Nice to see "payolla" is still alive and well (note sarcasm).

[pilferk]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8700936/

FYI, the kinds of practices detailed in the article (pay for play aka payola) were made illegal in the early 60's.? Here's a link explaining it:

http://www.history-of-rock.com/payola.htm

By the looks of the article, it looks like Sony, at least (and I would venture to guess they are not the ONLY big label doing it, but...well, that's just my speculation) has been doing exactly what many consumers have expected is going on in the radio world: Paying for airtime.

And we wonder why all radio is so homogenized....

Edit: I hope this story has some legs and we hear more about this.  The stations that accepted Sony's "gifts" are not really mentioned.  I'd love to hear if Clear Channel stations were involved at all.  Maybe not, but, given how much of the radio "business" they controll, you gotta wonder.

[Axls Locomotive]

these dodgy practices are now seemingly accepted as mainstream...real bands never get a chance

[Thorazine Shuffle]

Payola is part of the reason why record companies are losing business.  By focusing on these "pop artist" like Britney and etc.  Most people grow out of the pop music fad by their early twenties and the next generation will not want to listen to the music that payola are pushing.  Therefore Record Companies are trying to push artists like Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears long after their 15 minutes of fame are gone.  It's an endless and asinine pratice.   

[SLCPUNK]

Wow, imagine that. Gifts and money for playing certain tunes.

Seems wrong that they can pay to put their music first and often, but sue kids for downloading music at the same time.

Not sure how those are connected, just seems wrong.

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

here a little daily show clip about that
funny



http://www.comedycentral.com/sitewide/media_player/play.jhtml?itemId=16682