wow. didn't see this coming

[seign]

Payola Shocker: J-Lo Hits, Others Were 'Bought' by Sony
Monday, July 25, 2005
By Roger Friedman


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 naïve!)

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 …

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the sad thing is, 3 days from now, no one will care. old news heh.

[2Marlon2Brando]

Originally posted by seign

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the sad thing is, 3 days from now, no one will care. old news heh.

i dont care right now - see how long its been

[Axis of Action]

awwwwww franz ferdinand

tainted!!!!!!!111

[dean moriaty]

it's not changed since like the sixties. i hope no-one is at all suprised by this

[pugghead]

No suprises here, and cause of downloading the companies are using more and more sleazy ways to push there artists...its pretty sad all in all.

I work in a record store part time (virgin) we're only allowed to play music in our stores by record companys who have paid us ..... We too charge for each spin of the cd and everyhour in the day has a different price !!!!
so as a worker, this mean your stuck listerning to new ill divo cd from 9till 12am (to suck in all the old customers), the new rob thomas from 12-2pm(for the mummies) and Black eyed peas monkey biz from 2-6pm.(when all the kiddies our outta school) .... sad thing is it works 2, ppl are fucken stupid.

[ChristHimself!]

I'm so naive.. I just assumed this was already widely known and accepted.

[Nimrod's Son]

i really am surprised this isn't common knowledge

it's like scientologists buying up copies of dianetics

[Graveflower]

Originally posted by seign
There isn't a person alive who could hum any of those "songs" now. Not even J-Lo herself.

bullshit
i can

[COG]

I'm not surprised, I'll be surprised if someone gets prosecuted for it.

[dblank]

Originally posted by COG
I'm not surprised, I'll be surprised if someone gets prosecuted for it.

spitzer doesn't take anything to trial. he will collect the $10M happily and move on.

[Brute Squad]

It is, or it should be common knowledge that record companies have been using intermediary companies to front the radio stations money for decades. Adding a middle man somehow made it legal - they just call themselves consultants.

[severin]

Originally posted by Nimrod's Son
i really am surprised this isn't common knowledge

it's like scientologists buying up copies of dianetics

[seign]

Originally posted by dean moriaty
it's not changed since like the sixties. i hope no-one is at all suprised by this

yeah, but its never been publicly documented like it is now. It used to all be on the semi-downlow.

[dean moriaty]

Originally posted by seign


yeah, but its never been publicly documented like it is now. It used to all be on the semi-downlow.

but EVERYBODY knew about it. and i doubt it's going to change. probably less people are listening to radio now than they used to even five years ago. it's getting harder to push bands on the public i guess. i wouldn't be at all suprised to hear the same thing is happening at mtv

[seign]

Originally posted by pugghead
No suprises here, and cause of downloading the companies are using more and more sleazy ways to push there artists...its pretty sad all in all.

I work in a record store part time (virgin) we're only allowed to play music in our stores by record companys who have paid us ..... We too charge for each spin of the cd and everyhour in the day has a different price !!!!
so as a worker, this mean your stuck listerning to new ill divo cd from 9till 12am (to suck in all the old customers), the new rob thomas from 12-2pm(for the mummies) and Black eyed peas monkey biz from 2-6pm.(when all the kiddies our outta school) .... sad thing is it works 2, ppl are fucken stupid.

Damn, that really sucks for you dude. I was surprised that Franz Ferdinand was one of the bands mentioned. I was kind of surprised to see Good Charlotte on there too, but I'm biased when it comes to them. They are sort of home-town heros around here. They got their big break after they won a battle of the bands contest on one of the local radio stations and got to perform at the HFStival.

[seign]

Originally posted by dean moriaty


but EVERYBODY knew about it. and i doubt it's going to change. probably less people are listening to radio now than they used to even five years ago. it's getting harder to push bands on the public i guess. i wouldn't be at all suprised to hear the same thing is happening at mtv

Oh, I'm sure it's definately happening at Mtv and VH1. They only play the same 10 or so videos every day. That is, when they actually DO play videos.

[homechicago]

it's disappointing that this is what is being investigated. who cares about what's being paid for play on the radio? wasn't this bigger in the sixties, and don't most people know this? so the music on the radio often sucks, that's why people listen to internet radio, sirius, and downloaded ipod stuff.

if spitzer wants to be useful, find out how sony can legitimately charge what they do for cd's when the cost of production is lower than ever since many are manufactured outside the u.s. by slave laborers....

that's worth investigating.

[pee pee colada]

this story is not really news at all. but there's still a part of it that perplexes me: the fact that the shit moves off the shelves. the money that they're throwing at radio stations and the billboard charts has to some from somewhere.i always thought that in order to sell something, you need to have a decent product at least. but lo and behold, people actually listen to it, for some stupid reason think it's good and make a conscious decision to pay 17 dollars for it.

i don't get it.

[Luke de Spa]

Originally posted by pee pee colada
this story is not really news at all. but there's still a part of it that perplexes me: the fact that the shit moves off the shelves. the money that they're throwing at radio stations and the billboard charts has to some from somewhere.i always thought that in order to sell something, you need to have a decent product at least. but lo and behold, people actually listen to it, for some stupid reason think it's good and make a conscious decision to pay 17 dollars for it.

i don't get it.

People are mindless sheep! Shock horror!

[pee pee colada]

Originally posted by Lucky Day Spa

People are mindless sheep! Shock horror!

i can't accept that.