Last year I blogged somewhat on the topic of modern-day radio payola and how it is distorting the listening landscape. In my fantasies a crusading AG exposes the industry's corruption and cleans things up. Now it appears that the code of silence around this practice may break, as two "independent music promoters" have filed suit against Universal Music Group alleging that the latter forced them to submit false invoices.

So the problem, guys, is not that you were part of the payola racket, but that you got fired and blacklisted for refusing to pad your payola records? Excuse me while I cry a crocodile tear river here. The whole system is rotten to the core. Promoters don't promote. Artists get ripped off. Producers get bullied. And the Cartel hollers "piracy" when you and I share songs? What a hypocritical bunch of hooey. How about we put the entire bunch of 'em out to pasture and actually let artists promote and sell their music to consumers without this blood-sucking mass of sanctimonious double-dealing?