Sony BMG Music Entertainment Monday agreed to pay $10 million to settle New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's charges of payola.
The second largest U.S. music company also agreed to stop making illegal payments to radio stations and stop giving gifts to radio employees in return for getting their songs played, the New York Times said. Sony BMG will also hire a compliance officer to monitor promotions and start internal auditing to detect abuses.
Sony BMG was one of four companies subpoenaed last fall in Spitzer's investigation into the music business, the Times reported.
Spitzer's office said it had proof of Sony offering bribes to radio station employees.
Spitzer said instead of artistic merit or popularity, airtime for artists "is often determined by undisclosed payoffs to radio stations and their employees."
Under the federal payola law, radio stations are prohibited from taking cash or anything of value to pay certain songs unless the transaction is disclosed over the air.
© Copyright 2005 by United Press International
