buying radio plays

[crossways]

I saw this on another board. So cold this be the very reason Petra was not in "rotation"? No one buying plays?


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,163537,00.html

Monday, July 25, 2005
By Roger Friedman

Payola Shocker: J-Lo Hits, Others Were 'Bought' by Sony

I always say when people ask me that the so-called vipers of the movie business would not last a day in the record business. Now Eliot Spitzer's office has decided to prove the point.

"Please be advised that in this week's Jennifer Lopez Top 40 Spin Increase of 236 we bought 63 spins at a cost of $3,600."

"Please be advised that in this week's Good Charlotte Top 40 Spin Increase of 61 we bought approximately 250 spins at a cost of $17K �"

Ironically, it didn't help, as the memo notes that the company actually lost spins � or plays of the record � even though they laid out money for them.

See above: The internal memos from Sony Music, revealed today in the New York state attorney general's investigation of payola at the company, will be mind blowing to those who are not so jaded to think records are played on the radio because they're good. We've all known for a long time that contemporary pop music stinks. We hear "hits" on the radio and wonder, "How can this be?"

Now we know. And memos from both Sony's Columbia and Epic Records senior vice presidents of promotions circa 2002-2003 � whose names are redacted in the reports but are well known in the industry � spell out who to pay and what to pay them in order to get the company's records on the air.

From Epic, home of J-Lo, a memo from Nov. 12, 2002, a "rate" card that shows radio stations in the Top 23 markets will receive $1000, Markets 23-100 get $800, lower markets $500. "If a record receives less than 75 spins at any given radio station, we will not pay the full rate," the memo to DJs states. "We look forward to breaking many records together in the future."

Take Jennifer Lopez's awful record, "Get Right," with its shrill horn and lifted rap. It's now clear that was a "bought" sensation when it was released last winter. So, too, were her previous "hits" "I'm Glad" and "I'm Real," according to the memos. All were obtained by Sony laying out dough and incentives. It's no surprise. There isn't a person alive who could hum any of those "songs" now. Not even J-Lo herself.

Announced today: Sony Music � now known as Sony/BMG � has to pony up a $10 million settlement with New York's Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. It should be $100 million. And this won't be the end of the investigation. Spitzer's office is looking into all the record companies. This is just the beginning.

But what a start: Black-and-white evidence of plasma TVs, laptop computers and PlayStation 2 players being sent to DJs and radio programmers in exchange for getting records on the air. And not just electronic gifts went to these people either. According to the papers released today, the same people also received expensive trips, limousines and lots of other incentives to clutter the airwaves with the disposable junk that now passes for pop music.

More memos: "We ordered a laptop for Donnie Michaels at WFLY in Albany. He has since moved to WHYI in Miami. We need to change the shipping address." One Sony memo from 2002: "Can you work with Donnie to see what kind of digital camera he wants us to order?"

Another, from someone in Sony's Urban Promotion department: "I am trying to buy a walkman for Toya Beasley at WRKS/NY.� Can PRS get it to me tomorrow by 3 p.m. � I really need to get the cd by then or I have to wait a week or two before she does her music again �"

Nice, huh? How many times have I written in this column about talented and deserving artists who get no airplay, and no attention from their record companies? Yet dozens of records with little or no artistic merit are all over the radio, and racked in displays at the remaining record stores with great prominence. Thanks to Spitzer's investigation, we now get a taste of what's been happening.

More memos. This one from Feb. 13, 2004: "Gave a jessica trip to wkse to secure Jessica spins and switchfoot." That would be Jessica Simpson, for whom Sony laid on big bucks in the last couple of years to turn her into something she's clearly not: a star.

And then there's the story of a guy named Dave Universal, who was fired from Buffalo's WKSE in January when there was word that Spitzer was investigating him. Universal (likely a stage name) claimed he did nothing his station didn't know about. That was probably true, but the DJ got trips to Miami and Yankee tickets, among other gifts, in exchange for playing Sony records. From a Sony internal memo on Sept. 8, 2004: "Two weeks ago it cost us over 4000.00 to get Franz [Ferdinand] on WKSE."

