• The European Commission cleared Terra Firma's takeover bid of EMI. Today is the last day of Terra Firma's extended bid period. (Dow Jones)

• The rootkit is back in the news. Sony BMG has sued The Amergence Group (formerly SunnComm), the maker of the anti-piracy technology included in Sony BMG CDs that resulted in public outcry, lawsuits and government investigations. (AP)

• Senator Russ Feingold is checking in with the radio industry to make sure they're complying with the FCC's directive to enforce the ban on payola practices. He sent a letter to executives at Clear Channel, CBS Radio, Citadel and Entercom that asked for information on access the companies have given to artists and labels. "Have you taken any efforts to increase the amount of access provided and to facilitate submissions?" he asked. (Billboard.biz)

• The Wall Street Journal's Sarah McBride has an article on radio stations' analysis of P2P traffic to help create playlists. Clear Channel's Premiere Radio Networks has a venture with BigChampagne that offers traffic data to radio stations. She tells the story of Shop Boyz' "Party Like A Rockstar," which was big with file sharers but wasn't getting requests. Eventually, the requests started to roll in -- especially in text messages from mobile phones -- and track downloads increased as well. (Wall Street Journal)

• Fox and the production company behind "Laguna Beach" and "The Hills" are planning a reality TV series called "Nashville" that will follow musicians trying to make it in Music City. The show will feature Sony BMG artists Chuck Wicks, Matt Jenkins and Mika Combs. (Music Row)

• Just as Kelly Clarkson's My December album dropped 60% in its second week, rumor is that RCA pulled Clarkson's summer TV and print campaigns and are focusing on the upcoming Carrie Underwood album. (Kings of A&R)

• Swiss consumers will have to pay a tax on digital music players and some types of A/V recorders. (SwissInfo)

• Napster unlimited over-the-air download service launched with NTT DoCoMo in Japan. The service is integrated with the PC-based Napster To Go service. Here's a new twist for Napster: Customers have the option of paying for Napster through their DoCoMo bill. Whether or not mobile subscription services will take off is still up in the air, but these are positive steps. I like the billing option a lot. (No link to press release yet.)

• EMI and management company Union Entertainment Group have formed a joint venture record label called Audionest. The label will be distributed by Caroline. UEG manages rock bands Nickelback, Default and Candlebox. (Billboard.biz)

Posted by Glenn at 8:09 AM | Link
|EMI||Napster||P2P||Payola||Sony BMG|

• Sony's Connect music and video stores are shutting down and remaining employees will support Playstation, eBooks and Sony Reader. (paidContent)

• Univision Music has been targeted in a payola lawsuit. A former EVP at Univision subsidiary Fonovisa claims he was fired after refusing to take part in payola practices that had him paying more than 50 program directors. (Billboard.biz)

• Following up a post from a few days ago, the new NaxosDirect website will offer digital downloads in the near future -- "as early as July" wrote Mark Berry. When I wrote about the new site, I called it a "throwback" because it sells only CDs. Berry quickly did some checking and got the word out about the impending digital offering. (The Naxos Blog)

• Starbucks is going to sell a Sonic Youth cover song compilation with tracks by Jeff Tweedy, Beck, Marc Jacobs, Portia de Rossi and Michelle Williams, and a new song by Sonic Youth. (Pitchfork)

•

Posted by Glenn at 7:57 PM | Link
|Online Stores/Services||Payola|

• 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|

• Radio giant Entercom Communications, which owns 105 radio stations around the country, will pay $4.5 million to end Eliot Spizter's payola probe. The company will pay $3.5 million to fund music education and appreciation programs, and pay $750,000 to the state of New York. Among the reforms Entercom agreed to are refusal of payments and other inducements from record labels in exchange for radio play, banning payments from independent promoters, and the hiring of an internal compliance officer to monitor promotion practices. (Read AP article and Spitzer press release)

• Hot 97 has partnered with Amp'D Mobile. The NYC station will be streamed exclusively to Amp'D Mobile customers, while Hot 97 listeners can purchased Amp'D Mobile phones at www.hot97.com. (Read article at Radio Ink)

• An interview with Mel Karmazin, CEO of Sirius Satellite Radio. On the possibility of a merger with XM: "Who knows? Obviously, consolidation has, in my opinion, been successful in the media business. ... I certainly think there would be advantages if the two companies merge, with cost-savings and the like, but our business plan doesn't contemplate that. There's no reason to believe that XM has any interest in selling themselves." (Read article at The Hollywood Reporter)

