Sony and Payola

I'm shocked! Just shocked!

Washinton Post reports:

"Recording industry titan Sony BMG Music Entertainment agreed Monday to pay $10 million and stop bribing radio stations to feature its artists in what a state official called a more sophisticated generation of the payola scandals of decades ago." (emphasis mine)

and love this:

"Don Henley of the Eagles, a founding member of the Recording Artists Coalition, praised Spitzer for addressing a problem that hurts recording artists."

According to the article, Attorney General Spitzer is also looking at "EMI, Warner Music Group and Vivendi Universal SA's Universal Music Group."

Read the rest of the article here

Of course this old news in a sense. For example, there is this article from 2001 in Salon.com which pretty much nails things head-on, and boldly asks and answers:

"Why does radio suck? Because most stations play only the songs the record companies pay them to. And things are going to get worse." Read the rest here