Franz Ferdinand, Jessica Simpson, J-Lo, Good Charlotte, etc. Not exactly The Who, Carly Simon, Aretha Franklin or The Kinks. The "classic" is certainly gone from rock.

The question now is: Who will take the fall at Sony for all this? It's not like payola is new. The government investigated record companies and radio stations in the late 1950s and again in the mid 1970s. (When we were in high school, we used to laugh about how often The Three Degrees' "When Will I See You Again?" was played on WABC. We were young and na�ve!)

Spitzer is said to be close friends with Sony's new CEO, Andrew Lack, who publicly welcomed the new investigations earlier this year when they were announced. Did Lack anticipate using Spitzer's results to clean house? Stay tuned �

[Jonathan]

Business is business.

[executioner]

It is morally wrong and it is illegal. I wonder how many CCM Labels are doing the same thing. I would have to bet most if not all.

[brent]

This is way old news. They just got around to settling. Sony is just getting to the point of paying for what they were caught doing. It isstandard practice for everyone ever since payola was outlawed directly between the listener or lable and the jockies/programmers.

On one side of the coin, it will never go away. Business is done with cash, bartering and favors. Any one listener that is stupid enough to be force fed what to listen to, by radio, video, etc deserves what they get. I don't think that payola, or gifts by way of an indie rep, are anymore illegal than special interest groups paying off, uhum, I mean donating to politicians. It is no different than cities dropping their moral pants to attract the olympics. It is no different than companies paying atheletes to wear over price, child labor made, piece of crap tennis shoes or sportswear. Technically, it has to exist. People listen to the music that they like. Advertisers pay the station money to put their products in front of listeners. What's the difference? All that they need to do is start calling the songs spots, and sell the time. Then the radio stations can change from all music to all commercial programming and be legal.

[executioner]

I am under the understanding that this was NOT lawsuit, but a legal matter with the FCC. The FCC told Sony to pay the fines or some Sony Execs would have alot of legal issues like jail time.

[brent]

From the LA Times:

Sony BMG Music Entertainment, the nation's second-largest music company, is expected as early as Monday to agree to a settlement with New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer in a payola investigation, said sources familiar with the talks.

Sony BMG is one of four record companies that Spitzer subpoenaed last fall as part of his inquiry into whether music corporations were skirting payola laws by hiring intermediaries to influence which songs were heard on public airwaves. Should Sony BMG reach an accord with Spitzer, it would be the first settlement in the investigation.

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Representatives of Sony BMG and Spitzer declined to discuss ongoing talks. But sources said that as part of the settlement, the company was expected to admit some inappropriate conduct in its radio promotion practices and to agree to discontinue use of certain independent promoters. The sources requested anonymity because of the confidentiality of the discussions.

One source close to the talks also said Sony BMG, which distributes music by such acts as Aerosmith and Britney Spears, was expected to agree to change policies regarding "spin programs," under which labels pay stations to air songs during the late-night hours to buoy those tunes' position on industry airplay charts.

In addition, Sony BMG is expected to agree to pay fines that could exceed $10 million, two sources said.

Insiders at other record companies said they expected that a Sony BMG settlement would spur other music corporations to agree to similar deals with Spitzer's office. Those executives said whatever fine Sony BMG might accept probably would also set the standard for other companies, which would be fined in proportion to each company's share of the U.S. market.

In September, investigators in Spitzer's office subpoenaed executives at the four major record corporations � Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and EMI Group � to request copies of billing records, contracts, e-mails and other correspondence regarding the companies' relationships with independent music promoters who suggest new songs to radio programmers.

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.

Radio airplay is considered the most powerful promotional tool for record companies. In the past, labels blatantly traded cash, drugs and prostitutes for airplay.

Today, record companies pay independent promoters to persuade radio programmers to spin particular songs. The independent promoters pay radio stations annual fees, sometimes in excess of $100,000, in exchange for advance copies of the stations' playlists. Promoters say the fees do not influence a radio station's choice of songs. However, critics suggest that the payments are a way to skirt the law.

