• Britney Spear's new album, Blackout!, is likely to debut at #1 on the album chart with first-week sales of up to 350,000. (Billboard.biz)

• At the final public hearing on media ownership, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said he supports the easing of low-power-FM rules, allowing AM stations to operate on FM translators, reinstating tax breaks to minority investors and requiring that a radio station have a physical staff at all hours of operation. (Radio Ink)

• The National Association of Ticket Brokers issued a statement about the Hannah Montana ticket controversy. and pointed the finger at Ticketmaster and its secondary market operation, TicketExchange. The company, insists the brokers group, "actively encourages" consumers to buy and sell tickets on its secondary market exchange. (Ticket News)

• The U.K. Nokia Music Store is set to launch today. Users can buy tracks for 80p each ($1.60), buy albums for £10 to £12 ($22 to $24) or stream an unlimited number of songs for £8 ($16) per month. The service downloads tracks to Nokia N81 and N95 8GB mobile phones as well as the user's home PC. (Webuser)

• As was previously rumored, the CD version of Radiohead's In Rainbows will be distributed by XL Recordings outside of North America. (Hollywood Reporter)

• If you noticed some fancy cars in the video for 50 Cent's "Amusement Park" video, they were part of the marketing deal the rapper inked with General Motors. The Pontiac G8 -- a one-of-a-kind custom -- and G6 GXP were placed in the video to help spotlight new Pontiac models. So add cars to the long list of projects for 50 Cent: Recorded music, concerts, a movie, two autobiographies, Vitamin Water advertisements... (SOHH)

• Guitar legend Robert Fripp lambastes EMI over sales of King Crimson downloads after the license period expired. (The Inquirer)

• A Q&A with imeem.com's chief executive and chief marketing officer. "We think our direct ad sales from brand sponsorships and our multiple ad network partnerships will be our primary sources of revenue. We’ll also have commerce-related offerings, like digital downloads and ringtones. Right now we are the #1 iTunes affiliate partner." (New York Times' Bits blog)

Posted by Glenn at 8:57 AM | Link
|Mobile Music||Radio||Ticketing|

Rep. Howard Berman, the chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, the Courts, and the Internet, said last week he plans to introduce legislation that will grant artists and copyright holders a performance right in broadcast radio. He plans to grant special accommodations to small and religious stations so they will not be burdened by the new payments.

"I recognize that granting artists and sound recording copyright owners the right to be compensated for music played on the radio presents a change. But current law presents an inequity that is neither fair nor right. Artists deserve compensation for the use of their music and this gap in the law must be addressed. ...

“I am confident that we can do this in a way that is sensitive to the legitimate concerns and economic realities of broadcasters. My intention is to ensure that small and religious stations – and, indeed, all stations – will not be unduly burdened and that any new payment requirement will not be excessive. In fact, under the legislation that we are crafting, a large majority of all radio stations will receive special accommodations. This is the right thing to do."

While Internet radio stations pay the owners of the sound recording as well as the composers, terrestrial radio stations pay only the royalties related to the performance of the underlying composition. (Performing rights organizations like ASCAP, BMI and SESAC represent songwriters and collect royalties on behalf of their members.) This new sound recording royalty would be paid by terrestrial radio stations in addition to the royalties they currently pay. This would correct the "inequity" (to use Berman's term) that exists between the regulations placed on the two types of radio stations.

The reaction of the radio industry is predictably negative. ICBC Broadcast Holdings President/COO Charles Warfield predicted it "would be a shift of seismic proportions."

Other reading:

• A September 2007 interview with Rep. Berman at the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. "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."
• A good recap of recent House Judiciary Committee hearings at Broadcast Law Blog. "Congressman Berman indicated that the royalty that he was seeking to impose would cover only broadcasters - and not be extended to commercial establishments like bars, restaurants and retail stores, which also currently pay a performance royalty to the composers of music."

Posted by Glenn at 1:20 PM | Link
|Legal||Radio|

• 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)

Posted by Glenn at 10:48 AM | Link
|Distribution||Publishing||Radio||Sony BMG||Zune|

The PBS show "Bill Moyers Journal" had a very good episode on media ownership the other day, and I thought it was worth sharing. Much of the episode was an interview with FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps.

Here's the link to the episode page, which has a transcript of the Copps interview and streaming video of the interview as well as a segment on low-power radio.

