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Thread started 11/29/04 6:32am

laurarichardso
n

Article about Murder Inc and history of record ex and the reporting of false sales.

Looking at the Usher thread. It looks like a lot of you have no clue about the music business, double scanning and false sales. Read on !!!!


The noose is getting a little tighter over at Murder Inc., the rap record label that launched the platinum careers of R&B singer Ashanti and rapper Ja Rule. The label's accountant, recently indicted by the Brooklyn DA, has even hired a powerful legal gun — a former Assistant District Attorney— to try and get her out of this mess.

Cynthia Brent Carr, who has handled Murder Inc.'s money since its start in 1997, is using Guy Petrillo, a former Assistant United States Attorney in Manhattan for seven years. He served as Chief Appellate Attorney of the Criminal Division (1996-97), Chief of the Narcotics Unit (1995-96) and prosecuted racketeering, fraud and money laundering offenses, according to his bio.

Petrillo is now a partner at Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman, where the rate of $300 to $500 per hour is more than the average accountant can usually afford. Calls to his office have not been returned.

Yesterday even the New York Daily News featured a recap of the legal troubles at Murder Inc, known for the last year simply as The Inc.

Thorough as the Daily News story was, it still did not convey the many tributaries that lead from Murder Inc. right back to more conventional businesses: Universal and Warner Music Groups. And at the center of the controversy is Warner's chief exec Lyor Cohen and described two years ago by Murder Inc.'s founder, Irv Gotti, as his mentor.

Also missing from yesterday's report is the fact that Murder Inc. falls under the aegis of Universal's Doug Morris. Since its inception in 1997, Murder Inc.'s records have been recorded, manufactured and distributed by Universal and Morris. With Cohen now decamped to Warner Music Group, the Murder Inc. debacle is Morris' responsibility.

Universal Music Group — the biggest, most successful, most controversial of them all — is owned by Vivendi, a French media company. But its success in rap has made it a target of negative publicity.

Last January, Def Jam — under Cohen — was accused in a lawsuit of allegedly fixing the number to make its CD sales look larger than they were with Nielsen SoundScan. Six weeks earlier, another Universal Music Group division, Interscope, was accused in The Los Angeles Times of padding its sales figures.

Ironically, a decade ago Interscope's rap music was considered too hot to handle by Time Warner — where Morris was presiding over Warner Music Group — and moved it to what later became Universal.

The serious problems at Murder Inc., of course, stem from Gotti's alleged relationship with drug kingpin Kenneth McGriff. Federal authorities have been hard at work for years establishing the connection between McGriff and Gotti (real name Irv Lorenzo) to prove that Murder Inc. is funded by drug money. McGriff spent 10 years in jail, from 1987 to 1997, for running a crack gang. He is currently back in prison on weapons charges.

Murder Inc. also hosts homegrown singer Ashanti. The label had its biggest hit when it loaned out Ashanti and Ja Rule for "I'm Real" with Jennifer Lopez. Ja Rule's latest album is currently at No. 20 after two weeks on the Billboard Top 100.

But two weeks ago the Brooklyn District Attorney's office got a lot more serious when it indicted Murder Inc.'s Brent Carr. The charges: conspiring to conduct improper financial transactions, involving drug money, for the purposes of evading taxes.

Make no mistake: Brent claims her innocence. I am told she will assert that the government is putting the squeeze on her to get the goods on Gotti and McGriff.

While Brent's indictment and other news about McGriff's criminal conduct will all culminate soon, it's worthwhile to note that the trail of the Murder Inc. story always leads back to Warners' Lyor Cohen. Murder Inc.'s first big act, and their current chart star, is rapper Ja Rule.

Last year when he still with Universal Music Group, Cohen's testimony in a lawsuit brought by small rival TVT Records concerning Ja Rule and Gotti ended in a judgment of $53 million. UMG will likely have to pay TVT that amount, which was reduced from an original $132 million, half of which was originally designated as Cohen's TVT debt, after it was ruled that Cohen and UMG were guilty of fraud.

Gotti aka Lorenzo and others involved with Murder Inc. like to spin the idea that the name of the label — which they changed a year ago — and all the other gangsta mentality of rap is just for fun and not to be taken seriously. It was in that spirit, assumedly, that Gotti dubbed Cohen his own "Meyer Lansky" in a 2002 statement when Murder Inc. and Def Jam/Universal publicly renewed their business deal.

