• Sony ATV Music Publishing has signed Jonathan Rotem, producer and co-writer of the Sean Kingston hit "Beautiful Girls" and Rihanna's "SOS." (Billboard.biz)

• Redeye Distribution inked deals with Daptone Records and the band Cake and its Upbeat Records imprint. (Billboard.biz)

• An interview with Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property. He said there will soon be legislation regarding terrestrial radio's exemption from paying sound recording royalties. "Anybody who is transmitting radio digitally has to pay but over-the-air terrestrial is the one platform that is exempt. They have what I think of as an unfair competitive advantage. ... It is going to cost them a few cents on the dollar. There will be some rate determination. They are selling commercial advertising and are drawing customers and are economically exploiting for their programming the work of someone else. That is what compensation is for." (San Fernando Valley Business Journal)

• The race for convergence has companies fighting for each other's market share. Consumers are left scratching their heads. Said one analyst, "I pity the poor consumer. From a consumer perspective, it's very confusing to figure out where to go." (Herald Tribune)

• Pictures (legit?) of the next generations of the Microsoft Zune, one being a flash drive version with 4 GB and 8 GB of memory, the other a standard-sized Zune with 80 GB of memory. The design has been updated a bit but looks roughly the same as the first generation. (Gizmodo)

• It's the end of the line for Sony Atrac format. Connect download store on its way out and the new video Walkmans that will not support the format. Atrac is a good case study on a proprietary format that started with good intentions -- it was developed for Sony's Minidisc -- but ultimately helped slow Sony's growth in digital music. (Digital Noise)