Posted by Glenn at 10:55 AM | Link
|Radio|

• RealNetworks, MTV and Verizon are teaming up for a mobile music service called Rhapsody America. MTV's URGE music service will join with RealNetworks' Rhapsody subscription service to create a music service that can be accessed via PC, mobile phone or (compatible) portable media device. Verizon's V CAST will be the service's mobile platform. (Press release)

• Wal-Mart has announced the launch of $0.94 MP3 downloads and $9.22 MP3 album downloads. The catalogs of EMI and Universal Music Group are available in the MP3 format at 256 kbps. The original, 128 kbps WMA tracks will also be available. The first things I noticed at the music download page were links to $3.88 MP3 albums (which are all EP's and singles), $5.88 MP3 albums (catalog titles like Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet) and $7.88 MP3 albums (Norah Jones' Come Away With Me, for example). Unfortunately, Wal-Mart's updated digital store does not support Firefox. (Press release)

• Solange Knowles, sister of Beyonce, has signed a worldwide co-publishing deal with EMI Music Publishing. Knowles is currently promoting Baby Jamz, a hip hop-oriented toy line created by Planet Toys and Music World Entertainment, her father's company. (Press release)

• Another Madonna-to-LiveNation? article, but this one has some numbers and word of a rival. "One source estimated the value of the Live Nation offer to be $180 million, with the touring giant potentially licensing the recording rights for roughly $30 million. ... It is doubtful that WMG, the only label Madonna has ever been signed to, would give up the Material Girl without a fight. Sources say that the company has made a counter-offer to Madonna that also includes a touring component that could be helmed by rival promoter AEG Live." (Billboard.biz)

• Said the CFO of Emmis Comminications about satellite radio, "The people that utilize satellite radio often toggle between AM and FM and satellite radio, and it really hasn’t caused a measurable effect in our business yet. ... Satellite radio is a niche business focused on people willing to spend 13 dollars per month for the radio. Which for long-haul truckers or people who are advocates of a music format which may not reach a mass market – if you’re a passionate Blue Grass listener in New York City – it probably makes sense for you. But I think they’re still challenged. It’s a challenging business model to launch a billion-dollar asset in space and try to build up a mass-market audience quickly. And with 15 million subs it’s tough, which is why they’re trying to get the merger done. In large measure they’re trying to work with the government to solve a business model problem." (Radio Ink)

• Verve Music Group has named Mitchell Cohen as its VP of A&R. Cohen was previously SVP or A&R at Columbia Records. (Billboard.biz)

Posted by Glenn at 11:37 AM | Link
|Mobile Music||Publishing||Radio||RealNetworks||Rhapsody||URGE||Wal Mart|

• 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|

• Clear Channel agreed to an increased offer of $39 a share -- $19.5 billion in total -- from private equity firms Thomas H. Lee and Bain Capital. Shares are currently trading at $36. Some investors may hold out for a higher offer, but Lee and Bain called $39 their "best and final" offer. (BBC News)

• EMI is in talks with Singapore-based Soundbuzz to offer DRM-free tracks in "multiple markets" in Southeast Asia. (Billboard.biz)

• Amazon.com launched a new music section, called "Go Indie," dedicated to indie music. It has a "hand-picked selection" of nearly 700 titles, 150 of which sell for $9.99. (Press release)

• Standard Life Investments, which owns about 1% of EMI's stock, believes a merger with another media company would be the company's best option. "And it's hard to argue against the logic of large players in the industry coming together and sharing the benefits of cost saving and all sorts of rationalisation that would come with that," said an investment analyst with the company. (Forbes.com)

• Sprint Nextel will open a virtual concert venue in the Second Life virtual reality site that will cater to fans of Latin music. The Sprint Center will stream pre-recorded performances from the Telemundo series "Concierto Clandestino." (Billboard.biz)

Posted by Glenn at 12:02 PM | Link
|EMI||Mobile Music||Radio|

• 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|

• 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|

• At MIDEM, more signs of increased licensing in the future by way of streamlined processes: Britain's Music Publisher's Assn. and MCPS-PRS Alliance have launched a pan-European digital licensing template. Music publishers can use the template to opt in and allow the alliance to license their content throughout Europe. (Read article at Billboard.biz)

• Clear Channel has made plans to sell stations in 17 markets, Radio Ink has learned. Seven stations in Fargo, North Dakota will be sold. Six in Casper, Wyoming. Five in Pocatello, Idaho. Seven in Missoula, Montana. (Read article at Radio Ink for complete list).

