• EMI shareholders are "close to revolting," a source told the NY Post. "The only time the stock appears to move is when deal rumors surface." And those synergies that make a merger with Warner Music Group so attractive? One "music industry exec" says EMI has more fat to trim. "The restructuring they have gone through have been incremental because management is carrying them out. EMI's costs are still bloated and it doesn't have to be that way. Private equity cuts costs with a whole different mind-set." (Read article at New York Post)

• So who is going after EMI? Two dailies have named different private equity groups. (Read article at Hits)

• EMI is offering the upcoming Lily Allen single, "Littlest Things," in the MP3 format. The list of major label experimentations with MP3 is a short one. Only Jessica Simpson and Jesse McCartney come to mind; both were sold at Yahoo Music. Labels have been far less shy about giving away MP3s for promotional purposes. This kind of experimentation is good and necessary. There's not such thing as a swift sea change in the entertainment business, so guinea pigs and always needed. (Lily Allen store, via Hypebot)

• UMG's Doug Morris interviewed by Reuters. On ad-based models: "Whatever brings in enough money to protect our artists and protect the creative people are going to support." On lawsuits: "The idea of the lawsuit was to put an element of risk into a person like me who was jimmying the phones when I was 18 years old." (Read article at Reuters)

• The European Union will take a closer look at Universal Music Group's purchase of Bertelsmann's music publishing unit. (Read Billboard.biz article)

• An Ipsos survey found American consumers are well aware of over-the-air download options but few have compatible phones. A solid 71% know OTA options exist, 14% have phones that can handle such downloads and a mere 4% (and rising) have shelled out for an OTA download. (Read at Ipsos, via Digital Music News)

• Talk in Australia about sagging music sales. "Digital ain't filling the void," said one industry veteran. "If people are sitting back waiting for iTunes to fix it, they're in strife," said another. (Read aritlc at The Age)

• eMusic's change in subscription prices are changing -- for the better -- the per-track price received by at least one artist. (Read post at Digital Audio Insider)