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BUFFALO, N.Y. (AFX) - The state's crackdown on "payola" is paying off in a big way for the state's cultural organizations.
More than 150 groups are sharing $13 million collected from record companies to settle allegations they improperly sold or traded air time to benefit specific artists.
The organizations benefiting now include the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, which will use $70,000 for the world premiere recording of a work based on the poems of Bob Dylan and $330,000 to record, archive and broadcast the work of Adirondack-area artists.
The Arab American Arts Institute of Brooklyn received $44,000 to tour and perform upstate and ARTSwego in Oswego will put its $38,000 toward a program highlighting the interaction between music and science through unusual instrument creations.
In all, 153 nonprofit groups statewide were chosen to receive from $15,000 to $750,000 in last week's first round of payouts from the New York State Music Fund, established as a repository for the payola settlement money.
"This first round of grants, in its geographic breadth and diversity of exciting programs, represents a significant step in achieving the fund's goals to enable people all across the state to experience the joy of music, and especially to learn about new forms of music," said Jessica Chao, vice president of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, which manages the fund.
A 1960 federal law and related state laws bar record companies from offering undisclosed financial incentives in exchange for airplay. The practice was called "payola," a contraction of "pay" and "Victrola," the old wind-up record player.
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in 2004 launched a nationwide investigation into the practice by music and radio companies.
In May, Universal Music Group Recordings Inc. agreed to pay $12 million to settle a payola case and last month, EMI Music North America, which includes Virgin Records America and Capitol Records, agreed to pay $3.75 million. Earlier, Sony's music arm agreed to a $10 million settlement with Spitzer's office and Warner Music Group Corp. to a $5 million settlement.
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Executive Director Daniel Hart said the grant for the Dylan project validates the orchestra's commitment to new music. The BPO will work with composer John Corigliano to record "Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan."
The New York State Music Fund received 304 applications for the first distribution cycle. Another round of grants will be announced in December. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
Copyright 2006 AFX News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
