Radio pay for play probe confirmed

ALBANY, N.Y. – New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is examining whether radio is engaged in a new form of pay for play reminiscent of the payola scandals in the 1950s, a record company confirmed Friday.

The London-based EMI Group PLC record label said it and other companies in the music and broadcast industries have been queried by Spitzer about the promotion of their recordings on radio stations.

“We are cooperating fully,” EMI said in statement. “EMI has a long-standing, strict written policy prohibiting unlawful radio promotion practices, and that policy was reaffirmed internally earlier this year. EMI has no reason to believe that there will be any material financial impact on the company.”

Spitzer spokesman Paul Larrabee refused to confirm or deny reports of the probe.

The Wall Street Journal in Friday’s editions reported that Spitzer is looking at how companies make sure their recordings get radio air time, still a major promotional tool for musicians and record companies.

The Journal said that shortly after Labor Day, Spitzer began requesting documents and information from EMI, Warner Music Group; Vivendi Universal SA’s Universal Music Group; and Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG’s Sony BMG Music Entertainment. The report said Warner Music was served with a subpoena, but it was unclear whether the other companies received subpoenas also.

None of the labels returned calls seeking comment.

The industry uses independent promoters or “indies.” They are paid by record companies to persuade radio stations to play the companies’ recordings.

They can’t offer financial incentives under a 1960 federal law that made it a crime punishable by a $10,000 fine and up to a year in prison to offer money or other inducements to give records airplay. The practice was called payola, a contraction of “pay” and “Victrola” record players.