Earlier this month, MySpace finalized deals with three of the four majors -- only EMI has yet to join -- to create MySpace Music. The majors will receive equity in the standalone company and will receive a share of its ad revenue.

Those deals have left many to ask what sort of deal will and should be given to indie labels. Wired, for example, put the issue to MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe in a recent interview. On the topic of giving equity to indies, De Wolfe said MySpace is open to giving equity and a share of ad revenue to indies, but admitted the systems are not in place and pointed to practical issues of issuing equity to so many partners.

So I got in touch with Charles Caldas, CEO of Merlin, a global music new media licensing agency with over 11,000 label members.

Since MySpace Music is preparing for launch, I asked Caldas if Merlin had been in contact with them. "They're aware of who we are and what we do," he said, adding that talks are in the "early stages of conversation" and the two parties are exploring all aspects of a deal.

Wondering how an equity deal would work for indies, I threw out a scenario to Caldas. If, hypothetically, there were to be an equity deal with indies, what role would a group like Merlin play? "We would pass benefits back to members based on usage, for example. We can do as much or little as necessary on as broad or as narrow a scope as possible."

Aside from MySpace, Merlin is in talks with a number of other, unnamed services. In addition to looking at forward-thinking models, Merlin is looking back at past services that currently don't pay. Caldas said there will be a couple of announcements in the coming months about the deals Merlin is working on.

"We have to come up with new licensing models." he impressed upon me. "There are no philosophical barriers in place. Each service has to be looked at on its own merits."

More on Merlin:

• January 2007 press release for Merlin's launch
• January 2007 article on Merlin at The Register
• August 2007 Hypebot interview with Merlin's Charles Caldas

Posted by Glenn at 10:55 AM | Link
|Indies||Merlin|

Word broke the other day that TVT filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It may have surprised some people. After all, indies are taking away market share from the majors, right? They're enjoying the benefits of digital distribution. They don't have a reputation for high-salaries executives.

TVT's bankruptcy is not terribly surprising. Its top artists represent two of the genres that are lost in a transitioning market. First you have rappers like Lil' Jon who have traded album sales for ringtones and single downloads -- all the while diverting time toward consumer products and other revenue-generating schemes. Rap has lost crossover fans, too, and they won't return any time soon. Then you have radio-friendly rock bands like Default that have less of a place in today's marketplace than they did at the beginning of the decade. Rock radio is a shadow of its former self and has less of an impact on album sales. Such single-driven rock bands are having a harder time competing against strong touring acts and lifestyle bands (such as emo and indie). In both examples, artists are caught up in both cultural and technological shifts.

The successful indie label is one that has a strong brand and builds a lasting relation with consumers. It's easier to build a relationship when your roster is more focused. TVT's A&R has been a hodgepodge of mainstream genres and undersupported, destined-for-the-underground rock acts. (The label's legal battles couldn't have helped either.) It's not a bad time for indies -- it's a very good time, actually -- but the old rules don't work so well in a new marketplace.

Posted by Glenn at 11:52 AM | Link
|Indies|

• iTunes is now the third largest music retailer in the U.S. With 9.8% of the market, the leading music download store passed Amazon.com and ranked behind Wal-Mart (15.8%) and Best Buy (13.8%). Showing that not even market research experts have moved beyond the album format, NPD counted units sold, not total value of sales. To account for iTunes' single sales, NPD counts every 12 tracks as one album on CD. (AP)

• In order to reduce its exposure to the declining recorded music business, the German division of Sony BMG has created a joint venture with Microsoft, called Comedy.de, and has a long-term, exclusive contract with a television product to sell its comedy series on DVD. (Thomson Financial)

• BurnLounge, under fire from the FTC for its business model, announced it will simplify its business model and eliminate the network marketing element -- called a pyramid scheme by some critics -- and will provide greater benefits for its users. (Press release)

• Some orchestras are using younger, hipper musicians like Ben Folds and The Decemberists to lower the average age of their audience members. (New York Times)

• Rock band The Donnas have formed their own label and have a joint venture with Sony BMG's Redeye Distribution. (Update: I corrected myself after I saw that I typed RED Distribution. After I replaced it with Redeye, the correct distributor, I accidentally left in Sony BMG. My apologies.) In what looks like a fairly weak deal for a band with its own label, The Donnas' label will get a 50/50 split and co-ownership of the masters. A deal that gives Redeye that much of the revenue and some ownership of the recordings indicates the band is not assuming a great deal of the financial risk. Still, it's as artist-friendly as deals get these days and may be a model for others. (Billboard.biz)

Posted by Glenn at 8:03 AM | Link
|Indies||Online Stores/Services||Sony BMG||iTunes|

• A joint study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the IFPI and Singapore-based Soundbuzz predicts the global music industry's physical product revenue will drop 61% by 2009. (BusinessWeek.com)

• Amp'd Mobile, a mobile carrier with a music and video slant, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Universal Music Group is one of the companies that funded $360 million that started Amp'd. (Wall Street Journal)

• A few news items on online music service Slacker: The company released a desktop application that allows users to manage their entire music collections. (Update: OK, not so new. I thought there was a new update, but maybe not.) In addition, Slacker just got $40 million in second round funding.