• EMI's Eric Nicoli has been on a "whirlwind tour" since taking the reins of EMI Music. He has met with analysts, analysts and Norah Jones in London; Joss Stone in Toronto; and former WMG chief (and current consutant) Roger Ames in New York. It is reported Nicoli had a "positive, wide-ranging discussion" with Apple's Steve Jobs. (Read article at New York Post)

• With the backlash against media consolidation, you'd think there are no regional airplay successes. Here's one: Paula DeAnda, who got early support from KZFM-FM Corpus Christi, Texas and charted on the Radio & Records' Rhythm chart without a label. DeAnda secured a seven-album deal with Arista after getting the blessing of Clive Davis, and her album has now sold over 100,000 copies. But here's where the regional success story falters: Her manager is the radio station's program director. (Read Billboard article)

• eMusic is eyeing an Asian service. (Read Reuters article)

Posted by Glenn at 7:55 AM | Link
|EMI||MIDEM||Radio|

• Mediabase announced the 2006 airplay leaders. The most played song of the year was Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You" (Geffen). Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten" was the most-played Top 40 song. With 901,206 spins, Kelly Clarkson was the most-played artist of the year. Nickelback was second and just 11,000 spins behind. Island Def Jam was the most-played record label of the year. Arista Nashville received the most country spins, and Interscope received the most alternative spins. (Read press release)

• FaithMP3, a digital music store featuring the Christian music of Integrity Music, launched a beta version yesterday. FaithMP3 is the first digital music store enabled by freedomMP3, the PassAlong Networks service that grants interoperability and respects the creator's rights. Songs from freedomMP3 can be transferred between computer and MP3 player (including the iPod) but cannot be uploaded to P2P services or mass copied. (Read press release)

• That Sony BMG rootkit settlement mentioned yesterday wasn't with just two states. In all, the company settled with 39 states for a total of $4.25 million. California and Texas received $1.5 million. New York received $315,000. Customers will be able to file claims for refunds up to $175 but there's a catch. To receive a refund, a consumer must give a description of how their computer was harmed and documentation of repairs incurred. That should present enough of a roadblock to deter a great many consumers from filing a claim. This all stems from Sony BMG's use of a rootkit in copy-protected CDs (read at Wikipedia). The invasive rootkit files leaves users' computers at risk due to security holes. (Read AP article)

• FYE has backed out of plans to move into two Tower Records stores in Sacramento. FYE had planned on opening stores at the Broadway and Watt Ave stores, but company CFO John Sullivan said the leases "weren't what they thought they were." Trans World, owner of the FYE chain, still has plans to take over Tower locations in Torrance, Philadelphia and Nashville. (Read article at Sacramento Bee)

• EMI chairman Eric Nicoli has been named to the board of directors for Vue Entertainment, a UK cinema chain. Nicoli will assist with growth of the company in the U.K. and Ireland. (Read article at Variety)

• A profile of XM Satellite Radio and walk around the company's Washington DC office. "The building itself is a century-old renovated printing press where National Geographic and Newsweek were once printed." (Read article at The Washington Post)

Posted by Glenn at 7:44 AM | Link
|Brick-And-Mortor Retail||Digital Distribution||Radio||Sony BMG||Tower|

• Bertlesmann confirmed the sale of its BMG Music Publishing to Universal Music Group. The deal must be approved by European Union anti-trust regulators. From where I sit, the two parties seem confident regulators will approve the deal. (Read article at Hollywood Reporter)

• The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ruled to leave radio station's quota for Canadian content at 35%. Associations representing producers, composers and publishers were seeking a new quota of up to 55%. The CRTC also passed on imposing an incentive-based strategy to promote Canadian music. (Read article at Billboard.biz)

• Sony BMG's Zomba Records signed 19-year-old Carli Marino, a singer from New Jersey who won Gospel Dream on the Gospel Music Channel. (Read article at NorthJersey.com)

• Paul Resnikoff follows up on reaction to Forrester's iTunes analysis. The lesson of it all: If you want to comment on iTunes' sales, Soundscan data trumps credit card receipts and music sales' seasonality cannot be ignored. (Read post at Digital Music News)

• The long, long, long awaited Guns N' Roses album, Chinese Democracy, is tentatively set for a March 2007 release according to a post by Axl Rose at the official GNR website. He also had some comments about his former manager Merck Mercuriadis. Sounds like the most recent delay comes for poor planning at the very least. (Read article at Billboard.com)

