Record Labels Said to Be Next on Spitzer List for Scrutiny "... [New York AG Eliot Spitzer] 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..." First Spitzer took on organized crime, then Wall Street -- now, the perfect combo-platter: the record companies. Who knew litigation could be so exciting? This could be more than interesting.
It's payola all over again. Everybody knows it and nobody's done anything about it for years. By the way, the payola story is proof that Dick Clark has lived up to his name for over 40 years.
Good for Spitzer. The way it is right now is a crappy system. My brother-in-law is a professional musician on an indie jazz label. When he tries to contact the jazz stations about promoting his record, they refer him to these promotional middlemen. He then started paying the promoters but never hears crap from them. Unless you are on a major label, it svcks to be a recording artist.
Maybe the next step could be to institute a rule where radio stations had to be owned locally and would...*gasp*...reflect local tastes.