Universal Music Settles Big Payola Case
The New York Times reports - “The Universal Music Group, the world’s biggest music company, has agreed to pay $12 million to settle accusations that executives paid radio programmers to play songs, according to a settlement announced yesterday. It is the largest settlement yet in an investigation by the New York attorney general that has shaken the music business.” It goes on -
“The documents say Universal twice paid for hotel accommodations in Miami for Donnie Michaels, then the program director of WFLY-FM in Albany, in exchange for his addition of songs by Brian McKnight and Nick Lachey to his station’s playlist. In April 2004, Universal provided Mr. Michaels — by then a programmer at WHYI-FM in Miami — with a New York hotel room and New York Yankees tickets. The company booked the room under a false name and used a false Social Security number to conceal the transaction, the document states.”
Nice.