• PIAS America has signed with Universal's Fontana Distribution after a short run with EMI's Caroline Distribution. (Billboard.biz)

• CMT.com's Chet Flippo bids country radio goodbye and welcomes custom country radio (he's a Sirius fan). "I'm sorry, my friends in country radio, but I have long since moved on. No more commercials, no more wacky stunts, no more same 20 songs." I mention this only because country is bound at the hip to terrestrial radio. When that goes, chaos will ensue. (CMT.com)

Posted by Glenn at 8:29 AM | Link
|Distribution||Indies||Online Stores/Services||Radio||Research|

• Justin Timberlake and Interscope Records announced a joint venture record label called Tennman Records. The label will be distributed by Interscope Geffen A&M. Ken Komisar, SVP of A&D at Sony BMG, will serve as president. (All Hip Hop)

• CD Wow has been ordered to pay £41 million ($81 million) over three years to the U.K. recording industry for selling parallel imports from Asia. (Billboard.biz)

• Digital distributor IODA announced a partnership with IMagine that will allow the company access to China, Hong Kong and other markets in the region.

• A profile of ArkivMusic.com, which offers many out-of-print classical albums on CD. The company is not worried about piracy. "You can't buy 100 discs on somebody else's credit card and then get rid of them on the street. It's a profitable niche to be in. It's a highly attractive demographic." (Philadelphia Inquirer)

• Dave Navarro's Panic Channel will self-release its next album to break free of record company "slavery" and a "failing corporate industry that is on its last legs and gasping for air." That sound about right for a band that failed at mainstream success the first time around. (andPop)

• As majors sign fewer artists in Canada, indie distributors are stepping up with more labels and more releases. Examples are Koch Records and Labwork Music, a joint venture between Sonic Distribution and EMI Canada. Collectively, Canadian indies account for 19.1% of sales, above all majors expect Universal Music Group. (Reuters)

• Once renegade music tab site MXTabs.com has announced some licensing deals with BMG Music Publishing, Peermusic, Famous Music, and Bug Music. The licenses cover both guitar and drum tabs. (Press release , via Digital Music News)

• This is not related to music or media, but Andrew Martin's great article on Coca-Cola's struggle to change reminded me of the recorded music industry. Coke is like a CD. Non-carbonated drinks are like digital downloads. The latter could hardly make up for drops in the former, but investment in the latter is crucial for the future. (New York Times)

Posted by Glenn at 9:08 AM | Link
|Digital Distribution||Distribution||Indies||Publishing||Sony BMG|

• Drag City Records is launching a world music label called Yaala Yaala Records. The first three releases will be from West African artists. (Pitchfork)

• The maker of a DRM software is threatening to sue companies such as Apple and Microsoft, claiming that its product is so effective that by not using it the companies are enabling their products to violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. (Computing)

• I've ignore the firestorm over offensive rap lyrics mainly because it's a hot political issue (for the next few weeks anyway) that may not have any financial ramifications. This AP article looks at the majors' silence over the issue and argues the reason for their silence is almost purely financial. They "fear cracking the door to censorship," wrote Marcus Franklin, or that they would take silence over protecting the lyrics, or that "they are leery of stepping into a racial minefield." (AP)

Posted by Glenn at 9:43 AM | Link
|DRM||Indies|

• The Financial Times reported that Universal Music's acquisition of BMG's music publishing division will be approved the the European Commission in the coming days. (Variety)

• Trisha Yearwood has signed with indie Big Machine Records. The country singer was with MCA Nashville for 16 years. (Billboard.biz)

• Disney has launched a music and video download site called Disney Mix Central. Files are protected Windows Media and meant to go with the Disney Mix Stick MP3 player and the Disney Mix Max video/MP3 player. (Billboard.biz)

• Snocap launched Live @ Snocap, a private concert series recorded at the company's San Francisco office. (Press release)

Posted by Glenn at 3:42 PM | Link
|Indies||Publishing||Snocap|

• Country label 903 Music has "ran out of money" and shut its doors. (MusicRow.com)

• The Arctic Monkey's UK chart domination looks like it could have been made possible by an error by iTunes. The store accidentally put up for sale the individual tracks for the band's new album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, before the album itself was available. Fans acquired the album by simply downloading each track. The result was 17 tracks in the UK Top 200 singles chart. (NME.com)

• Flat-fee digital distributor TuneCore announced a strategic partnership with music retailer Guitar Center -- which is a TuneCore investor -- that will promote TuneCore to Guitar Center customers. (Press release)

