Newsday.com: Unsound practices

Newsday.com: Unsound practices: "In the 1980s, in an effort to skirt the payola laws, the record labels and radio stations began using independent promoters, or 'indies,' to get certain songs on the radio. Variations of that practice continue today, although Clear Channel Communications, Infinity Broadcasting and Cox Radio all have banned the use of indies.

Spitzer outlined several modern payola schemes in documents released yesterday, adding that deregulation of the radio industry and the rise of large conglomerates have resulted in 'increased sophistication' of such plans.

These days, DJs no longer pick the songs they play. The program directors do, choosing a handful of songs to add and remove from a set playlist. Because dozens of songs are released each week, vying for a spot on a station's playlist, record companies use 'promotional support' - vacations, laptop computers, concert tickets and other items - to add their songs to the list instead of their competitors'.

Once a song is added to the playlist, companies continue the 'promotional support' to keep the song on the week's playlist or get it played more often.

The more 'spins' a song gets, the more awareness it garners, the higher on the chart it gets and, presumably, the more records it sells."