Universal Music Settles Claims Over Radio Play

UNIVERSAL MUSIC SETTLES CLAIMS OVER RADIO PLAY
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Ethan Smith ethan.smith@wsj.com]
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer fired the latest salvo in his battle against corrupt practices in the music industry, announcing a $12 million settlement with Universal Music Group in a probe involving payola allegations. Spitzer's office produced emails and other documentation that showed Universal executives agreeing to give radio programmers computers, travel, concert tickets and other inducements in exchange for specific amounts of airplay for specific songs. That practice is illegal under decades-old laws against payola. Although other behavior that was detailed, such as buying ad time and using it to play songs, are less clearly violations of the law, Universal nonetheless agreed to discontinue such practices. Many of the transactions cited depict radio station employees soliciting goods from Universal employees in exchange for airplay. But they also depict Universal employees as complicit. In an internal email exchange, one Universal executive tells another to produce two "good" U2 tickets for radio station executives and to give "cheaper" ones to listeners who won a contest. The Federal Communications Commission has launched its own pay-for-play investigation.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114737907462850504.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
(requires subscription)

* Universal Music Settles Big Payola Case
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/business/12payola.html

* Universal Fined a Record to Settle Payola Claims
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-uni12may12,1,725182...