• Keith Wozencroft, currently president of Capitol Music and Virgin Records UK, has entered into a partnership with EMI that will see him launch a joint-venture label with EMI UK and Ireland. (Billboard.biz)

• The NARM website has a PowerPoint presentation from Nielsen SoundScan that was given at the recent 2007 NARM conference. The slide show has a good amount of information on album and digital track sales for both 2006 and year-to-date 2007. Slide 17 had a statistic I had not seen: In 2006, there were 75,774 new albums released, up from 60,313 the year before. Another good tidbit: In 2006, there were 50% more digital-only albums released than the year prior -- but 95% of those digital albums sold fewer than 100 units each. Slide 47 has some info on ringtone sales, which Nielsen began tracking in September 2006.

• There's a rumor that Atlantic will split with Vice Records and decide which artists it wants to keep. (Hits)

Posted by Glenn at 2:12 PM | Link
|Digital Distribution||Indies||Warner Music Group||iTunes|

• The four major radio broadcasters -- CBS Radio, Citadel Broadcasting, Clear Channel Communications and Entercom Communications -- will pay a collective $12.5 million to close out allegations of payola. The broadcasters agree to adopt "rules of engagement" that include limits on gifts, regular personal training on payola restrictions and prohibition on stations and employees of exchanging airplay for cash or other gifts. (Variety)

• The Future of Music Coalition quickly issued a response to the payola settlement, calling it"a major - but tentative -- step toward once again opening the nation's airwaves to local music and voices." (Future of Music Coalition)

• BMI and Radio Music License Committee have extended by three years their previous ten-year performing right agreement for commercial radio stations. (Press release)

• Vagrant Records to launch Density, an imprint for heavier music. (Billboard.biz)

• Music attorney Steve Gordon examines the legal questions surrounding digital downloads as public performances. ASCAP is seeking a court ruling to declare downloads to be public performances, thus increasing the royalties paid by digital music services. Gordon called ASCAP's claim "tenuous" and pointed out that MaryBeth Peters, the Register of Copyrights, has indicated the office does not support such a proposition. (The Register)

• There's a report out of Australia that the music industry has been discussing new guidelines with ISPs. One proposal is a plan to cut off phone and Internet service to people who illegally download music. The impetus for the discussions could have been the country's weak first quarter. The Sunday Mail reported the value of first quarter 2007 sales were down more than 20% versus the same period in 2006. (The Sunday Mail)

Posted by Glenn at 2:16 PM | Link
|Indies||Payola||Radio|

• Circuit City's record music sales continue to fall. This is from the company's earnings release that came out yesterday: "Comparable store sales of music software declined by double digits, and comparable store sales of video software declined by mid-single digits." (Press release)

• Best Buy released earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter. Declines in sales of CDs and DVDs partically offset double-digit gains in gaming hardware and video. (Press release)

• Sanctuary will drop new releases from its U.S. label but will continue to sell its catalog. (Billboard.biz)

• Sony BMG has a deal with Global Music International to distribute songs, ringtones and videos to mobile subscribers through China Unicom. (News.com)

• Zune's director of marketing said the company is looking at ways to push its subscription service. One possibility it has considered is a plan similar to those of mobile phones, where a person signs up for the subscription and gets the phone for free or at a discount. With a cheaper, flash-based model, that could be a good idea. (Computer World)

• I don't keep track of these things, but it's probably not every day that Amazon.com's top five CDs are by female artists. Last night the list was, from #1 to #5, Alison Krause, Amy Winehouse, Martina McBride, Lucinda Williams and Norah Jones. Joss Stone, at #9, was the sixth in the Top 10. The next female, Corrine Bailey Rae, was way down at #19.

Posted by Glenn at 9:15 AM | Link
|Brick-And-Mortor Retail||Indies||Sony BMG||Zune|

• Bob Morelli has been promoted to president of RED Distribution, Sony BMG's indie distribution arm. He was previous EVP and GM. (Variety)

• The European Commission has brought charges against Apple and record labels, alleging the companies are restricting sales of music in Europe. Different countries have different iTunes stores, which can lead to difference pricing. Apple says it wants a pan-European store but is limited by record labels' requirements. An EMI spokesperson said, "We do not believe we have breached European competition law, and we will be making that case strongly." I can't believe France would really want to share its iTunes with other, non-Johnny Hallyday-loving countries. (Billboard.biz)

• RealNetworks is raising the price for the streaming version of its Rhapsody subscription service, to $12.99 from $9.99. The company rationalized the price increase by pointing out the value-added enhancements it has added, and the constant price of Rhapsody since the service was unveiled. (Digital Music News)

• In a move to facilitate licensing, Sony BMG will partner with a leading online music database to make available its music catalog for advertisers. (The Guardian)