• Beyonce will record a Spanish version of "Beautfil Liar" with Shakira. The track will be included on a new edition of B'Day along with three other Spanish-language tracks. As Shakira knows, tossing a new song on an old album and then calling it a new version of the same album is a really good way to improve sales. (Watch interview at Univision, via Billboard.biz)

• Embattled Russian music site AllOfMP3.com issued a brief response to a lawsuit brought by major music companies. The company called the lawsuits "imprudent" and bruskly noted they were filed in New York while the company "operates legally" in Russia. Music groups allege massive copyright infringement. The Russian government has pledged to address U.S. complaints against the download site, and Visa and Mastercard now refuse transactions at the site. (Read press release)

Posted by Glenn at 8:11 AM | Link
|Mobile Music||Payola||Satellite Radio||Sirius|

• Seems like forever since I read a Jeff Leeds article. Here's one, "Ads Test Payola Case Settlement," about an Entercom program called "CD Preview." The program allows labels to buy ads in which to showcase their music -- and the plays count as a spin on radio charts. Given the recent payola lawsuits, Eliot Spitzer is certainly taking a look by now. (Read article at New York Times)

• Hmm...an article at a marketing website about the viral campaign for John Legend's upcoming album, Once Again. Not much of it is particularly interesting (been there, done that) except for the mention of Sony's recruitment of "fan advocates" to create a word-of-mouth campaign. That must be the grown-up word for "street team." This stands out because Legend has eight Grammy Awards and 2.6 million in album sales -- more than the usual "word of mouth" artist. Also, street teams are just so old school. Hey, when it works it works. The Internet can't do everything. (Read article at Brand Republic)

• Consumer Reports surveyed its subscribers on digital music habits. It found 60% of first-time MP3 player buyers are listening to more music than they used to, and 50% are listening during activities that were previously music-free (not a shock). Here's a comforting stat for you paranoid types: only 8% responded that the purchase of an MP3 player prompted them to use P2P networks to acquite music. (No word on how many already used P2P networks and store songs on their computers.) (Read article at ConsumerReports.com, via Digital Audio Insider)

• What has former Virgin Records head Matt Serletic been up to lately? Producing the debut album by "American Idol" winner Taylor Hicks. The so-far-untited album is due out December 5th, the same day as the sophomore album by Gwen Stefani. (Read at Hits Rumor Mill)

• Source magazine and its founders are back in the news, this time for the $14.5 million decision in favor of a former editor who filed a sexual discrimination suit. (Read article at NY Post)

Posted by Glenn at 7:56 AM | Link
|Marketing||P2P||Payola||Portable Music Players|

• Another 8,000 lawsuits were filed against file-sharers in 17 countries. Will it stop file-sharing? Not by a longshot. Will the trade groups stop suing file-sharers? Not a chance. Talk against piracy is cheap. Trade groups know they have to act. (Read Reuters article at CNNMoney)

• A judge dismissed Entercom Communications' motion for dismissel in a payola lawsuit. This lawsuit was Eliot Spitzer's first against a radio company. It now moves to the discovery phase. (Read article at Billboard.biz)

• Universal Music Group moved 250,000 units of 3,000 digital tracks that were released from the company's archives. The press is really eating this up. What if they did the math? I'll rephrase: Universal Music Group sold an average of 8.33 units each of a group of digital songs it released from its archives. Doesn't sound so spectular does it? And that was over seven months. That's just over one download per track per month. On an aggreggate level it's fine, but individual royalty checks won't change much. I've said it before: The Long Tail wil benefit aggreggators, not individuals. (Read article at News.com)

• Used CD 2.0 website Lala.com is currently selling all its CDs at wholesale cost. (Yes, Lala.com does sell brand new CDs in addition to facilitating the trading of used CDs.) It's been a while since Coolfer wrote about Lala.com. A revisit post is forthcoming.

