• Universal Music Group will buy V2 Records from Morgan Stanley for $14 million (though reported price tags vary). The V2 roster includes Brit legend Paul Weller, the Stereophonics, Elbow and Bloc Party. The deal does not include V2 North America, which was sold to Sheridan Square for $15 million last year. The label merged with Artemis and had been demoted to a catalog-only label. (Reuters)

• The New York Post has an article on the collaboration between Epic Records and Koch Records. "Lacking a dedicated staff to market the songs specifically to hip-hop/ R&B radio stations and music video outlets like BET, Epic hired New York-based Koch, home to rappers including Jim Jones, UNK and DJ Khaled, to do it for them." (New York Post)

• Sanctuary Group chairman Robert Ayling, as well as James Wallace, Tina Sharp and John Preston, are no longer on the company's board of directors. (Billboard.biz)

• EMI has a deal with Arvato Mobile that will allow Arvato-powered carriers (T-Mobile, Swisscom, Mobilkom) to offer EMI videos to mobile phones or PCs. Content such as videotones, wallpapers and full-track downloads are also part of the deal. (Mobile Entertainment)

• A profile of new industry site The Daily Swarm. "We all saw that there was a ton of music-business information scattered around the Web, but there wasn't really one place that was bringing it all together." Side note: Coolfer will turn four years old this month. Thanks for reading. (Chicago Sun-Times)

• According to the BPI, UK music sales in France and Germany hit a four-year high last year. UK artists represented 23 of the top 100 albums in Germany. (BBC News)

• An interview with Guy Fletcher, head of music publisher MCS. "The internet is fast becoming a major platform for delivery of music in many different contexts. However, the advent of internet social networks, peer-to-peer file sharing, free downloading, etc. have created communication systems whose operators are generally unwilling to enter into licensing agreements with collection societies making it difficult, if not impossible for them to keep track of the online use of our copyrights." (The Telegraph)

• EMI's Blue Note Records is going to change its website to incorporate social networking and direct-to-consumer downloads. (The Register)

• Apple now offers iTunes widgets. (My iTunes, via Digital Music News)

[music jobs] HR Manager at EMI NA; New York, NY.