U.S. payola cases being settled out of court

Aren't out of court settlements essentially admissions of guilt?

So this settlement has stopped the payola case in the U.S. from going to court. But will the practice ever really stop? It's how the business has been conducted for so long ...

[New York Attorney General Eliot] Spitzer commented, 'Consumers have a right not to be misled about the way in which the music they hear on the radio is selected. Pay-for-play makes a mockery of claims that only the "best" or "most popular" music is broadcast.'

And what's $12m to big players anyway?

Sony BMG and Warner Music have reached similar settlements with Spitzer's office, and a separate payola investigation his company launched against Entercom Communications is still underway.

So now it's payola to the government... just another cost of doing business.

Makes you wonder what kind of broadcast laws may be coming down the pike.