EMI SETTLES PAYOLA DISPUTE WITH NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL

New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer office had investigated and found that EMI (which includes Virgin Records and Capitol Records), had illegally provided financial benefits to obtain airplay by giving radio station employees concert tickets, hotel and airfare and other benefits. EMI had allegedly used independent promoters to make the payments which benefited such artists as the Rolling Stones, Coldplay and Norah Jones.

As part of the settlement, EMI agreed to end its practice of paying radio stations or their employees for airplay. It also agreed to stop using independent promoters for this purpose. Moreover, the company agreed to hire a compliance officer to monitor the company’s promotion practices, and agreed to pay $3.75 million to New York State not-for-profit entities to fund music education and appreciation programs.

The Attorney General’s investigation of payola in the music industry resulted in earlier settlements with Sony BMG, Warner and Universal.
The settlement agreement is available on the Internet http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2006/jun/EMI%20Settlement.pdf.

FIDO TO PREMIERE AT TORONTO

Congratulations to our clients Blake Corbett and Mary Anne Waterhouse whose film “Fido” will premiere at this fall’s Toronto International Film Festival. The feature will be the opening film of Canada First! Section. This zombie dog movie is about a six-foot tall zombie named Fido who eats the next-door neighbor. It is a boy-and-his-dog movie for grown ups, "FIDO" will rip your heart out. The film will be distributed by Lion’s Gate.