Monday, July 25, 2005
By Roger Friedman



Payola Shocker: J-Lo Hits, Others Were 'Bought' by Sony

I always say when people ask me that the so-called vipers of the movie business would not last a day in the record business. Now Eliot Spitzer's office has decided to prove the point.

"Please be advised that in this week's Jennifer Lopez Top 40 Spin Increase of 236 we bought 63 spins at a cost of $3,600."

"Please be advised that in this week's Good Charlotte Top 40 Spin Increase of 61 we bought approximately 250 spins at a cost of $17K …"

Ironically, it didn't help, as the memo notes that the company actually lost spins — or plays of the record — even though they laid out money for them.

See above: The internal memos from Sony Music, revealed today in the New York state attorney general's investigation of payola at the company, will be mind blowing to those who are not so jaded to think records are played on the radio because they're good. We've all known for a long time that contemporary pop music stinks. We hear "hits" on the radio and wonder, "How can this be?"

Now we know. And memos from both Sony's Columbia and Epic Records senior vice presidents of promotions circa 2002-2003 — whose names are redacted in the reports but are well known in the industry — spell out who to pay and what to pay them in order to get the company's records on the air.

From Epic, home of J-Lo, a memo from Nov. 12, 2002, a "rate" card that shows radio stations in the Top 23 markets will receive $1000, Markets 23-100 get $800, lower markets $500. "If a record receives less than 75 spins at any given radio station, we will not pay the full rate," the memo to DJs states. "We look forward to breaking many records together in the future."

Take Jennifer Lopez's awful record, "Get Right," with its shrill horn and lifted rap. It's now clear that was a "bought" sensation when it was released last winter. So, too, were her previous "hits" "I'm Glad" and "I'm Real," according to the memos. All were obtained by Sony laying out dough and incentives. It's no surprise. There isn't a person alive who could hum any of those "songs" now. Not even J-Lo herself.

Announced today: Sony Music — now known as Sony/BMG — has to pony up a $10 million settlement with New York's Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. It should be $100 million. And this won't be the end of the investigation. Spitzer's office is looking into all the record companies. This is just the beginning.

But what a start: Black-and-white evidence of plasma TVs, laptop computers and PlayStation 2 players being sent to DJs and radio programmers in exchange for getting records on the air. And not just electronic gifts went to these people either. According to the papers released today, the same people also received expensive trips, limousines and lots of other incentives to clutter the airwaves with the disposable junk that now passes for pop music.

More memos: "We ordered a laptop for Donnie Michaels at WFLY in Albany. He has since moved to WHYI in Miami. We need to change the shipping address." One Sony memo from 2002: "Can you work with Donnie to see what kind of digital camera he wants us to order?"

Another, from someone in Sony's Urban Promotion department: "I am trying to buy a walkman for Toya Beasley at WRKS/NY.… Can PRS get it to me tomorrow by 3 p.m. … I really need to get the cd by then or I have to wait a week or two before she does her music again …"

Nice, huh? How many times have I written in this column about talented and deserving artists who get no airplay, and no attention from their record companies? Yet dozens of records with little or no artistic merit are all over the radio, and racked in displays at the remaining record stores with great prominence. Thanks to Spitzer's investigation, we now get a taste of what's been happening.

More memos. This one from Feb. 13, 2004: "Gave a jessica trip to wkse to secure Jessica spins and switchfoot." That would be Jessica Simpson, for whom Sony laid on big bucks in the last couple of years to turn her into something she's clearly not: a star.

And then there's the story of a guy named Dave Universal, who was fired from Buffalo's WKSE in January when there was word that Spitzer was investigating him. Universal (likely a stage name) claimed he did nothing his station didn't know about. That was probably true, but the DJ got trips to Miami and Yankee tickets, among other gifts, in exchange for playing Sony records. From a Sony internal memo on Sept. 8, 2004: "Two weeks ago it cost us over 4000.00 to get Franz [Ferdinand] on WKSE."

Franz Ferdinand, Jessica Simpson, J-Lo, Good Charlotte, etc. Not exactly The Who, Carly Simon, Aretha Franklin or The Kinks. The "classic" is certainly gone from rock.