• The Electronic Frontier Foundation found something to complain about in yesterday's move by EMI to drop DRM on its digital downloads: "Unfortunately, the industry is still giving consumers a raw deal. EMI will be charging fans a 30% premium to avoid DRM ($1.29 instead of 99 cents per track, or 30 cents to upgrade an old download) -- effectively a surcharge to buy back your rights." It followed that with its usual proposal of a voluntary collective license for file sharers...pretty much a pipe dream at this point. One thing at a time, and I'd bet labels would first want to promote download store growth before sending a signal that they are supporting P2P. (EFF Deep Links)

Posted by Glenn at 8:59 AM | Link
|Indies||Rhapsody||Sony BMG|

• A private equity group abandoned its plans to bid on EMI. That equity group is led by former EMI exec Jim Fifield. (The Guardian)

• Sony BMG UK has launched a A&R blogs (using Six Apart's Vox) where users can post tracks and videos. Right now there are two such blogs, Columbiademos.co.uk and RCAdemos.co.uk. A good idea? Too early to say. If the labels wanted to have to sift through much more mediocre material, then yes, mission accomplished. (Hollywood Reporter)

• Rumors are circulating that Amazon.com is going to purchase eMusic. (Hypebot)

• Victory Records is following shifts in industry and creating an in-house touring division to book shows for Victory bands that do not yet have a proper booking agent. Labels are smart to offer this service to its acts; why let somebody else make money off your artists? If music is ever to be used as a loss leader -- which some people are pushing -- the line between label and booking agent will be completely blurred. (Billboard.biz)

• Online radio station WOXY launched a music blog titled The Futurist. Not that the world needs another indie rock-heavy music blog, but WOXY will post its own live studio recordings (Ted Leo, Cloud Cult and Land of Talk have been posted thus far). (The Futurist, via Largehearted Boy)

Posted by Glenn at 8:51 AM | Link
|EMI||Indies|

• Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff offers five points on Viacom's lawsuits against Google. #3 says that the Grokster decision will "embolden" Viacom. #4 gets to the most likely result, in my opinion: a settlement that includes some sort of copyright protection via fingerprinting or filtering. This isn't about money. (Groundswell Blog)

• The European Union's consumer chief backed away from her harsh statements on Apple's closed iPod/iTunes system. She simply wanted to start a debate about developing the nascent digital music market. Job well done. (Reuters)

• Willie Nelson has partnered with his manager and producer James Stroud to launch Pedernales Records. After Nelson's final Lost Highway album (due out March 20), he plans to record for the label. (Billboard.biz)

• Meet Slacker, a free web radio product that is supported by video ads. The company will also offer a portable radio device that works through unused commercial satellite radio signals and will support MP3, WMA, WMV and MPEG-4 files. (News.com)

• BurnLounge unveils new digital download software and BurnPages, a social networking service. (Press release)

• The Village Voice's Chris Parker has an article on payola settlements and an agreement by broadcasters to play more indie music. My thoughts: Last year, Spitzer's payola investigations were supposed to open the indie floodgates. This year, it took a pledge by broadcasters to get indie artists some airtime. In effect, the free market did not materialize and indies have received a subsidy instead. (Village Voice)

Posted by Glenn at 10:18 AM | Link
|Indies||Portable Music Players||Radio|

• Starbucks and Concord Music Group have formed a new record label, Hear Music, that will release titles for both internal and external distribution. Seems like odd timing given that company founder Howard Schultz has been worried about the chain's brand recently. (Billboard.biz)

• EMI has dismissed claims by UK download site Wippit that the Beatles catalog will soon be available online. (Irish Examiner)

• British retailer HMV issued a profit warning. The company plans to close unprofitable stores and refurbish others. Also in the mix is a social networking site, to be tied to its own website, for music and film fans. (BBC News)

• Sub Pop Records has founded a new label, Hardly Art. (Pitchfork)

• Warner Music Group looks to be hesitant to up its offer of 260p per share for EMI, an offer that is "subject to numerous assumptions and conditions." EMI doesn't want to give access to its books without a commitment of a higher offer. (Times Online)

• Primary Wave's first big Nirvana licensing deal after purchasing 50% of the catalog for $50 million? Inclusion on the Major League Baseball 2K7 video game for the track "Breed." (New York Post)

• Old news, but I'll mention it: Universal Music Group settled its lawsuit with online video site Bolt.com for a "multimillion payment for damages for past infringement." (Press release)

Posted by Glenn at 9:17 AM | Link
|Brick-And-Mortor Retail||EMI||Indies||Publishing||Starbucks|

• Warner Music Group is ready to go after EMI again, The Wall Street Journal reported. (AFX)

• Country group Lonestar has been dropped by Sony BMG's BNA Records. (CMT.com)

• European Union consumer chief Meglena Kuneva has criticized Apple's combination of iPod and iTunes. "Do you think it's fine that a CD plays in all CD players but that an iTunes song only plays in an iPod?" he asked. "I don't. Something has to change." (Reuters)

