Disgraced Sony BMG wasn't the only member of the Big Four Organized Music cartel to have New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer breathing down its corporate neck over bribes and payoffs.
Now the Warner Music Group has "reached a settlement" with Spitzer to "resolve accusations that it made payoffs to persuade radio programmers to play certain songs," says the New York Times.
Warner will pay $5 million to nonprofit organizations that finance music education and appreciation and will also pay $50,000 to cover the costs of the inquiry, says the story. It'll also mirror changes set out in a deal Spitzer reached with Sony BMG, which agreed to pay $10 million.
"Warner, like Sony BMG, also agreed to end its use of certain independent promoters, middlemen who are paid by the company to press programmers to add songs," says the NYT. "And the company agreed to limits on the efforts its executives can undertake to market its artists."
Warner and the other OM family members, Sony BMG, Vivendi Universal and EMI, are trying to sue men, women and children around the world into buying 'product,' claiming they're being "devastated" by p2p file sharers and calling them "thieves" and " criminals".
Sony BMG has been caught red-handed trying to plant secret Digital Restriction Management spyware on customers' computers.
Vivendi's Universal Music Group and the EMI Group "remain under investigation, as do many big radio chains, according to people involved in the inquiry," says the story.
Warner admitted "certain employees had pursued radio promotion practices that were 'wrong or improper,' and apologized, adding sanctimoniously, "From our perspective, radio cannot be too consumer-driven. The music that people hear on the radio always should represent the highest quality the industry has to offer."
Spitzer said Warner executives had obtained play time for songs through "deceptive and illegal" practices, including making payoffs in the form of personal electronics and tickets to the Grammy Awards, the World Series and the Super Bowl, says the story, going on that Clear Channel Communications and "several other stations" said in a statement, "We take this issue very seriously and have zero tolerance for pay for play. Any employees who violate this policy will be dealt with accordingly. We investigate any allegation of improper conduct by our employees. This is no exception."
Spitzer also criticized the Federal Communications Commission, which he said had displayed a "disappointing" lack of action in dealing with the radio broadcasters under its jurisdiction since the New York inquiry became public.
