Michael Jackson's company denies Beatles coming to iTunes

Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the joint venture owned by Sony and singer Michael Jackson, has thrown cold water on newspaper stories out of London that The Beatles catalog would soon be available on iTunes. A spokeswoman for Sony/ATV Music Publishing told CNET News.com that the reports are "untrue." (News.com)

Chrysalis sets premium benchmark for bidders

A deadline for second-round bids on the music publishing arm of Chrysalis closed last night with EMI, Warner Chappell and Sony ATV among those involved, and the price said to be about £170m. Analysts said Chrysalis was demanding a premium price for a catalogue including artists such as David Bowie, Blondie and Gnarls Barkley. It is understood that Chris Wright, chairman, founder and largest shareholder in Chrysalis, and the company's managers were "underwhelmed" by offers in the first round of bidding about Christmas time. (Financial Times)

Guy Hands joins music industry rivals in bid battle for Chrysalis

Guy Hands, the chairman of EMI, is planning to make a second-round bid for Chrysalis by today's deadline. Others considering second-round bids for Chrysalis, which owns the music publishing rights to artists such as Blondie and much of David Bowie's early work, include Warner Chappell and Sony ATV. (Times Online, Reuters)

Sony/ATV Inks Flo Rida

Sony/ATV Music Publishing has signed a worldwide co-publishing agreement with Flo Rida. The deal includes the songwriter-artist's hit single "Low" featuring T-Pain as well as his interest in songs on the upcoming debut album "Mail On Sunday" (Altantic). (Billboard)

Sony/ATV Stops Future Licensing of Digital Services

Sony/ATV Music Publishing has instructed the Harry Fox Agency today to stop all future licensing of any of the publisher's repertoire for streaming or limited downloads, Billboard.biz has learned. The move is in response to the Digital Media Assn.'s motion filed yesterday with the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB). In the motion, DiMA argues that an interactive stream is not a digital phonorecord delivery (DPD) and, therefore, should not have to be licensed for reproduction. Music services like RealNetwork's Rhapsody, Napster and MediaNet (formerly known as MusicNet) should be impacted. (Billboard)