• Warner Music Group has added hip hop label Rhymesayers to its Independent Label Group. Rhymesayers was previously distributed by Navarre and will now go through WMG's ADA Distribution. (Billboard.biz)

• Congressman Mike Doyle spoke about mash-ups and mixtapes at last week's "Future of Radio" House Telecom and Internet sub-committee hearing...and name dropped one of his constituents, indie dance artist Girl Talk. Said Doyle, "I hope that everyone involved will take a step back and ask themselves if mash-ups and mixtapes are really different or if it's the same as Paul McCartney admitting that he nicked the Chuck Berry bass-riff and used it on the Beatle's hit 'I Saw Her Standing There.'" (The 463: Inside Tech Policy)

• Warner Bros' expensive mistake of 2006, Paris Hilton's debut album, fared so poorly that Hilton will reportedly be dropped in the coming weeks. (Digital Spy)

Posted by Glenn at 11:51 AM | Link
|EMI||Indies||Warner Music Group|

• XM narrowed its loss to $260 million on revenues of $257 million. Subscribers increased 29% for the year to 7.6 million. (Forbes.com)

• Guitar Center reported a fourth quarter net loss of $40 million (which included special items) on sales of $628.5 million. Sales were up 11.7% year over year. (Press release)

• Ministry of Sound has accused indie label trade associations Impala and AIM of "a complete departure from the stated constitutional aims of both companies." (Billboard.biz)

• Coming to a Jetta commercial near you... Universal Music Publishing Group inked a worldwide arrangement to administer Joy Division's catalog. The company says it will "aggressively promote" the post-punk band's song for sync licensing in film, television and advertising. (Billboard.biz)

• Kalefa Sanneh discovers that "rappers are learning to consider Koch a second home, or even a first one." This line ties in perfect with my posts about rap's continued sales decline: "As record sales keep sliding, the rise of Koch coincides with the lowering of rappers’ expectations." Good article. (New York Times)

• Watch out, Warner, Universal Music Group is stepping up the eco-pressure. The company is a sponsor of a Honda Formula One car that replaced its corporate logos with a picture of the earth. (Stuff.nz)

Posted by Glenn at 1:51 PM | Link
|Earnings Releases||Indies||Publishing||XM|

A possible Warner Music Group acquisition of EMI hit a speed bump when Ministry of Sound, the UK's largest indie record label, quit indie trade group Impala over the group's pledge of support the acquisition. Last week, it was learned that Impala had traded its support for concessions to be made by WMG. MoS, which is not much of a name in the States but sells over four million albums a year and is a major brand in the Europe, was also angered that the Association of Independent Music also supports the acquisition.

Coverage:

The Times Online: AIM did not inform its members of the deal. One AIM board member said the deal "looked strange." AIM's decision to support WMG and EMI was reached by an eight-person committee after "heated debate."

The Scotsman: AIM says Impala's agreement is based on legally binding remedies. Said AIM chief executive Alison Wenham, "We welcome the public debate about the deleterious effect which unregulated mergers have had on our sector over many years, and which we believe this agreement moderates to some extent."

New York Post: According to a source, "up to a half dozen other independent labels" are considering quitting Impala as well.

Posted by Glenn at 3:20 PM | Link
|Indies|

• Entertainment One Income Fund sold its investments -- which include Koch Entertainment Distribution -- to Marwyn Investment Management for approximately US $161 million. (Video Business)

• More Koch: The company announced the formation of Koch Records Jazz/Adult Division. Chuck Mitchell, former head of Verve Records, will head the new operation. (Jazz News)

• Warner Music Group announced a partnership with Norway-based mobile operator Telenor that originally covers nine of Telenor's mobile operators. (Press release)

• Nic Feldes has a good recap of EMI's current situation. (The Independent)

• Read the text of Edgar Bronfman's keynote at the 3GSM Conference in Barcelona. Here's a sample of the frank commentary: "Actually, it’s amazing that we’ve generated as much revenue as we have through mobile music, given how cumbersome the consumer experience can be." (Download PDF)

• Actor Heath Ledger has partnered with musician Ben Harper to start the new Masses Music Co record label. First singing: Australian Grace Woodruffe. (StarPulse)

Posted by Glenn at 7:10 AM | Link
|A&R||EMI||Indies||Mobile Music||Warner Music Group|

• EMI's restructuring has eliminated an "indefinite number of positions" at EMI Christian Music Group. Regional sales offices in Atlanta and Chicago have been closed. EMI CMG's will continue with its deal with Midas Records, which gives EMI CMG worldwide rights to to general market, Christian and digital distribution of Midas' Christian roster. One of the label's highly touted new acts is Rush of Fools. (Read article at Christian Post)

