Former Sony exec Joel Klaiman is having a homecoming of sorts. Klaiman was announced as executive VP and general manager at Columbia, having joined the label from Universal Republic — where he was executive VP of promotion and artist development and helped launch artists including Amy Winehouse, Taylor Swift, Gotye and Nicki Minaj. Early in his career, Klaiman was a VP/promotion at Sony 550 and later senior VP/promotion for Epic. But in 2006, then Attorney General Eliot Spitzer slammed the music business for its controversial “payola” practices of bribing radio stations. Sony (then Sony BMG) paid out $10 million as part of a settlement in the probe, and Klaiman was reportedly fired as a “sacrificial lamb” in the scandal. Columbia records CEO Rob Stringer said in a statement on Klaiman’s hiring: “His winning mentality will help take the Columbia label to even greater heights.”