NY State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s ongoing case of 2 years or so against record companies has caused some fruition. EMI, the world’s third biggest recording label in the world has agreed to pay $3.75 million to a music charity for its wrongdoing. Music charity? Great, thanks. EMI is not the only guilty party, however, Sony and other music labels are also a part of this payola scandal.

Payola, for those of you who don’t know, is a practice similar to bribing. Record companies give gifts to DJs and radio stations in order to have their own songs played more often.

This practice was very common in the 1950s and if you’ve watched the movie Ray, you know a little bit about how it works. But in modern times, much like the Mafia, the existence of payola has been denied. But it goes on daily. Radio stations get bombarded with free gifts; sporting events, special bonus packs of goodies, all the latest tech-toys you can imagine. The list goes on - pretty much the reason we hear the same song played on the radio is because the record companies keep upping their bribes.

While the payment of EMI was very minimal, some others have paid upwards of $17 million for their crimes. If nothing else, if Spitzer’s plan works, NYC will finally get some better radio.

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