• Sanctuary Group reported an operating loss of £56.7 million ($111.7 million) for the year ending September 30, 2006. It included £8 million for refinancing and restructuring. Revenue was down to £133.2 million from £148.1 million. That was quite an improvement from the previous year's loss of £136 million. Rough Trade, which is partially owned by Sanctuary, posted a loss for the year. The company said it is considering selling off some assets. Management sees a return to profitability by "2008 or later." (Read article at The Guardian and the press release)

• According to co-founder Chad Hurley, YouTube will start sharing revenue with its users. This applies for videos for which the user owns the copyright. Sounds like a lot of police work to make this happen. (Read article at BBC, via paidContent)

• Must be a lot of paperwork involved: The University of South Carolina has hired a full-time employee to receive the RIAA's copyright complaints. (Read article at The Charlotte Observer)

Posted by Glenn at 7:55 AM | Link
|EMI||Earnings Releases||Indies||P2P||YouTube|

• Live Nation has reorganized and Bruce Eskowitz has been promoted to CEO, North America. The company's concert promotion, venue operation and sponsorship and alliances divisions are now a single business unit. Among Eskowitz's roles will be the management and expansion of House of Blues. (Read article at Billboard.biz)

• Hip hop producer David "Disco D" Shayman commited suicide yesterday. He was 26. Disco D produced such songs as 50 Cent's "The Ski Mask Way" and Trick Daddy's "I Pop." He also composed the music for commercial and TV shows. (Read article at All Hip Hop)

• Mainly book-related, but could have far-reaching implications: A U.S. Court of Appeals upheld copyright law on orphaned works. The plaintiff in Kahle v. Gonzales argued that out-of-print and orphaned works should not be protected for the 67-year duration that is allowed for copyrighted material. (Read article at News.com)

• On April 3, Punk label Stiff Records will return with five out-of-print titles. One is Tracy Ullman's You Broke My Heart in Seventeen Places, which was released before she found greater fame through comedy and television. All five releases have been remastered and will contain bonus material. (Read post at Harp)

Posted by Glenn at 1:27 PM | Link
|Indies||Touring|

The recently formed Merlin, a coalition of indie labels gathered to secure licensing deals, signed a deal with Snocap that will allow Merlin's member labels to sell their songs at MySpace (read Reuters article). The artists will use Snocap's MyStore to sell downloads from their MySpace pages. The deal with launch in the "near future."

The article says the songs will be sold in MP3 format.

A couple thoughts on this. First, the importance of this deal is counter to the frequent claims that MySpace has peaked, or that it has no competitive advantage in the Web 2.0 space. In music ciricles, MySpace is incredibly important. It's at the top of the social networking heap, and it is adding innovations. Second, I hope Snocap reports these sales to Soundscan. Third, the MP3 side to the story is sure to get a lot of attention. Many Merline labels, though, already sell MP3s via eMusic. This development isn't as much about the format as it is distribution. For digital music to grow, points of purchase need to be user-friendly and nearly ubiquitous.

Posted by Glenn at 12:40 PM | Link
|Indies||MySpace||Snocap|

• EMI has filed a $100 million lawsuit against ringtone provider Infospace. The suit alleges Infospace and its subsidiaries have miscalculated royalties, sold restricted songs and sold in territories for which they are not licensed. EMI's auditor ran the numbers and found that Infospace had underpaid royalties results from third-party sales at Verizon and US Cellular web sites. The final straw was probably when Infospace touched a restricted, Beatles-related song, John Lennon's "Imagine." (Read article at Hollywood Reporter)

• Spiral Frog, which is almost set to launch its ad-supported P2P business, just sacked CEO Robin Kent. Could this delay yet again the service's launch? (Read post at The Key blog, via paidContent)

• News from MIDEM: The launch of Merlin, the world's first globa new media rights licensing agency. Founded by member groups like Beggars Banquet, K7, Tommy Boy and Naive, Merlin is meant to facilitate licensing to the new generation of websites like YouTube and MySpace. (Read article at Billboard.biz)

• Digital distributor The Orchard inked a deal with digital jukebox company TouchTunes Music. Its The Orchard's first licensing deal with a digital-downloading jukebox company. Basically, that really cool digital jukebox just got better. (Read press release)

• SoundScan International has added over-the-air full-track digital download sales from a number of mobile operators in Europe -- Vodafone in Spain and Ireland, 3 Mobile in Denmark and Sweden, TDC in Denmark and from Telenor in Norway. (Read press release)

Posted by Glenn at 10:45 AM | Link
|Digital Distribution||EMI||Indies||Licensing||P2P|

Sheridan Square has cut the staff at V2 Records and will transform the label to a catalog seller. President Andy Gershon and his staff was let go. The reorganized company will be headed by COO Michael Olsen in its Nashville office. V2 will not sell any frontline titles other than gospel. It will primarily work its catalog, which includes The White Stripes and Moby

Bad news for recently signed artists like The Mooney Suzuki, who had an album due out soon and was surely looking for some redemption after their Columbia Records experiment failed.