Posted by Glenn at 7:25 AM | Link
|Digital Music||Publishing||Radio||Sony BMG||iTunes|

• Soundscan unveils its mastertone sales data this week. Edna Gunderson has an article on a global market that is projected by one firm to gross $6.8 billion by 2010; U.S. sales are projected to be over $600 million in 2006. How are sales right now? Recently, an average of 4.6 million ringtones have been sold per week at an average cost of $2.40. (Read article at USA Today)

• Columbia Records has named Michael Caplan as its new Senior VP of A&R. Previously he held the same title for the Sony Music Label Group. (Read article at Hits)

• Here comes the video revenue streams (one day): Warner Music International has launched a new video content division called Warner Music Entertainment (Read article at Variety)

• House of Blues is considering building a 7,000-seat music venue at the Great America theme park in Santa Clara, CA. The site is adjacent to the site the San Francisco 49ers are considering for a new stadium. (Read article at Inside Bay Area)

• Not that it matters much to Americans, but Charlotte Church has parted ways with Sony BMG to concentrate on her TV talk show. Check out her theme song and her infamous cover of "Beat It" with an incapacitated Amy Winehouse. (Read article at Metro)

• A report of healthy HD radio sales. (Read article at Radio Ink)

Posted by Glenn at 7:58 AM | Link
|A&R||Live Music||Radio||Ringtones||Sony BMG||Warner Music Group|

• Warner/Chappell Music announced a sub-publishing deal with Disney Music Publishing. That puts the rights to over 10,000 Disney songs in the hands of Warner Music Group's publishing arm. (Read press release)

• UBC Media will launch a new service in the UK starting in May that will allow radio listeners to instantly download a playing song to a mobile phone or digital radio, as well as to their computer. Six radio groups and three major label groups -- WMG, Universal Music Group and EMI -- are on board; Virgin Mobile will be the first phone company to offer the service. UBC's chief executive calls it "radio's killer application," but there's a problem with the method of payment. Consumers will have to use a pre-paid account to buy the songs. Nothing says impulse purchase less than a pre-paid account. (Read article at The Scotsman)

• Fortune writer Devin Leonard asks, Can Web 2.0 can make music stars and rescue record labels? OK, who really thinks Second Life is a good place to market music? I'm skeptical. Selling music to virtual reality addicts who may or may not be avid music consumers strikes me as a potential waste of money. They're not the type of consumers who break a band, so if labels do go with Second Life it should be for established names. Anyway, the press labels will get from such different marketing strategies could be more productive than the actual marketing -- but that press will dry up eventually. Will Second Life break a band? Probably not. Will Second Life assist in breaking a band? Probably...but just assist. As with bands that supposedly rose to prominance through blogs, there's more going on than meets the media eye. (Read article at CNN Money)

• Speaking of breaking a band, here's another article on OK Go and YouTube. This one gets it right: "I don't think this works without all the TV appearances and endless touring these guys have done," said Capitol Records' Ted Mico. "It doesn't work in its own hermetically sealed box." (Read article at USA Today)

• Warner Music Group dropped to 25.80, is trading at a three and a half week low and has dropped below its 50-day moving average. On the positive side, WMG was trading at 17.80 a year ago. Encouraging results and EMI-related speculation pushed it higher, now some of that merger optimism is being squeezed out. WMG reports earnings this Friday. (Read article at Trading Markets, view at Google Finance)

• Country music makes its comeback in Los Angeles. (Read article at Los Angeles Times)

Posted by Glenn at 9:01 AM | Link
|Mobile Music||Publishing||Radio||Web 2.0|

• Hits predicts a massive first week for Jay-Z's Kingdome Come...in the 850,000 range. All in all, it looks like abum sales are surging upward just as they do this time of year. (Read article at Hits)

• EMI Music signed a licensing agreement with mobile music company Jamba, which has launched only in Germany thus far (it is known as Jamster in other countries). Tracks will be available for downloads and subscriptions for both the PC and mobile phone simultaneously. In September of 206, News Corp. purchased 51% of Jamba. The company plans to combine Jamba with Fox Mobile Entertainment. (Read press release)

• More EMI: EMI Music UK inked a deal with PSP-Playlist to allow its catalog of music videos to be downloaded onto the Sony PSP device. Videos will sell for between £1.89 and £2.19. (Read article at New Media Knowledge)

