So says Ben Schwartz who writes,
When you factor in that Bush was never elected in 2000, that steroids broke all those home run records, that the Tribune Company papers’ circulation numbers have been proven vastly overinflated, and the new Payola scandal proving that no one ever liked JLO in the first place … Well, my confidence in America is growing every day.
“How many times have I written in this column about talented and deserving artists who get no airplay, and no attention from their record companies? Yet dozens of records with little or no artistic merit are all over the radio, and racked in displays at the remaining record stores with great prominence. Thanks to Spitzer’s investigation, we now get a taste of what’s been happening.”
Gee, this guy is so right. Your local KISS-FM station was just about to play a Spoon record, until nasty Sony butted in and started buying airtime so that J-Lo would get played instead.
For the purposes of full-disclosure, I’d like to state that I am employed in the world of show business and my firm has on various occasions, hired “independent promoters” to advance the cause of our musicial artists at commercial radio stations.
After reading some of the internal Sony email uncovered by Mr. Spitzer, I finally know what we were doing wrong. How could we expect to get anything accomplished at commercial rock radio when we were giving away old-fashioned big screen TV’? It clearly takes a modern PLASMA set to get the job done. D’oh, etc.
The sad thing is, SONY is moments away from owning Michale Jackson’s Beatles catalog, and with their payola system, we could have had the Beatles back in the top 10 again if not for Elliot F’n Spitzer screwing everything up.
Ben
i cant believe you thought i could be bought out with ribbon magnets, silkscreened posters and free admission to concerts. what really buys my love [and airplay]: treo 650’s, anything on my amazon wishlist and swedish massages.
We do employ a talented Swedish gentleman, but I suspect he’ll have some demands of his own if the massages become part of his job description.