Why Won't the Music Business Hire Nerds?

Last Thursday, Portfolio broke the news that Warner Bros. Music CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. had hired ex–Geffen Music executive Jim Griffin to launch an innovative new initiative that will almost certainly fail to save the troubled recording industry. Under the proposed plan, Internet users would pay a tax (Griffin suggests $5) on top of their monthly service bill allowing them to download all the music they want. Obviously — as lots of irate nerds on the Internet have already pointed out — such a thing would likely never work for millions of reasons. Nevertheless, Bronfman has reportedly signed Griffin to a three-year contract to put the plan into action. (NY Mag)

Virgin Media in talks to trial three strikes regime against P2P

Virgin Media could soon become the second major ISP to attempt to implement a "three strikes" system against illegal filesharers in partnership with the record industry. The cable company is in talks with the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) to trial a system of warnings, followed by disconnection, for the most persistent copyright infringers. It's the same scheme that Tiscali briefly put in place last summer. That led to 4 customers being disconnected after allegedly ignoring the warnings, but relations between Tiscali and the BPI collapsed in a row over how the costs should be shared. (The Register)

Why Steve Jobs wants to sell you a music subscription

Why is Apple suddenly in talks with record labels about bundling an unlimited music plan with new iPods, after resisting such a move for years? Steve Jobs has scoffed at music subscriptions in the past, saying customers want to "own their music." Never take Steve at his word: For years, he shot down the idea of iPods with video or an Apple-branded cell phone — until he made them happen. The same is about to happen for music subscriptions — but not because Jobs has suddenly changed his mind about consumers' tastes. (Valley Mag)

Rockstar and Amazon bring digital music distribution to GTA4

Rockstar's soon-to-be-released Grand Theft Auto 4 has the potential to be one of the biggest titles of all time. Looking to cash in on that potential, Amazon and Rockstar Games have teamed up to create an interesting new aspect of the game that will leverage the ever-increasing bond between gamers and music: Grand Theft Auto 4 is set to include a unique new model for digital music distribution: gamers will be able to buy music for their iPods, PCs, and other devices in-game. (Ars Technica)

Paying the Piper

Independent musicians express skepticism about industry idea to levy internet fee to pay for music. After Portfolio.com reported that Warner Music Group was exploring the idea of adding a monthly fee to consumers' internet-access bills to pay for music downloads, the digital music community rose up to ask: What about us? "It's the talk of the industry right now," Phil Crosland, the marketing chief of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, said. (Portfolio)

Jay-Z Deal Offers New Model for Music Sales

Jay-Z plans to depart his longtime record label, Def Jam, for a roughly $150 million package with the concert giant Live Nation that includes financing for his own entertainment venture, in addition to recordings and tours for the next decade. The pact, expected to be finalized this week, is the most expansive deal yet from Live Nation. (NY Times)

Yahoo Loses Its Musical Soul

Yahoo Music Vice President Ian Rogers has resigned to join a new stealth music startup called Topspin Media as CEO. This is a blow to Yahoo - Rogers is one of the few music industry insiders who have a clear vision for what the future of music should be. In 2007 he and former Yahoo Music GM Dave Goldberg told music insiders they must abandon DRM - a year later it was reality. Last year Rogers shocked the industry again when he told industry execs: I personally don’t have any more time to give and can’t bear to see any more money spent on pathetic attempts for control instead of building consumer value. (TechCrunch)

Nokia Launches New Digital Music Store in Ireland

Nokia Ireland is delighted to announce the arrival of the Nokia Music Store in Ireland - offering access to millions of tracks, from global hits to local artists and giving consumers the real freedom to enjoy music at their fingertips, 24/7. Nokia aims to include more Irish content from up-and-coming and established Irish artists than any other digital music store available in Ireland. (PR)

MTV Networks Delivers 57 Million Mobile Video Streams in a Year

MTV Networks (MTVN), a unit of Viacom, announced that it streamed more than 57 million mobile videos across all its brands and carriers between February 2007 and February 2008, representing 94% growth over the year prior. MTV continues to be the premiere destination for music on mobile, recording 17 million mobile video streams in the past year, approximately half of which were music videos. (PR)

Perez Hilton Announces Boycott of Sony/BMG Artists

After Perez Hilton posted streams of songs that may or may not have been the work of Britney Spears (it turned out they were), Sony/BMG and its subsidiary Zomba filed a lawsuit against the gossip site. Hilton claims the suit is unfair because the songs were not downloadable. Now, PerezHilton.com has announced a short list of artists that are "dead to [them]," including Tori Amos, Celine Dion, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, The Gossip, Adele, Lil' Mama, Pink, Usher, Justin Timberlake, and Whitney Houston. (Wired)

