In a story that is leaving me reeling at my other job in advertising, Brian Fays, Senior VP Of Direct Response for Viacom (aka MTV, VH-I, Comedy central, etc), it is reported in the Hollywood Reporter that an unnamed source said (yeah, I know, that's the way you will be reading Alyson's upcoming Jennifer Chiba story as well) left the company "following an investigation into allegations of a kickback scheme involving millions of dollars over a period of years."
Under threat of being sued ("Be very, very careful" was Fays words), Hollywood reported went with the story, ergo they must be pretty confident they have collaboration on the story,
According to HR, Direct response clients (highly negotiable prices) would give Fays briefcases filled with money and in return would receive heavily discounted prices on their commercial time.
Direct Response is pre-emptible media buying, which means it is very, very easy to use a sliding rate. According to HR, Fays accepted bribes in return for very low commercil prices.
Music and corruption can hand in hand. From all the record labels stealing black blues songwriters loyalities in the 1940s, to Alan Freed taking payola (and putting his name as co-writer on a Buddy Holly song), to Casablancas records paying off radio execs in coke, girls and cash to play their records (read "Hit Men" if you can find it). To today where somebody somewhere is paying somebody to have their record sleeve on the face of ITunes, I bet you, money fuels rock and roll.
But in advertising it is usually different. Buyers get tix to the VMA, cruises to mexico, all major sports events, free meals, etc. And at Christmas? The offices overflow with gifts.
What is interesting in the Fays story is not that it did or didn't happen, but that it doesn't happen all the time. If you have a sliding rate structure and you have one man in control of the price, it is an extremely easy thing to manipulate -in a great tradition of rock corruption…