You typed that on your palm pilot? That's hardcore, brother. Definitely appreciate you taking time out of work and doing it through your phone to visit Cyberista.
As far as the attorney general growing balls to take on the record industry, a couple things are happening: First, it's an election year. I don't know if Spitzer is up for election but perhaps there's another influential political office advising the action. Second, this is what attorneys general are supposed to do–punch people in the stomach and slice their legs out from under them.
All your points are on the money. Anyone paying that kind of money for a playlist is involved in something shady. I don't understand why Congress didn't close the loophole. That should have been OBVIOUS CIRCUMVENTION #1. Can't outright bribe a DJ? Buy the _station's_ list and then _bill_ them for any new songs on that list. That just SOUNDS stupid.
People own the airwaves and radio stations have no right to be corrupt dirtbags. I want to see stations lose their licenses over this.
Your last question is the $64,000 question:
[small][b]Hector Claudio II wrote:[/b][/small]
[i]Who started this shit. Radio people bein greedy, or record labels tryin to “fix the race”?.[/i]
My instincts say the record companies started it. How do DJs get started? They're innocent and stupid kids with a love of music and a knack for electronic equipment. Life goes on. Money gets tight. Can't please everybody. What do you do? I think DJs are wide open for corruption. They might not even know what's happening when they have marketing people stroking their egos through more than just cash (i.e., hang out at a strip club with your favorite band, get led on by marketing girl, etc.)
The power center lies with the record companies. I can see a million scenarios where a DJ would suck industry rope up to and including sucking actual industry rope. However, I can't seem any situation where a DJ could force a record company into something they weren't going to do already.
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Laws are for people with no friends.
