My Own Pirate Radio

Regarding attention, A-lists, and oxygen for content: the Economist published “Sing a song of Spitzer” back on Jul 28th 2005. It’s a brief piece on bribery in the radio industry:

Payola began in the 1950s and it is still rampant today. This week Sony BMG, a leading record label, apologised and agreed to pay a fine of $10m for bribing radio stations. New York’s hyperactive attorney-general, Eliot Spitzer, said that bribes are pervasive in the industry, and that he is continuing his investigation into the other big record labels—Universal, EMI and Warner Music—as well as the radio business.
…
Radio play is by far the most effective way to promote a new artist and to sell records. There is massive competition for the slots on a popular radio show, so the temptation to bribe is enormous. Small music labels often suffer because they cannot afford it. Nor do the big labels like the system, though they have made use of it. In 2002 a coalition of artists, other groups and the Recording Industry Association of America, which represents the labels, wrote to the Federal Communications Commission asking for an investigation of payola.

I haven’t kept up with news on it since then, but thought this was a neat and timely piece from the vaults.