• The FCC will finance ten studies on media ownership: How People Get News and Information, Ownership Structure and Robustness of Media, Effect of Ownership Structure and Robustness on the Quantity and Quality of TV Programming, News Operations, Station Ownership and Programming in Radio, News Coverage of Cross-Owned Newspapers and Television Stations, Minority Ownership (two on this topic), Vertical Integration and Trends in Ownership, Format, and Finance. (Read article at Radio Ink)

• The U.S. Copyright Office has allowed a few new exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. One is the ability to reverse engineer the DRM on audio CDs for security purposes. All exemptions will take effect on Monday, November 27 and will last three years. Where did such an exemption come from? Why, the Sony BMG rootkit fiasco, of course. (Read article at Security Focus)

• RIP Robert Lockwood, blues artist. (Read AP article)

Posted by Glenn at 2:27 PM | Link
|EMI||Licensing||Portable Music Players||Radio|

• Another note from the Trans World conference call, which I had not heard or read yet: Tower will close its stores around December 15th but may leave a few open past that date.

• Kevin Lyman, co-founder of the Vans Warped Tour is one of the co-founders of Chaos Mobile, an online portal aimed at the Warped market. ChaosMobile will have both exclusive and non-exclusive content on an a la carte and subscription basis. Currently the site offers music trutunes, voice trutones and wallpapers. (Read article at Texas Gigs)

• Southern California radio stations KKGO and XSURF will begin simulcasting country music on December 1st. Some of the on-air personalities will come from KZLA, which stopped playing country last month. (Read article at Los Angeles Times)

Posted by Glenn at 8:10 PM | Link
|Brick-And-Mortor Retail||Mobile Music||Radio|

• Clear Channel agreed to a sale price of $18.7 billion. The lucky owners are private equity firms Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, and the founding May family. Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital should sound familiar to you. They're part of the investor group that purchased Warner Music Group from Time Warner in 2004. (Read Reuters article)

• EMI warned that it may not license its content to YouTube because it was not convinced the website could respect its copyrights. Insiders say the company is holding out for a Universal Music Group-like deal: about 1% of YouTube's equity and a payment of about eight-tenths of a cent every time an EMI song is streamed. Funny how equity eases fears that previously only DRM could allay. (Read article at Times Online)

• Very related: paidContent interviewed EMI CEO David Munns at the Web 2.0 conference. Munns said a deal with YouTube should be done soon. Munns had comments about artist contracts and extended rights deals and when we can expect to see the Beatles' music online (soon). He had no comment about price negotiations with Apple. (Read post at paidContent)

• Related: Google has set aside $200 million for defending YouTube in court. (Read article at The Guardian)

• Lose a few thousand, gain a few: Nordstrom, the upscale department store, plans to sell CDs. Its goal is to be "considered a tastemaker." (Read article at Hits)

• The New York live music biz is heating up: MSG Entertainment purchased the 2,800-seat Beacon Theater in New York City. A nine-month restoration is planned for 2008. (Read article at NY1)

Posted by Glenn at 11:12 AM | Link
|EMI||Live Music||Radio|

• Vivendi received approval to acquire BMG Music Publishing from Bertelsmann. The combine music publishing company is bigger than current leader EMI Music Publishing. (Read article at Billboard.biz)

• IRIS Distribution and Sonific created a partnership that will add tens of thousands of master recordings to Sonific's catalog of songs available for use with Sonific's SongSpots widget. SongSpot can be placed on a blog or website and will stream music from Sonific's catalog. (Read press release)

• Research and Markets has released the second volume to its "Ringtones: Past, Present and Future" report. Among the reports conclusions: labels are in "an explosive growth phase," "the outlook for pure-play mobile content aggregators is bleak" and covertones, or ringtones comprised of cover versions of popular songs, "are here to stay as a viable component of the market." (Read press release)

• Apple scored a deal with six airlines to place iPod docks in passenger seats. One key component: Each seat must have its own video display, which rules out most of the planes I encounter. Expect to see the new system used mid-2007 by Air France, Delta, Continental, Emirates, KLM and United. (Read post at Digital Music News)

• The FCC announced a public hearing on media ownership that will be held in Nashville on December 11th. (Read article at Radio Ink, download PDF of press release)

Posted by Glenn at 12:14 PM | Link
|Apple||Digital Distribution||Publishing||Radio||Ringtones||Universal Music Group|