Posted by Glenn at 7:36 AM | Link
|Legal||Long Tail||Payola||Universal Music Group|

• WEA Corp, Warner Music Group's distribution arm, inked a deal with Latin label Union Records. WEA will "market and distribute select music titles" from the label's roster, which includes Juan Fernando Velasco and Danilo Parra. (Press Release)

• Digital Music Group has acquired the Digital Rights Agency for $3.2 million in cash and 420,000 shares of DMG stock. (Digital Music News)

• EMI and T-Mobile UK are testing an ad-supported music video service for mobile phone subscribers. (Forbes.com)

• Speaking of EMI, Lehman Brothers has downgraded its stock on fears of weak first half sales. (Sharecast)

• Disney's "The Cheetah Girls 2" soundtrack cashes in on the same tweeners that made "High School Musical" such a huge hit. (LA Times)

• The Boston Globe's Joan Anderman highlights four upcoming albums "that -- with a little luck -- could take the world by storm." The four artists are Lupe Fiasco, Sting, Lady Sovereign and missFlag. (Boston Globe)

• A 16-year-old girl has sued Atlantic Records over a sexually explicit video that was taken at a Buckcherry concert in October of 2005. The band wasn't signed to Atlantic until the following May, and the label says it edited the video and took out the underage girl. The Internet being the Internet, versions of the original edit can still be found. (LA Times)

• Where did the payola settlement money go? Some of it ended up funding for summer artst festivals like the Hudson Valley Bluegrass Festival. (Poughkeepsie Journal)

Posted by Glenn at 9:14 AM | Link
|Digital Distribution||EMI||Legal||Mobile Music||Payola||Warner Music Group|

• This just in: A European Union Court has annulled the European Commission's decision that allowed for the merger of Sony and BMG. The Commission will re-examine the case. From the court's decision: "The Commission did not demonstrate to the requisite legal standard either the non-existence of a collective dominant position before the concentration or the absence of a risk that such a position would be created as a result of the concentration." (Billboard.biz)

• The commission's decision burst a bubble for investors: EMI's share fell more than 8% after the court's decision due to worries that it could prevent a merger of EMI and Warner Music Group. (Irish Examiner)

• WMG shares fell more than 12% in early trading. (Reuters)

• The prognosticators at Hits are saying Now 22 could do 400,000 in its first week. That will be miles ahead of Pimp C and Thom Yorke, who are looking at the 100,000 range. (Hits Rumor Mill)

• Bad news for Digital Music Group: co-founder Peter Koulouris resigned to "pursue new opportunities." (Sacramento Business Journal)

• The payola settlements from Eilot Spitzer's investigations are making their way out of New York state's music funds. Almost 100 New York City programs have received millions of dollars. Two, Brooklyn Academy of Music and Carnegie Hall, received $750,000 each. (NewYorkBusiness.com)

• A profile on new Kansas City indie labels Wheatfield Group, Drama Club Records, Minnow Records, Curb Appeal Records, OxBlood Records and Range Life Records. Wheatfield is distributed in the U.S. by Fontana. (Kansas City Star)

Posted by Glenn at 10:20 AM | Link
|EMI||Indies||Payola||Sony BMG||Warner Music Group|

EMI became the last of the major music groups to settle its payola investigation with Eliot Spitzer yesterday. The company will pay a $3.75 million fine -- less than its competitors paid -- and has agreed to adopt company-wide reforms. Those reforms are:

• "The immediate cessation of payments and other inducements to radio stations and their employees in return for 'airplay';"
• "Discontinuance of independent promoters as a pass-through for securing airplay;"
• "Hiring of a compliance officer to monitor promotion practices;"
• "Implementation of an internal system to detect any future abuses."

Additional reading:

• EMI Exhibits PDF (from the Spitzer website)
• EMI Settlement PDF (also from the Spitzer website)

Posted by Glenn at 11:43 AM | Link
|EMI||Payola|

The Assurance of Discontinuance document (download PDF) that's part of the Universal Music Group payola settlement offers entertaining reading if you have the time to flip through the PDF's 87 pages.

Here are some highlights from the subpoenad emails.

• Page 9: Here's a conversation about getting spins for New Found Glory. Nice to see somebody doesn't mind getting his/her "hands dirty" to get the band some airplay. That's dedication.

• Page 19: This email is basically an invoice for six weeks of spins for DMX's "Where The Hood At" on stations throughout the East:

• Page 31: Spins for promotions involving Ashlee Simpson and Rooney:

• Page 75: Somebody was working hard to get some adequate return on investment for "Crazy" by Bad Boy girl group Dream.

Posted by Glenn at 1:40 PM | Link
|Payola||Universal Music Group|