• SpiralFrog, provider of free, ad-supported P2P, has inked a deal to offer EMI Music's recorded music. The company has deals in place with a number of music publishers and Universal Music Group on the recorded music side. With EMI and UMG in place, SpiralFrog has about half of the major label market share for recorded music. Chairman and founder Joe Mohen told the AP that SpiralFrog is about a year away from turning a profit. (AP)

• Sony BMG's International's president of continental Europe, Maarten Steinkamp, will step down. (Music Week)

• Live Nation is increasing its advertising spending (a precursor to selling its own concert tickets?) in the UK. The concert promoter is looking for an agency to handle £10 million of media planning and buying, a figure that is up from its current £4 million annual account. (Brand Republic)

• EMI Music Publishing has signed a worldwide deal with Ben Harper. (Press release)

• imeem is now inserting short audio advertisements between some songs. (Ad-Supported Music Central)

• New York record store Jammyland closed last weekend. (Crimes Against Music)

• Universal Music Group spent $180,000 on lobbying the federal government in Q1 2008. It spent $700,000 in all of 2007. Q1 money went for anti-piracy efforts as well as for appropriations relating to intellectual property theft enforcement, Internet and satellite radio issues and performance rights. (AP)

• A resolution that calls for the protection of terrestrial radio from royalties for the public performance of sound recordings has picked up the support of an eighth senator. The House version has the support of some 200 representatives. (Press release)

[music jobs] The Beggars Group & Matador Records is seeking a Paralegal