Thanks to all the readers who sent the text of the Los Angeles Times article about the previously mentioned spat between V2's Andy Gershon and Hits Magazine.

Since Coolfer's post of the full Gershon nuclear blast-of-an-email in response to Hits' criticisms and half-witticisms at the expense of the label, Page Six has covered the feud and now the LA Times has found enough people to go on record that they can take the baton and run with it for a quarter lap or so.

To back up Gershon's -- and many others' -- accusation that Hits is a pay-to-play operation, staff writer Charles Duhigg points to a study that found a correlation between V2's payments to Hits and the coverage received in the publication. Then he added a story of how the tide turned on Lyor Cohen.

"In another case, when Lyor Cohen became chairman of Warner Music Group in 2004, his company was paying Hits more than $2 million a year for advertisements and promotional services. The publication called his appointment a 'blockbuster' deal and quoted Warner's chief executive as saying that Cohen was "one of the most respected executives in the business. Within months, Warner significantly decreased its spending with Hits. Last month, the publication's website described Cohen as 'overly aggressive' and 'untrustworthy,' mentioned his 'inability to turn things around' and compared "the staggering list of bridges he's burned to the Russian retreat in World War II."

So very entertaining.

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