• Entercom, which owns over 100 radio stations, reported its results for the quarter ending September 30. Net revenues dropped 1% to $114.3 million. Same station net revenues decreased 2%. (Read SEC filing)

• A Spanish judge has ruled that file-sharing for personal use is permissable. The judge said a guilty verdict would criminalize what has become a "socially accepted and widely practiced behavior." The Spanish music trade group is expected to appeal the decision. (Read AP article, via Digital Music News)

• Legendary record exec Ahmet Ertegun, co-founder of Atlantic Records, was seriously injured after slipping and hitting his head while backstage at a Rolling Stones concert. (Read aritcle at This Is London)

• Will the European Union approve Universal Music Group's purchase of BMG Music Publishing? We'll know on December 8th. (Read AP article)

• Ticketmaster contests a Wall Street Journal op-ed (which I somehow missed) written by a Wharton School professor. Kent Smetters wrote that Ticketmaster is lobbying for legislation that would eliminate secondary ticketing. Ticketmaster denies the charges and company president Sean Moriarty gave his side of the story. (Read article at Pollstar)

• Wind-Up Records act Seether is now managed by The Firm. (Via Kings of A&R)

• Warner Music Group will conduct an earnings call on December 1st. The company will report for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year ending September 20th. (Read press release)

Posted by Glenn at 7:59 AM | Link
|P2P||Radio||Warner Music Group|

• Later this month, eMusic will lower the number of downloads for each of its subscription packages. The $10 plan will drop to 30 from 40. The $15 plan goes to 50 from 65. Existing customers are not subject to the change. The new prices will take effect November 21th. Given eMusic's revenue-sharing model, artists and labels like it when the denominator decreases. Consumers end up paying more per download -- but it's still a great value. (Read article at The Register, via Digital Music News)

• Unavision Communications Inc. has acquired the remaining 50% of Mexico-based Disa Records and Edminosa Publishing. Disa will remain with Universal Music Group. Edminosa will fall under Univision Music Publishing. (Read press release)

• Ludacris announced a development deal with The N Network that will make the rapper executive producer of a television series called "Halls of Fame." (Read article at SOHH.com)

• A rumor that Steve Greenberg may be looking to relaunch S-Curve Records. (Read post at Hits Rumor Mill)

• NPR has a story on Mitch Koulouris, a former Tower Records manager who started Digital Music Group. (Listen to interview at NPR.com)

• The Department of Justice dropped its investigation into Entercom purchases after the company agreed to sell three stations in the Rochester area. Post-sale, Entercom will have about 40% of the Rochester market's radio ad revenue. Before the sale of the three stations, the company would have had over 57% of the market. (Read article at FMBQ)

• A clarification on a post about Snocap's recent deal to put music on MySpace pages. Snocap's publicist informs me this is separate from the Linx web development toolkit. The Snocap MySpace store, I'm told, is an HTML widget that plugs the storefront into existing websites.

Posted by Glenn at 9:03 AM | Link
|Legal||Mobile Music||Radio||Universal Music Group||XM||eMusic|

• Country star Keith Urban has pulled out of next month's Country Music Association awards. Last week Urban checked himself into rehab. His next album, Love, Pain & the whole crazy thing (Capitol Nashville), will be released November 7th. (Read AP article at Washington Post)

• John Legend has started his own record label, Home School Records. His first signing was British artist Estelle, followed by Vaughn Anthony. (Read article at Springfield News-Sun)

• SoBe Entertainment has inked a deal with Fontana Distribution. SoBe is putting out Undiscovered, the debut album by Brooke Hogan (daughter of Hulk Hogan). Fontana must be happy to have an album with a track produced by Scott Storch and featuring Paul Wall. Watch "About Us" at YouTube.

• The media ownership rule review continues. The National Association of Broadcasters told the FCC that "stations must be allowed to form efficient and financially sustainable ownership structures" in order to offer "free, over-the-air service to local communities." In a nutshell, the NAB wants less restrictive ownership regulations if it is going to follow the FCC's goals for localism and diversity. (Read article at Radio Ink)

• The Spanish government approved Universal Music Spain's purchase of Vale Music, the country's largest independent label. The label, which makes dance music compilations, has an 11% market share. A month-old article said the court set a condition on the acquisition: Vale and Universal "have to do away with previous no-competition pacts." (Read article highlights at Billboard.biz)

