Pay-per-play

Yes, we all knew something like this was happening. Otherwise, how could some artists as JLo, Killer Mike, Outkast and others be so successful?

Two days ago it was unveiled a pay-per-play (pay-for-spin or whatever you want to call it) scheme in which Sony BMG and other three Record Companies were paying DJs (with XBoxs, Walkmans, travels and other free stuff) to play some of their songs more than a certain number of times.

One of the unveiled documents sent by a SONY BMG's Epic Records to a colleague at Epic read: "Two weeks ago, it cost us over 4000.00 to get Franz [Ferdinand] on WKSE. That is what the four trips to Miami and hotel cost . . . At the end of the day, [David] Universal added GC [Good Charlotte] and Gretchen Wilson and hit Alex up for another grand and they settled for $750.00. So almost $5000.00 in two weeks for overnight airplay. He told me that Tommy really wanted him to do it so he cut the deal."

Another Epic employee who was trying to promote the group Audioslave to a Clear Channel programmer asked in an email: "WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET AUDIOSLAVE ON WKSS THIS WEEK?!!? Whatever you can dream up, I can make it happen."

One more: a promotion employee unhappy with the times assigned for spins of the song "I Drove All Night" by Celine Dion wrote this internal email: "OK, HERE IT IS IN BLACK AND WHITE AND IT'S SERIOUS: IF A RADIO STATION GOT A FLYAWAY TO A CELINE [DION] SHOW IN LAS VEGAS FOR THE ADD, AND THEY'RE PLAYING THE SONG ALL IN OVERNIGHTS, THEY ARE NOT GETTING THE FLYAWAY. PLEASE FIX THE OVERNIGHT ROTATIONS IMMEDIATELY."

Sony BMG agreed to a 10 million dollar settlement with NYC, and it's expected that the other Record Companies will do the same soon.

Let me just ask if you think that an investigation like this could be done in Japan. As you know, giving gifts to business partners is a usual practice in Japan. How much money do you think local record companies spend on gifts to Japanese DJs...? I mean, how else could local radios air so bad and silly music?

Ok, ok, not all radio stations are the same, and I must recognize that my musical taste is not necessarily the same as a Japanese's BUT, do you think I'm wrong?