Posted by Glenn at 9:23 AM | Link
|Indies|

• Sony BMG is merging the sales of its physical and digital distribution. The combined sales force will be headed by Thomas Hesse, president of the brand new Global Digital Business & U.S. Sales unit. This is more than one of those syngergistic, money-saving moves. This is a combination of entirely different cultures. The music folks and the computer folks. A good, inevitable move. (Read article at Billboard.biz)

• Richard Bengloff has been named the permanent president of the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM). Bengloff was the VP of Finance and Administration and CFO at WYNC/New York Public Radio. Peter Gordon was the interim president. (Read article at FMQB)

• Word on the street at CES was the Microsoft plans to stop development of its PlaysForSure DRM technology, something Microsoft denied it would do when the Zune was announced. Napster CTO Wiliam Pence is on the record as saying he believes Microsoft will continue to support PlaysForSure. (Read article at PC Pro)

• Wonder what impact a Sony PSP campaign can have on a developing artist's awareness and single and album and sales? Not much so far (at least for sales). Kenna's "Out of Control" has sold 1,138 units in a digital-only release. The album, Make Sure They See My Face, will be released in April. You may remember Kenna from Malcolm Gladwell's book "Blink," which looked at the contrast between industry expectations and poor sales of his first album. (Read post at The Tripwire)

• Hypy's second wave may just be getting started in the Bay Area. The Federation's It's Whateva (Reprise) is scheduled for an early 2007 release, and Thizz Entertainment may have got major distribution. (Read article at East Bay Express)

Posted by Glenn at 8:16 AM | Link
|Indies||Zune|

• Warner Music announced a deal to offer exclusive Warner Music-branded channels on MobiTV's mobile and broadband platforms. As an example, the press release mentions original video programming directed by Warner artist Link Park. (Read press release)

• I can't decide whether or not this announcement means much. MOD Systems has agreements to sell digital content from the four majors in its in-store kiosks. Music can either be burned to a CD (not that there's much of a demand for that) or transferred to portable players or mobile phones. It's great that labels are licensing content to companies with new ideas, but the press release points to the usual problem: The MOD System 3.0 platform supports Windows Media DRM. There are just so many question marks surrounding in-store kiosks. Luckily, some national chains, such as Trans World, want to give them a shot. (Read press release)

• A report that Microsoft will meet soon with music industry executives and review limitations placed on inter-device Zune transfers. (Read post at Houston Chronicle's TechBlog)

• Rough Trade will license its titles to World's Fair for U.S. release. Billboard's Todd Martens reports that although EMI's Caroline Distribution handles World's Fair releases, no distribution arrangement is yet decided for Rough Trade releases. Coming up from the label: a solo album from Jarvis Cocker (Pulp) and an album from BrakesBrakesBrakes (formerly known just as The Brakes). (Read article at Billboard.biz)

• Trustkill Records has inked a distribution deal with Universal Music Group's Fontana Distribution. Trustkill will use Fontana to access "emerging opportunities across a variety of retail and new media platforms." (Read article at Blabbermouth)

Posted by Glenn at 7:50 AM | Link
|Indies||Warner Music Group|

• Hits reported that the parent company of Koch Entertainment could be acquired outright by a minority owner. The company, shipping company Clarke, has spent more than $2 million on due diligence. An acquisition would likely lead to cost cutting, which means fewer employees and less manpower to work releases. (Read post at Hits Rumor Mill)

• Much like when a politician you've never heard of announces he's bowing out of a presidential run, Virgin Digital U.S. announced it is shutting down operations. What few customers it had are being referred to Napster. This is a very good sign for the digital space. Competitive forces have begun to weed out all but the most innovative, well-funded and aggressive mainstream digital retailers. At the same time, boutique digital stores are popping up everywhere. Consumers will be better served. (Read article at Billboard.biz)

• The New York Post's Cindy Adams reported Jive Records is less than thrilled about five new songs Britney Spears recorded in New York recently. Wrote Adams, " Talk inside the company is that either it's redone, or they need to drop it - and her." (Read article at New York Post)

• BusinessWeek.com covers the fight against DRM. There's lawsuit against Apple, and a lawsuit against the four major music groups. "We are focused on interoperability," said RIAA President Cary Sherman, even though Apple and Microsoft are not. Nothing new there, but the article is decent for its thoroughness. (Read article at BusinessWeek.com)

Posted by Glenn at 10:08 AM | Link
|DRM||Indies||Online Stores/Services||Sony BMG|

• Digital Music Group Inc's chief operating officer, Anders Brown, and VP of business development, Richard Rees, are resigning. Brown will "pursue opportunities closer to his home and family in Seattle" and Rees will join an Austin-based investment firm. Though the first nine months of 2006, DMGI had a loss of $1,852,105 on revenue of $2,774,396. (Read press release)

