantly, to quote the LA Times: "Those intermediaries have long been suspected of passing payments to deejays in exchange for airplay of specific songs. Such payments would violate a federal statute known as the payola law, which prohibits broadcasters from taking cash or anything of value in exchange for playing specific songs unless they disclose the transaction to listeners."

If this is the law, then Spitzer is unjustly persecuting the wrong people. The law appears to apply specifically to broadcasters, of which Sony BMG isn't. The criminals are the DJs who don't reveal to listeners that they have accepted payment. It seems Spitzer isn't that interested in the actual law, though. According to the LA Times, "When Spitzer's investigation was revealed in October, sources said radio stations and promoters themselves had not been subpoenaed."

Once again Spitzer appears to be abusing the law to fill the coffers of the New York State treasury.