Discussion of all things related to Public Domain

[Anatoly Volynets <av AT total-knowledge.com>]

Sorry, this is a test message sent on Tom's request.
-Anatoly

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004, tom poe wrote:

> 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.
> >
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Anatoly Volynets
http://www.total-knowledge.com
http://www.culturedialogue.org