User talk:Ewjournal

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~&#126;); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you have any questions, check out Where to ask a question or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome! -- Alf melmac 22:50, 27 November 2005 (UTC)
 * The five pillars of Wikipedia
 * How to edit a page
 * Help pages
 * Tutorial
 * How to write a great article
 * Manual of Style

Verifiability
Please be careful about pushing your own point of view in articles such as Good Charlotte. Also, make sure that what you say is verifiable and not just your opinion - Wikipedia isn't the place for original research.

Also, I removed the section on Sony from Good Charlotte. Feel free to carefully rewrite a (shorter) section on the scandal, but make it specific to Good Charlotte and be sure to use a neutral point of view. Information that is more about Sony than GC should be in a separate article. I pasted the deleted info below for your reference (don't feel obligated to keep it on your talk page if you don't like it here). --DDerby- (talk) 07:38, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

The Sony Payola Scandal
On July 25, 2005, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer released a mass press release that the corporate giant Sony BMG (which in fact owns Epic) was being fined $10 million for illegally bribing radio stations across America to play songs by it’s artists (Good Charlotte was among the list). Record Executives bribed radio DJ’s with various prizes such as cash, trips, computers, and other electronics. These acts are illegal and violation to state laws (several of Good Charlotte’s songs such as Lifestyle’s Of The Rich and The Famous, Hold On, and I Just Wanna Live were among some of the songs that were involved). Despite being illegal the practice of bribing in the music industry is nothing new. Back in 1960 the law was changed to make this practice illegal, after a huge controversy about “payola” blew up. Paying for advertisements are legal because the public is aware they are being paid for. When bribing is being done, a song can end up in the top charts when other wise it might not have, which can mislead the public into purchasing the music. The $10 million dollar fine sounds like a major chunk of change but beings that Sony has a $300 million dollar promotion budget it won’t exactly put a dent in their wallets. Sony has apologized calling the acts “wrong and improper”. Spitzer released a few e-mails to reporters, most of them dated between 2003-2005. The e-mails showed that company executives were well aware of the payola practices. When asked why he did not bring criminal charges in this case, Spitzer stated that criminal laws are more complicated and difficult than civil laws. Spitzer has stated they will be turning over stones and monitoring other Record Companies such as Universal for the same problems. Besides Good Charlotte, some of the other artists that Sony Execs bribed stations to play include: Beyonce, Avril Lavigne, Jessica Simpson, Franz Ferdinand, Kelly Clarkson, Gretchen Wilson, JLO, and Celine Dion.

Good Charlotte, is one of the hundreds of artists Sony BMG own and promote on Epic, (Epic is a sub label of Sony) Sony is also known as a part of the “Big Four” (a nickname for the music industry monopoly). A few of the mass of record labels Sony owns are: Epic Records, Jive Records, Columbia Records, Arista Records, J Records, RCA Label Group, Provident Integrity, CMR Cross Movement Records, Creative Trust Workshop Records, Beach Street Records, Music Man Records, a long with dozens of others. Many of the labels have mini sub-labels underneath them. Sony BMG has also purchased many Indie labels after they went bankrupt.

Good Charlotte’s label-mates include: Britney Spears, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Aaron Carter, Mandy Moore, Jessica Simpson, Christina Aguilera, Avril Lavigne, Beyonce, Celine Dion, Gretchen Wilson, Milli Vanilli, New Kids On The Block, O-Town, Franz Ferdinand, Jennifer Lopez, Clay Aiken, Destiny’s Child, Willie Nelson, Anastasia, Kelly Clarkson, Kylie Minogue, Usher, B2K, Ricky Martin, World’s Best Praise and Worship, God Rocks, Rock N Roll Worship Circus, Da Truth, LAMB, Green Day, AC/DC, Dido, Maroon 5, Ruben Studdard, Monica, Fantasia, Gavin DeGraw, Michael Jackson, John Mayer, Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Nick Cannon, Nick Carter, and hundreds of other artists

(Sources include: Sony, MSN, ABC, MTV, PBS, Party Peeps, Google, and NY State)

For more information on Sony Labels visit:

http://sonybmg.com/

To Find out more about the scandal:

http://republicnewswire.blogspot.com/2005/07/sony-bmg-faces-music.html

http://www.idobi.com/news.wml?200507251

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2005/s1422627.htm

http://medialit.med.sc.edu/radio_payola.htm

http://www.seattlest.com/archives/2005/07/27/available_for_a_bribe.php

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000991048

http://www.nowpublic.com/node/15581

Album Staff
Following the “Pay for Play” Scandal many sites, magazines, newspapers, television shows, and fan boards, have argued back and forth if the band is a Corporate band or not. It's a matter of facts vs facts, opinion vs opinion, facts vs opinion. For some it's a matter of ethics, it's come to be very controversial in music politics. But some very strong facts for the argument is that simply using Google on some of the names Good Charlotte thanked on Young And The Hopless album credits, you’ll easily find that they have very high status. Many disappointed fans started complaining that Good Charlotte mislead them by stating they were a "self-made" band. Which has turned out not to be as accurate as they first claimed; Sony had a major hand in Good Charlotte's creation, style, sound, and promotion. Sony BMG and many other labels have a very long extensive history of deliberately manufacuring teen idols, profiting off teenage fans (mainly girls), this practice has been being done since the 1950's. At times Good Charlotte has worsened their own problems, adding fuel to the fire. For example, member Benji Madden added to the controversy by stating in a national television interview "They told us we got to make cool videos to make girls like you."


 * David Massey – Sony Promotional Vice President A&R
 * Chris Poppe – Epic Vice President of Marketing and Product Manager
 * Eric Valentine – Major Producer
 * Mike Martinovich – Corporate Marketing Vice President (worked with NSYNC and The Backstreet Boys)
 * Doug McVehil - Vice President of Video Promotion for Epic and Island Records
 * Polly Anthony – Geffen Co-President (worked with Ashlee Simpson)
 * Steve Barnett - Executive Vice President / General Manager of Epic Records / Worldwide Marketing for Sony/Epic.
 * Evan Prager Senior Vice President
 * Seth Hochman – Strategic Marketing
 * Lori Lambert – Vice President of Strategic Marketing and Development
 * Lisa Markowitz – Vice President of Media Relations
 * Joel Klaiman – Vice President of Promotion Strategies
 * Harvey Leeds – Vice President of Promotion.
 * Jacqueline Saturn – Promotion Executive

--DDerby- (talk) 07:17, 5 December 2005 (UTC)