Payola, radio pay-to-play, is back, with support of large radio conglomerates.
ABC News: Payola Focus Turns To Major Radio Conglomerates: "Feb. 7, 2006 -- ABC News has learned the focus of a two-year long payola investigation by the New York attorney general is turning to the nation's nine largest radio conglomerates.
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer says evidence he has gathered clearly shows some of the radio conglomerates have participated in the illegal practice of accepting payments from record companies and middlemen for guaranteed air play for certain songs.
'The behavior has been unethical, improper, illegal and a sanction of some severity clearly should be imposed,' Spitzer told ABC News chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross.
Spitzer and music industry officials told 'Primetime' that millions of dollars in payments, gifts and trips are exchanged each year to get music stations to add songs to their weekly play lists.
Spitzer says record company documents obtained in the investigation of Sony Music and Warner, both who have settled with the attorney general, reveal payments for songs that became major hits, including Jennifer Lopez's 'I'm Real' and John Mayer's 'Daughters.'
Other artists whose songs are named in the documents Spitzer has obtained include Jessica Simpson, Celine Dion, Maroon 5, Good Charlotte, Franz Ferdinand, Switchfoot, Michelle Branch, and R.E.M."