EMI Music appoints top Google executive Douglas Merrill to drive digital growth

EMI Music has appointed Google’s chief information officer and one of its most senior global executives, Douglas Merrill, to lead its growing digital music business. As President, Digital Business, EMI Music, Merrill will head a new global function which brings together for the first time leadership responsibility for all of the company’s digital strategy, innovation, business development, supply chain and global technology activities. (PR, Financial Times)

Judge to RIAA: You can't sue over songs 'made available' via P2P

In a widely anticipated decision, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas ruled Monday to reject the RIAA's claim that a Kazaa user who merely "made available" copyrighted music necessarily violated the law. Rather, he said, the RIAA would have to demonstrate that unlawful copying actually took place. While the judge rejected the RIAA attorneys' "making available" argument, he did provide them with a road map showing a detour that might still allow them to arrive at their destination. (News.com)

3 UK launches first commercial ad-funded music video service

Mobile operator 3 UK today announced the launch of the first ad supported, commercial mobile music video service in conjunction with Sony BMG Music Entertainment (UK). The service, powered by Rhythm NewMedia, is available to all 3 UK customers and is accessed through 3's music homepage. The new Sony BMG video collection is the latest addition to 3's existing free mobile video service. The service is offered to customers with no data charges and is supported by short, targeted video ads. (PR)

Radiohead Launches Song Remix Contest with iTunes

Radiohead has partnered with Apple's iTunes Store to give fans the ability to create their own remix for their new single "Nude," offering the separate vocal and instrumental parts of the song for download from the online store. Finished songs may then be uploaded to RadioheadRemix.com, where the public will vote on them; users may also place voting widgets on their own websites that will count in the final tally. (Digital Media Wire)

Universal Music Invests in Digital Distributor INgrooves

Universal Music Group announced on Tuesday that it has made a strategic investment in digital music distributor INgrooves, and will partner with the company to distribute music. San Francisco-based INgrooves recently served as the exclusive digital distributor for Dolly Parton's "Backwoods Barbie" album, and also provides distribution and marketing services for partners including ESL Music, VP Records and Stones Throw Records. (Digital Media Wire, PR)

Record companies sue Pirate Bay four

Record companies are demanding that the four individuals responsible for operating the file sharing site The Pirate Bay pay €1.6 million (15 million kronor/$2.5 million) in compensatory damages. The indictment covers 24 music albums, nine films, and four computer games. The compensation claim was presented to Stockholm District Court on Monday. "The record companies can go screw themselves," said Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg to The Local. (The Local, Ars Technica)

SpiralFrog™ Signs Agreement with Warner/Chappell Music

SpiralFrog, the free ad-supported, Web-based music experience, and Warner/Chappell Music, the global music publishing arm of Warner Music Group Corp., announced an agreement to make the company’s catalog of music compositions available to complement SpiralFrog’s growing roster of audio and video content. (PR)

Spotlight: Recorded Music Gets Smoked

ast week, scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory were able to listen to a play back of what is believed to be the earliest mechanical sound recording. Made in 1860 by the French typesetter Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, the "phonautogram" features the voice of a woman, believed to be Scott's daughter, singing a line from the French folk song, "Au Clair de la Lune." (Digital Media Wire)

Buzznet Gets Investment From Interscope-Universal Music; Buys Stereogum; Acquisitions Coming?

Pop culture-focused social media site Buzznet, based in Los Angeles, has raised a big-ish third round of funding, as much as $25 million, we have learned, and that Universal Music-owned Interscope has invested a few million in it. A source close to the company tells us that Qloud, the music application maker backed by Steve Case, has been sold to Buzznet for a “little over their last round valuation. Qloud makes the “My Music” application on Facebook (with similar products on Bebo, Friendster, and hi5), which has 1.8 million installed users. (PaidContent, Mashable)

Live Nation, U2 sign agreement

Live Nation Inc. said Monday that it had reached an agreement for a 12-year global contract to handle the merchandising, digital and branding rights as well as the touring of Irish rock band U2.
The deal with U2, one of the world's biggest rock bands, comes just five months after Live Nation announced a comprehensive partnership with pop star Madonna, which included her coveted recording rights. Live Nation said U2 would continue the band's long-term recording and publishing relationship with Universal Music Group, a unit of French media giant Vivendi. (LA Times, PR)