• Coincidence of the year: The week after Tower starts to liquidate, the iPod turned five years old. Wrote tech journalist Arik Hesseldahl: "The iPod soon worked with Windows PCs, and by 2003 the iTunes Music Store debuted and revolutionized how music was sold. If you doubt that statement, go visit your local Tower Records store -- if it's still open." (Read article at BusinessWeek.com)

• EMI South Africa star Leba Mathosa died in a car crash near Johannesburg. (Read article at Times Online)

Posted by Glenn at 9:14 AM | Link
|EMI||Indies||Radio||Universal Music Group|

• Even Steven: Los Angeles lost a country radio station, now it's getting a country station. Mount Wilson Broadcasting is moving to country from standards after KZLA-FM ditched country for urban. (Read article at Radio Ink)

• Brit rock band Keane is releasing a single, "Nothing In My Way," in the memory stick format. Right, a memory stick. Said one analyst, "I can't see this being something that's commonplace, but it's a good idea for people who haven't completely moved to downloads and breaking them in gently." No matter. Sales should be pretty light. (Read article at The Guardian)

• The AllofMP3.com story is getting weird. The IFPI has been giving the "legal" Russian download site a pretty hard time. Now Visa and Mastercard have stopped taking credit card transactions from the site. AllofMP3's response? A DRM-wrapped free service. The anti-RIAA crowd, which was firmly in AllofMP3's corner, must really be between a rock and a hard place. (Read AP article at BusinessWeekOnline)

• Ben Goldman was named Senior VP of A&R at Columbia Records. (Read article at Billboard.biz)

• William Patry's copyright blog has a post on the recent Copyright Office decision on ringtones. Wrote Patry of the decision that ringtones are subject to a compulsory license: "This is an epoch-making decision that bears repeated readings." (Read post at The Patry Copyright Blog)

• The Harry Fox Agency and the National Music Publishers Association avow they will not recognize the ringtone compulsory license. "This decision has no effect on HFA's existing policy that digital phonorecord delivery licenses issued by HFA on behalf of publishers are limited to the making and distribution of full downloads comprising full-length musical works and do not cover the additional configurations of ringtones or mastertones," the firm said in a statement. (Read post at Digital Music News)

• A group of music companies is teaming up for the Music Nation talent search. The contest will take video entries from bands around the world and grant three of them recording contracts with Epic Records. Local radio will help drive partcipation (Clear Channel is involved) and host performances. I dunno...sounds like Flickerstick all over again. (Read press release)

Posted by Glenn at 9:12 AM | Link
|Online Stores/Services||Radio||Ringtones||Sony BMG|

• Citigroup is optimistic for the second half of 2006, upgrades EMI to "buy" from "hold." (Read article at NewRatings.com)

• Newsweek's Brad Stones asks of YouTube: "Is it worth a billion dollars, or is it just another company in need of a business model?" He covers the usual Warner Music Group v. Universal Music Group angle, then digs into what one analyst called YouTube's "winner's curse." (Read article at Newsweek)

• Here's a mobile music news bit that I actually find interesting: Motorola iRadio will preview J Records/Arista Records albums. The first offering is Monica's latest single, "Everytime Tha Beat Drop," and other songs from her album The Makings of Me. (Read Press Release)

• Bridge Ratings reports "sluggish" satellite radio sales, especially to the youth market. The research company has lowered its third quarter estimates for new subscriber acquisitions. (Read article at Radio & Records)

• Napster and Tower Records Japan introduced the first subscription-based service for the Japan market. NTT DoCoMo will offer the service to mobile subscribers. The service offers over 1.5 million songs. (Read press release)

• The tail just gets longer and longer: Shout! Factory will release two catalogs, Biograph (early jazz and blues) and Black Top (blues), comprising 10,000 tracks through digital distributor Digital Music Group.

Posted by Glenn at 8:18 AM | Link
|Digital Distribution||EMI||Mobile Music||Online Stores/Services||Radio||YouTube|

• After news got out that Warner Music Group's Edgar Bronfman has been targeting EMI investors, shares of EMI rose 7%. At the same time, Bloomberg data indicates the perceived risk of holding EMI's bonds rose 3%, which shows an decrease in perception of credit quality. (Read article at Bloomberg)

• Network Live is gone and has parted with AOL, but its production team is going to start a new live music distribution deal with MSN called Control Room. (Read the details at paidContent)

• The RIAA's Cary Sherman testified to Congress that universities "resist taking action, or do as little as possible in order to brush off further responsibility" when it comes to P2P on their networks. (Read post at Digital Music News)