In May, Sony BMG divulged that at least a dozen executives had received subpoenas from Spitzer's office.

Since Spitzer's probe began, all four of the record companies he subpoenaed have circulated internal memos outlining unacceptable promotion practices, company insiders said.

When Spitzer's investigation was revealed in October, sources said radio stations and promoters themselves had not been subpoenaed.

But in November, Infinity Broadcasting Corp., the nation's second-largest radio broadcaster, fired a programmer suspected of accepting gift certificates from an independent promoter.

Then in January, Entercom Communications Corp., another radio broadcaster, fired a programming executive amid an internal investigation into whether he accepted travel packages and other gifts directly from record label executives.

Since then, Infinity announced that it would sever its ties with independent promoters. Radio heavyweight Clear Channel Communications Inc. announced in 2003 that it would not renew contracts with independent promoters.

Practitioners of the promotion trade, once estimated to be a $60-million-a-year business, have fallen on hard times. Increased governmental scrutiny and declining sales of musical recordings have caused labels to slash their payments to independent promoters by as much as 75% in the last four years. One of the industry's top promoters, for instance, has shut two of his firm's four offices and fired three-quarters of his 50-person staff.

In past investigations, Spitzer has been criticized for allegedly overstepping his jurisdiction, pushing into areas that are overseen by the federal government. The Federal Communications Commission is responsible for enforcing payola laws.

But the FCC, which is wrestling with other issues, including telecommunications policy, media consolidation and indecency on public airwaves, has imposed only one fine in a payola case in the last decade. It was relatively small, however: $8,000.

[executioner]

Brent,

You just verified my side more. If Sony and the others did not agree with the settlement the FCC would have taken criminal action against them, and there probably will still be at the very least a criminal investigation with some of these radio stations that took the money or other kickbacks from Sony and the others. Also the White House verified yesturday that if the FCC does not get these kickbacks stop they along with Congress will take action. IOW there might be some changes on how we look at radio and IMO its about time.

[brent]

Oh yeah, and the US government is just the clean handed entity to say what is right and what is wrong with taking money for favors. The only reason that they are against it is because that is money that they don't see from the program directors in the form of taxes. Law enforcement and inverstigative agencies are panzies in the process. They are too low on the food chain. So, too save face Sony and others might pay back a few million bucks and fire somebody. Big deal. The industry is a 100 BILLION dollars annually +/-.

There would have been no investigation had someone not slipped up and released print press about the J-Lo songs hitting the streets before they did. There was a prime time investigation into the now legal reps/indies activities. Nothing happened then. All of the people that work in radio, entertainment print, etc knew about this stuff for decades, and nobody has said anything. Why is it a big deal now?

I think that there are too many hyper rich people involved in the music industry, which is a very, very dark racket, to let their sources of income be jeopardized by a change in the system.

This activity will NEVER stop. There will have to be a reason to play the music, because the stations do not drive society like they once did. RF radio is becoming less and less of an influence. So, I don't care what the government says. Drugs didn't stop. Booze didn't stop with prohibition. They will one day legalize it and regulate it. Again, Songs will one day be considered advertisements for the bands themselves, and then this will be a non issue. As long as time on the air is for sale, this is a moot point for me. No matter what format music and video is used to reach the consumer, this activity will continue, because there are only so many listeners and so much time in the rotation available. There has to be a reason to compete. The stations could care less what they play, as long as people are listening. That is why major networks like ClearChannel have changed back to rock from pop overnight. They go where the money is. If they can't get money from the advertisers to offset the operating expenses, they will get it some other way. Sin will never stop. Greed is the root of all evil.

[executioner]

Since we are speaking aobut radio. I thought maybe you like to know that KLTY 94.9FM Dallas(the most listened to CCM radio station in the country) has seen a 20% drop in listenership in the first 6 months of 2005, and they said that all radio stations has seen a considerable drop in the last 2 years. The exception to this has been talk radio and spanish speaking stations. There is a spanish music station 107.9 in Dallas that is #1 in the market. I believe the radio as we know it is going away.