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Reproduced from Music Week 20 January, 1996
Judgement day set for hyping cases
The BPI committee of inquiry examining allegations of chart hyping is
expected to announce its decision within the next week.
The special committee - chaired by top lawyer Paddy Grafton Green of
Theodore Goddard, with Sony Music Europe president Paul Russell and
Beggars Banquet managing director Martin Mills - met on Wednesday.
Their task is to examine evidence of irregular sales patterns on at
least three seperate records and to determine whether there was a breach
of the BPI code of conduct.
Two of the three companies which are the subject of the investigation -
both of them BPI members - are understood to have given evidence, one
for two hours, the other for just over an hour.
The third, Mike Stock's Love This Records, which is not a BPI member and
so is not subject to the BPI code of conduct, chose not to appear on the
advice of its lawyer John Kennedy.
Committee chairman Paddy Grafton Green says, "There will be a further
hearing next week, and depending on the result of that and some further
inquiries which have been instituted, we may be in a position to make a
statement at the end of next week."
The inquiry followed on-going investigations into chart hyping carried
out by CIN.
Mike Stock, who has strenuously denied all allegations of chart hyping
throughout the investigation, and has offered a £10,000 reward to
anyone who can identify those responsible for "irregular" sales of his
Santa Maria single by Tatjana, says, "There was no upside in going [to
the hearing] ... It's a kangaroo court."
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