The question now is: Who will take the fall at Sony for all this? It's not like payola is new. The government investigated record companies and radio stations in the late 1950s and again in the mid 1970s. (When we were in high school, we used to laugh about how often The Three Degrees' "When Will I See You Again?" was played on WABC. We were young and naïve!)

Spitzer is said to be close friends with Sony's new CEO, Andrew Lack, who publicly welcomed the new investigations earlier this year when they were announced. Did Lack anticipate using Spitzer's results to clean house? Stay tuned …

The question is:

How is Beau gonna afford to break the top 100?? Haha!

On the one hand, it's a damn shame to see that this goes on.

On the other hand, it's assumed that it goes on. In the long heated debate we had a few weeks ago, ("music should be free so everybody gets heard") I was the devils advocate, or, jaded musician, that STILL holds to the "it takes money" position.

I don't like it, but like I said, if a radio station is receiving 500 songs a DAY, which ones will rise to the top? They can't possibly listen to every song on their desk. It's that simple. I learned that in design school: how do you get your resume to the top of the stack? ANY WAY YOU CAN.

Now, the flat-out-cash approach is illegal (and even there, I don't know why) but hell yes, the big labels will attach a damn LIMO to a song if it will get it on the radio. And then the song gets enough airplay to infect the 12-18 crowd who will buy it like lemmings. It's despicable. Horrible.

Unfortunately, there's just no way to compete against that. Even when the radio stations DO follow the rules, there's just no way to get YOUR home-produced record on mainstream radio, without sinking some coin into it.

Now, I'm not saying tape a $1000 check to the CD. You could spend your money via wasted time and phone calls. Go to the station every day, bring the Dj's lunch, coffee, masseuses, things like that, and they will remember you and play your record. You could send your CD via a singing telegram - stripper, clown, whatever, and the DJs will DEFINITELY listen to your CD out of curiosity, and will remember you.

But if you just put your disc in an envelope and carry it to the front desk, and leave it there, you might as well throw that disc out of your window.

Why? Again - think about your competition. Don't think about yourself. Think about all the people who are trying to get that DJ's attention. And don't kid yourself: DJs ARE MORONS. They don't have a clue what they're playing, what's hot, what's not. The PROGRAM DIRECTORS are the ones who tell the DJs how often to play a record.

SO there you go. Feel free to post some goofyprincespeak about freedom of music in the future and crap, but just remember - it's you and 1000 other people waiting for that moment of freedom of the airwaves. Who will get played then? All 1000, all at once?

EDIT: BUT YES, THIS IS A SHAME THAT SONY HAS NO FAITH IN THEIR OWN MUSIC. You would think that Sony has the money/patience to let songs become hits (or not) on their own merit. Things have become too instant in this day and age.

Put money into your music. Invest in yourself. You're good. You're worth it. GO BUY THE BOOK: GUERILLA MARKETING. It will open your eyes.
[Edited 7/26/05 7:48am]

Beau, will you do a post on the best way to get your band booked at the coolest clubs and other promotion techniques to get fans in the door, and website hits, etc.? Thanks!

Re: The article - But it's old news, like Beau said.

Re: Beau's response -

beauhall said:

Yes, it's ongoing news but I think it's important to keep the issue exposed to the point where the consumer gets hip and ends up ignoring the product. In the case of SONY, it's not just the label, it's the entire SONY umbrella . Their hardware too. Sony's been sliding for years...and this certainly doesn't help.

How to get noticed. Well how much of a risk taker are you? You could wrap your press kit and CD in 50 plain brown boxes. Label them "THIS IS THE BOMB". Mass drop at local radio, tv and newspaper. Strategically place unattended in every station's reception area. Hide out and wait. Within a very short period of time, while bomb squads and media go crazy...you just might end up in headlines...and maybe in court too. But what's a small fine for Publicity? "Honestly your honor, I can't afford payola and I just wanted to get the record heard".

Stunts have been going on since day one. Elvis, The Beatles, Stones, Jim Morrison, Hendrix. Zppelin were crazy for antics to get attention. So was McLaren and the Sex Pistols. Ahhhh it was so much fun back then.

No press is Bad Press, it's all good if your name is in the paper.

Conversely, No Press is bad press. it's bad if your name aint in the paper. Double meaning, but both mean the same thing.

http://half.ebay.com/cat/...pr=1981520

artist08 said:

DONE.
http://www.prince.org/msg/15/154742