Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

community_studios - [Community_studios] [Fwd: NBC: Look out record industry, Spitzer's gonna get ya]

community_studios AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Discussion of all things related to Public Domain

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: tom poe <tompoe AT amihost.com>
  • To: Open Studios <Open_Studios AT yahoogroups.com>
  • Cc: Community Studios <community_studios AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Community_studios] [Fwd: NBC: Look out record industry, Spitzer's gonna get ya]
  • Date: 22 Oct 2004 06:43:43 -0700

Yahoo!
-----Forwarded Message-----

> From: Steve Hoffman <steve AT goodnote.com>
> To: BLUES-L AT LISTS.NETSPACE.ORG
> Subject: NBC: Look out record industry, Spitzer's gonna get ya
> Date: 22 Oct 2004 00:00:46 -0400
>
> Elliot Spitzer, the high sheriff of New York State (aka the Attorney
> General), an aggressive fighter against corporate greed and corruption,
> has set his sights on the sleezy plug-o-la practices of today's music
> industry. The following is reprinted verbatim from the Oct. 22 NY Times
> (posted on its website as of midnight):
>
> Record Labels Said to Be Next on Spitzer List for Scrutiny
> By JEFF LEEDS
>
> Published: October 22, 2004
>
>
> Eliot Spitzer, the New York State attorney general, has recently
> taken on a procession of corporate powers from Wall Street analysts
> to mutual funds to insurance brokers. Now he is casting his eyes on
> the music industry, particularly its practices for influencing what
> songs are heard on the public airwaves.
>
> According to several people involved, investigators in Mr. Spitzer's
> office have served subpoenas on the four major record corporations -
> the Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, the EMI
> Group and the Warner Music Group - seeking copies of contracts,
> billing records and other information detailing their ties to
> independent middlemen who pitch new songs to radio programmers in
> New York State.
>
> The inquiry encompasses all the major radio formats and is not
> aiming at any individual record promoter, these people said. Mr.
> Spitzer and representatives for the record companies declined to
> comment.
>
> The major record labels have paid middlemen for decades, though the
> practice has long been derided as a way to skirt a federal statute -
> known as the payola law - outlawing bribes to radio broadcasters.
>
> Broadcasters are prohibited from taking cash or anything of value in
> exchange for playing a specific song, unless they disclose the
> transaction to listeners. But in a practice that is common in the
> industry, independent promoters pay radio stations annual fees -
> often exceeding $100,000 - not, they say, to play specific songs,
> but to obtain advance copies of the stations' playlists. The
> promoters then bill record labels for each new song that is played;
> the total tab costs the record industry tens of millions of dollars
> each year.
>
> The new scrutiny comes at an inconvenient time for the major record
> companies, which have been pressing federal and state law
> enforcement officials to shut pirate CD manufacturers and the
> unimpeded flow of copyrighted music online.
>
> The statute involved is a federal one and the case would not seem to
> fit neatly into Mr. Spitzer's jurisdiction, but state attorneys
> general typically have wide latitude to investigate issues involving
> consumers and businesses in their states.
>
> In this instance, Mr. Spitzer might proceed on the ground that
> broadcasters' dealings with middlemen severely limit the
> opportunities available to those artists who cannot afford to hire them.
>
> These promoters flourished throughout the 1980's and most of the
> 1990's, but their influence began to weaken after Congress
> deregulated the radio industry in 1996, allowing for an extensive
> consolidation that tilted the balance of power to a handful of newly
> created broadcasting mammoths.
>
> With their newfound power, some big chains, including Clear Channel
> Communications, at first tried to tap a bigger share of the labels'
> promotional dollars, and designated specific independent promoters
> to be the exclusive representatives for particular stations.
>
> Promotion prices continued to rise, but at the same time the
> consultants had less influence over airplay, record executives say.
>
> In 2002, the industry's lobbying organization, the Recording
> Industry Association of America, called on the government to
> strengthen anti-payola laws and examine questionable practices,
> including independent promotion. (Association officials are
> considering whether to provide new comments and information to the
> Federal Communications Commission as part of that agency's review of
> radio promotion, people in the music industry have said.)
>
> Cox Radio, and later Clear Channel, said they would not renew their
> contracts with any promoters.
>
> Since the big companies severed their ties to the practice, record
> labels - suffering from piracy and other financial woes - have
> sharply scaled back payments to the middlemen, and by some estimates
> pay them as little as $30 million annually.
>
> One promoter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mr.
> Spitzer's investigators "are not going to find anything; they're 20
> years too late."
>
> But questionable practices persist in a variety of markets and music
> formats.
>
> In the late 1990's, the Justice Department began a broad
> investigation of payola that eventually encompassed dozens of Latin
> and urban- music radio stations across the nation. It won
> convictions against two top executives at Fonovisa, the biggest
> independent record label in the Spanish-language market, and a top
> radio executive. No cases have been brought in the urban-music
> category. Unlike the promoters in the rock and pop fields who
> receive payments as stations add a song to their playlist, many
> urban-music consultants receive initial lump sums to finance the
> marketing of a new single, and distribute the money as they see fit.
>
> Archives & web interface: http://lists.netspace.org/archives/blues-l.html
> NetSpace LISTSERV(R) software donated by L-Soft, Inc. http://www.lsoft.com
> To unsubscribe from BLUES-L, send an email with the message UNSUBSCRIBE
> BLUES-L to: listserv AT lists.netspace.org






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page