• A truce was called without as much as a press conference: Victory Records titles finally make an appearance at the iTunes Music Store. (Read post and comments at Punknews, via Idolator)

• Def Jam attempts to squash rumors that the label dropped rapper Method Man due to less-than-stellar sales. "Method Man is still part of the Def Jam family and he is currently on tour promoting his new CD," said a spokesperson in a statement. (Read article at SOHH)

• Rapper Beanie Sigel, on the other hand, says he is no longer signed to Def Jam or Roc-A-Fella Records. (Read article at SOHH)

• Study: HD radio still confusing listeners. (Read article at Radio and Records)

Posted by Glenn at 8:56 AM | Link
|EMI||EMI WMG Merger Talk||RIAA||Radio||Research||iTunes|

• On a panel at the NAB Radio show, Clear Channel CEO Mark Mays predicts a "great renaissance in American radio" and calls for increased consolidation over the next ten years. "We need to be taking content, repurposing it, and giving it to people in a format that they want." (Read article at Radio Ink)

• XM Satellite Radio is in talks with labels over new fees related to downloads and licensing. (Read article at Bloomberg)

• Country star Tim McGraw and producer Byron Gallimore are starting a new label, StyleSonic Records, and will release the soundtrack to McGraw's upcoming movie, Flicka. (Country Weekly)

• Sony BMG expects its European sales to be down 5% for the year; the company's first-half sales were down only 3%. (Read Reuters article)

• IODA has signed up for more labels for digital distribution: Big Daddy Music Distribution Inc, Cargo Records UK, Challenge Records International BV, Select-O-Hits, and Stomp Entertainment. (Read article at Press Release)

• Listen to a webcast of a presentation by Warner Music Group's Edgar Bronfman at Goldman Sachs Communacopia XV Conference. (Hear webcast at WMG Investor Relations)

Posted by Glenn at 7:56 AM | Link
|Radio||Sony BMG||Warner Music Group||XM|

• There's a controversy brewing about a 2004 report on media ownership. Former FCC Chairman Michael Powell says he never saw the report, which found that increased media ownership decreases the amount of local news reported on local television stations. (Radio and Records)

• Amazon.com launches a "CD on demand" service today called CustomFlix that will allow independent musicians and small labels to create just-in-time CDs. The services costs a $50 flat fee for musicians and labels, plus $4.95 to $7.95 per CD. (Seattle Times)

• Napster has a secret admirer. The company announced yesterday that it has "recent third party interest in establishing strategic partnerships or potentially acquiring the company." (Press Release)

• Rising Virgin rock band 30 Seconds to Mars has left The Firm? (Kings of A&R)

• Can the Internet alone break a band? "Internet activity alone does not break a band," says the manager of YouTube celebrities OK Go. "The Internet is a great tool for reaching people and getting the word out, but it doesn't sell records and it doesn't sell tickets." (Pollstar)

• JP Morgan maintains a neutral on EMI shares, but warns of tough year-on-year comparisons and sees selling opportunities ahead. Just imagine if Robbie Williams' album was pushed to the next period. (Dow Jones)

• ZZ Top parted ways with its manager as well as its $30 million deal with RCA Records. (Starpulse)

Posted by Glenn at 7:04 AM | Link
|EMI||Napster||Radio|

• Newsweek's Joshua Alston writes about a wave of R&B musicians who "who have grown tired of the creative restriction and unpredictable politics at major labels and made the jump to smaller labels" like Stones Throw, Astralwerks and Anti. Nice article, but there's a problem: Most of the artists mentioned -- Dudley Perkins, Georgia Ann Muldrew, Aloe Blacc, Jamie Lidell -- have never been on a major. The thrust of the article rings loud and clear, though. Majors, he argues, can't nuture these creative "indie soul" artists. Nor should they. Leave the niches to the indies. They'll do more with them. (Newsweek)

• A profile of legendary music man Jac Holzman, who heads up Warner Music Group's e-label, Cordless Recordings. (International Herald Tribune)

• John Connolly, president of the American Federal of Television and Radio Artists, spoke against media consolidation at a FCC Town Hall Meeting late last week. (Bilboard.biz)

• More than a quarter of all UK music sales come from supermarkets, up from 15% just fiive years ago. With this trend comes the usual warnings on behalf of independent retail and small labels. (This Is Money)

Posted by Glenn at 9:30 AM | Link