• A profile of Allen Butler, the former president and CEO of Sony Music Nashville and now the head of Hedgewood International-funded indie Montage Music Group. Music Row independents have had a good year. Currently, five out of the Top 15 country songs are from indies. (Read article at The Tennessean)

• Billboard's Dan Ouellette calls 2006 "unadventurous for mainstream jazz." Hard to argue with that. A 2005 Michael Buble album was the top mainstream jazz album of 2006, while Diana Krall had three in the Top 21 albums and Chris Botti had three in the Top 22. (Read article at Hollywood Reporter)

• A change by the Official Charts Company will allow album tracks, older songs and digital-only releases to count toward the UK Top 75 listing. The new chart will present a better picture of overall purchases, and it eliminates the distinction between new single and old standard. The result could be a charting by songs heard in commercials or television shows. Just as likely will be examples of safe and familiar purchasing -- expect to see a lot of Pink Floyd and Coldplay. (Read article at The Guardian)

• An interview with RoyaltyShare chairman and chief executive Bob Kohn. RoyaltyShare is an online royalties processing and accounting service. "If (labels) [drop DRM] today, you will see a tremendous increase in digital download sales, because then you will finally see some good competition to iTunes." (Read article at Forbes.com)

Posted by Glenn at 7:27 AM | Link
|Digital Music||Indies|

• Sony BMG settled its rootkit lawsuits brought by attorneys general in California and Texas. The company will pay $1.5 million in penalties, which really is a light slap on the wrist compared to expenses related to the various class action lawsuits around the country. (Read article at PC World)

• Changes at Blue Note Records, and oddly enough for this time of year there are no layoffs. Meg Harkins was named VP of Marketing at Blue Note. Josh Zieman is in as VP of Marketing for the Manhattan group of labels (Manhattan, Back Porch, Higher Octave and Real World). Two received internal promotions. Saul Shapiro was upped to SVP of Sales at the Blue Note Label Group, and J.R. Rich was upped to senior VP of publicity for Blue Note. (Read article at Variety)

• The RIAA has dropped its case against Patricia Santangelo and will instead focus on her children. (Read post at Fox News)

• A federal court in Australia upheld a ruling that the operator of www.mp3s4free.net and the ISP hosting the site are guilty of authorizing copyright infringement because the site provided links to other sites at which people could illegally download music. (Read article at Smarthouse)

• EMI is consolidating its operations in Los Angeles. The company signed a ten-year lease for 1800 Highland. The 50,000 square foot office space will house staffs from EMI Music Marketing, EMI Televisa, Caroline Distribution and the west coast office of Virgin Records. (Read press release)

• The Associated Press profiles Koch Records and the financial benefits it offers rappers with an established audience. A good quote came from Miss Info of New York radio station Hot 97. On the financial aspects of signing with Koch she said, "It's like, do I want to look like I have money or do I actually want to have money? (Koch) is not like a graveyard, but more like a retirement pension." Layzie Bone of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony has a good strategy: Sign with Interscope for the group albums, which will lead to better sales for his more profitable solo albums on Koch. Last year, Koch Records's rap revenue was $40 million. Rap accounts for 80% of the label's revenues. (Read AP article)

• Music recommendation is fast becoming a hot investment. Ticketmaster bought music discovery site iLike.com for $13.3 million and will introduce it to its millions of customers. iLike.com, which was formerly Garageband.com, helps users organize, share and discover music. (Read article at Red Herring)

Posted by Glenn at 11:44 AM | Link
|EMI||Indies||RIAA||Sony BMG|

• CBS Corp. is relaunching CBS Records. Ed Christman reports the label will start with three artists and have eight by the end of the year. The three artists currently signed to the label are Senor Happy, Will Dailey and P.J. Olsson. Jack Sussman, EVP of specials, music and live events for CBS Entertainment, will oversee the operation. Its strategy will be to promote its artists through CBS television programming. Digital downloads will be sold at cbsrecords.com and iTunes and other online stores, and CDs will be printed if digital sales are strong enough to merit it. (Read article at Billboard.biz)

• Axl Rose has left manager Merck Mercuriadis. One main reason given by Rose is the oft-delayed album Chinese Democracy will not be out by the end of the year. (Read article at Hits)

• Standard & Poor's on EMI: "EMI's announcement ending buyout talks removes the group's financial risk profile from the immediate threat posed by a potentially highly leveraged bid, against debt protection metrics that are already stretched for the ratings. Nevertheless, we are concerned that EMI's top management--but not necessarily its divisional management--might continue to focus on takeover activity." (Read article at Reuters)

• RIP Ahmet Ertegun, co-founder of Atlantic Records. (Read article at Los Angeles Times, read interview at Slate)

Posted by Glenn at 1:03 PM | Link
|EMI||Indies|