The late Lansky was a notorious, vicious, murderous and not very fun mobster. He was infamous partners with one mob pal, Lucky Luciano, and is thought to have killed another, Bugsy Siegel. He died in 1983.

"I re-signed with Island Def Jam because of my relationship with ‘Lansky’ aka Lyor Cohen who I feel is like my father in the music business," Gotti said at the time. "I started with him and I'm going to finish with him. There is no other company that compliments Murder Inc. or is a better partner for us."

Shortly thereafter Murder Inc. was moved to its own offices outside those of the Universal Music Group. A few months later, Universal put up no fight when Cohen jumped to Warner Music Group, which had just been sold by Time Warner to Edgar Bronfman, Jr. and investors.
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Reply #1 posted 11/29/04 9:55am

kisscamille

I won't waste time with too many comments on this. I have always thought some of the folks over at Murder Inc. are nothing but a bunch of thugs. This only enforces it. I'd like to see the entire company fold and some go to jail.
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Reply #2 posted 11/29/04 3:59pm

sosgemini

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kisscamille said:

I won't waste time with too many comments on this. I have always thought some of the folks over at Murder Inc. are nothing but a bunch of thugs. This only enforces it. I'd like to see the entire company fold and some go to jail.



omfg

be careful of what you say....the hills have eyes.....


zipped


whistling
Space for sale...
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Reply #3 posted 11/30/04 5:08am

laurarichardso
n

sosgemini said:

kisscamille said:

I won't waste time with too many comments on this. I have always thought some of the folks over at Murder Inc. are nothing but a bunch of thugs. This only enforces it. I'd like to see the entire company fold and some go to jail.



omfg

be careful of what you say....the hills have eyes.....


zipped


whistling

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I am not suprised that I only got two responses to this article. Yet everytime I mention double scanning and the criminal element of the industry people on this board doubt it exsist.
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Reply #4 posted 11/30/04 6:00am

OdysseyMiles

laurarichardson said:

I am not suprised that I only got two responses to this article. Yet everytime I mention double scanning and the criminal element of the industry people on this board doubt it exsist.


I think some people here would rather ignore it or hope that it doesn't exist. Makes sense that some would like to hold onto some hope that the music business is not that crooked. For one, they may have to reconcile that crooked behavior with some of their favorite artists. I'm glad I'm not a fan of "The Inc." lol
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Reply #5 posted 11/30/04 11:08am

CinisterCee

laurarichardson said:


Last January, Def Jam — under Cohen — was accused in a lawsuit of allegedly fixing the number to make its CD sales look larger than they were with Nielsen SoundScan. Six weeks earlier, another Universal Music Group division, Interscope, was accused in The Los Angeles Times of padding its sales figures.


It doesn't say they were fixing the number by scanning more than they sold though... it says their accounting reported sales figures larger than their actual sales (proven by SoundScan). This is probably more important to Def Jam's investors than to people who read Billboard.

neutral
[Edited 11/30/04 11:10am]
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Reply #6 posted 11/30/04 1:34pm

laurarichardso
n

CinisterCee said:

laurarichardson said:


Last January, Def Jam — under Cohen — was accused in a lawsuit of allegedly fixing the number to make its CD sales look larger than they were with Nielsen SoundScan. Six weeks earlier, another Universal Music Group division, Interscope, was accused in The Los Angeles Times of padding its sales figures.


It doesn't say they were fixing the number by scanning more than they sold though... it says their accounting reported sales figures larger than their actual sales (proven by SoundScan). This is probably more important to Def Jam's investors than to people who read Billboard.

neutral
[Edited 11/30/04 11:10am]

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Don't you think adjusting sales figures and double scanning are kind of the same thing. Fake sales. I posted another article a few months ago about a former Sony Employee who is suing over the fact that she was not paid for double scanning. Record companies inflate sales. I don't really care if the readers of billboard are interested but, the people on this board continue to insist that this does not happen. Just wanted to show that it is happening.
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Reply #7 posted 11/30/04 2:17pm

89Flowers

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I don't care much for Irv Ghetto and his phony Inc. If he doesn't go down for the money laundering with the supposed drug dealer, then I hope this news will knock him out. Though they're not the same situations, where has Death Row records been since Tupac was murdered? You can never really trust these little vanity labels that are backed by the Big Wigs.
This post has been modified from its original thought. It has been formatted to fit into the space and run in the time allotted.
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Forums > Music: Non-Prince > Article about Murder Inc and history of record ex and the reporting of false sales.