And that makes it four!

In a deal to get out of jail, EMI has agreed to pay $3.75 million to a music charity after being accused of paying (read: bribing) radio programmers to play specific songs by the likes of Coldplay, Norah Jones and the Rolling Stones.

EMI is the last of the four big music companies to reach a settlement as part of an investigation by the new york attorney general, Eliot Spitzer.

The New York Times reports that EMI had acknowledged that certain employees had "engaged in some promotional activities that were wrong and inappropriate."

"Wrong and inappropriate"? Guys, try illegal. US and New York state laws ban broadcasters from accepting payments of cash or anything of value unless the arrangement is disclosed to listeners.

EMI executives not only showed that they care about such technicalities. The email trail they left showed they were pretty dumb too. Welcome to the music business.

To check the incriminating evidence, check the attorney-general's website.

The thing that struck me about this case is that payola, the practice that earned notoriety in the early 60s when DJ Alan Freed was pinged for accepting bribes to play particular records, still seems alive and well. So what's changed? Well may we ask.

For a good rundown of how payola works, check the ClaySpots blog.