Why piracy isn't such a bad thing for music

As an international recession looms, it is reassuring to read some good business news. Britain's film industry is enjoying a boom. Visits to cinemas rose 3.7% to 162.4 million in 2007, much faster than growth of the whole economy, and box office takings rose 7.7% to £904.9m. But hang on: isn't this an industry, even more than music, in global meltdown because of an epidemic of illegal file sharing? How come it is expanding? (The Guardian)

Nokia confident of music deals

Nokia is increasingly confident of securing deals with the world's leading record companies ahead of launching its flagship music service for mobile phones later this year. In December, Nokia announced plans for its Comes With Music service, under which people will be able to buy mobiles giving them access to Universal Music's entire back catalogue for up to one year. Nokia is in talks with the other three leading record companies - Sony BMG, EMI and Warner Music - plus about 10 independent music labels about giving people access to their catalogues. (Financial Times)

File Sharers Get Help Spotting ISP Moves

Vuze Inc., a California-based company that provides a popular file-sharing program, is giving its users a tool to help figure out if their Internet service provider is interfering with their traffic. The Associated Press last year confirmed user reports that Comcast Corp., the country's largest cable company, was secretly disrupting some file-sharing by its subscribers. The "plug-in" Vuze made available as a free download last weekend looks for "reset packets," the tool Comcast uses to break off some connections with computers trying to download files from Comcast subscribers, Vuze said Wednesday. (AP)

Mp3gle Searches For Free MP3 Downloads

Add Mp3gle.com to the growing list of search engines that help you find free mp3’s on the net. Mp3gle is absurdly simple to use (think of it as a Google for mp3’s, thus the name) and unlike some other search engine enables both instant listening and downloads. (Our Digital Music)

Bjork defends Tibet outburst

Pop singer Bjork has spoken out after she was condemned by Chinese fans for raising Tibet during a Shanghai concert. The Icelandic musician repeated three times “Tibet! Tibet!” as she finished her song Declare Independence during the last show of her Asian tour this week. In a garbled, typo-ridden statement, the eccentric singer today defended her actions. (Times Online, Music 2.0)

Imeem Grabs Rolling Stones Advance Debut

"Shine A Light", the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese’s new documentary about The Rolling Stones, is making its US debut today on imeem, a week prior to it's April 1st release on Interscope. imeem users can hear the 16-song deluxe version of the soundtrack includingevery track from the film plus four bonus cuts - "Paint It Black", "Little T&A", "Shine A Light" and "I'm Free." (Hypebot)

iTunes Competitors: We're Number 2! No, We're Number 2! (AMZN, AAPL)

Amazon's MP3 store, launched last fall, is now number two behind iTunes, says USA Today. No way, says eMusic CEO David Pakman: We're in second place -- just like we've always been! There's no way to actually referee the dispute, because USA Today isn't playing fair: It doesn't actually provide any sales or market share numbers for Amazon. Instead, Pakman says on his blog, reporter Jefferson Graham called the four major labels and asked them who their second biggest digital retailer was, and they said Amazon. (Silicon Alley Insider, USA Today)

Interview with Paul Resnikoff (Digital Music News)

For those who don’t know, Paul is the editor and founder of Digital Music News, which is a highly respected and popular news site for all things to do with the business side of the music industry. Paul has a serious amount of good contacts, which is why DMN is the best there is for the inside stories and gets the news before anyone else does. (Madyleight Stor)

MySpace to stream NME US awards

NME is pushing further into the US through a deal with social networking website MySpace, which will stream the IPC magazine's first US music awards live from Los Angeles' El Rey Theatre next month. MySpace will be the exclusive host for the web coverage of the event on April 23, ahead of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival, with live performances from breakthrough bands. The UK title is hoping that the association with MySpace, the biggest social networking site in the US and in the world, will help it grow its audience among new music fans. (The Guardian)

R.E.M. Brings London Apple Store Up To Speed

R.E.M. showcased its new album "Accelerate" (Warner Bros.) alongside obscure old songs during an intimate showcase for fans and media at the Apple Store on London's Regent Street. The gig, which will be available as an audio download from the iTunes Music Store at a future date, came just two days after the band played its first-ever show at London's prestigious Royal Albert Hall. After a May-June tour in the U.S. and Canada, R.E.M. returns to the U.K. in July for a headline slot at the T in the Park festival, followed by stadium shows in August. (Billboard)