Hypebot’s New Music Business Briefing For Monday November 27th, 2006

>  The annual end of the year cuts at labels has begun with  Sony BMG gutting  its classical division and now reportedly the label groups urban unit is on the chopping block. (NY Post)

> The Rolling Stones’ "A Bigger Bang" tour has surpassed U2 as the top grossing tour of all time.(Ray Wadell in Billboard)

> Hackers have already found an easy way to allow Zune users unrestricted wired and wireless file sharing with other Zune users. Now they only have to wish there were other Zune users… (Engadget)

> A laymen’s overview of the latest iPods, competitors and accessories. (Washington Post)

> The FCC will conduct 10 studies on the effects of consolidated media ownership on
radio and TV.  (Radio Ink via Coolfer)

> Former Eurythmic and producer Dave Stewart inaugurates a promising new HBO talk show with U2’s Bono and The Edge. (Hollywood Reporter)

> CLASSICAL NEWS: Classical music fans are embracing paid downloads in a big way and some orchestras are trying to profit from the trend. (Toronto Star) And online retailer ArkivMusic is chasing classical’s long tail with 70,000 titles including 1600 custom burned CD-R out of print titles. (New York Times)