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According to the site's front page, Qtrax will begin offering the free ad supported music in the US that it promised to months ago starting this Wednesday, June 18th. This time they much more label support. EMI, Universal Sony BMG, Beggars Group and TVT have now publicly stated they will support Qtrax as have many major publishers. Stay tuned for details ...
>
Jason Flom follows Lee Trink out of the Capital Executive Suite plus commentary.
> BMG is close to closing a $1.2-$1.5 sale to Sony
> T-Pain launches his Nappy Boy Digital label.
> French service has unlimited downloads for a flat fee. Why can't they do this everywhere?
> Universal lost a lawsuit to stop re-sale of promos
> Metallica apologized to blogs blaming management
> Major pre-release pirate is arrested
> Indie trade group Merlin posts some impressive numbers
Yesterday France's Orange opened Musique Max, an unlimited download service for PC and mobile.
Over a million titles from all four major labels (EMI Music France, Sony BMG, Universal Music France and Warner Music) and two independents, Believe and Scorpio Music.If they can do this in France, why not everywhere?
HYPEBOT FEATURES -
> A move to charge broadcast radio performance royalties is gaining steam in Congress
and a bi-product may be fairer rates for internet radio as well. (RAIN)
> MySpace is launching a major redesign next week including a new homepage, simplified navigation, a more streamlined and cleaner profile builder, improved search, and a redesigned MySpaceTV player. (PaidContent)
> Alternate reality game makers 42 Entertainment will be featured speakers at the upcoming Bandwidth Music and Tech Conference August 14-14 in SF. (press release) Hypebot will have full conference coverage.
> AOL Radio which now includes 100 CBS Radio stations will soon be available for free iPhone streaming. (FMQB)
> The Musicians Union is suing American Idol claiming musicians are underpaid. (AP)
UNIVERSAL LOOSES COURT RULING
Grab your review copies and call your friends at the labels! Universal sued an online retailer who often re-sold promo CD's. The courts ruled against the label group saying his actions were covered under "fair sale doctrine". Here's the pdf of the ruling.
If you haven't been following the silliness, Metallica invited a few bloggers to a listening party for their new CD, then demanded take-downs when they posted reviews. Now the band is saying it was all a misunderstanding and their management is to blame. From Metallica.com:
"While we occasionally enjoy reading the various comments, rumors, speculation, reviews, gossip and all the good that the internet brings, rarely do we feel the desire/need to respond to the "blogosphere" . . . hey, everyone is entitled to have their thoughts and opinions, right? However...
Continue reading "Metallica Aplogizes To Blogs, Blames Mgt." »
CIMS Top 30 Debuts for 6-10-08
1 MY MORNING JACKET EVIL URGES
2 LIL WAYNE THA CARTER III
3 PLIES DEFINITION OF REAL
4 N.E.R.D. SEEING SOUNDS
5 HARRIS,EMMYLOU ALL I INTENDED TO BE
6 DYLAN,JAKOB SEEING THINGS
7 SUPERGRASS DIAMOND HOO HA
8 MORISSETTE,ALANIS FLAVORS OF ENTANGLEMENT
9 WIDENSPREAD PANIC CARBONDALE 2000
10 FRATELLIS HERE WE STAND
Read the rest of the CIMS Top 30 debuts + the Vinyl and Top 200 charts after the jump.
Continue reading "Coalition of Independent Music Stores Charts Chart For 6-11-08" »
Sources have confirmed that Jason Flom, who heads EMI's recorded-music operations in North America as chairman of Capitol Music Group, is negotiating an 
exit. He follows Capitol President Lee Trink whose last day at the company is June 30th. Trink also told the Wall Street Journal, "Their view is that there is no local management. There is no such thing as a president of Capitol Records going forward."
COMMENTARY - In our ongoing poll, 66% of Hypebot readers have voted either that label presidents were a costly waste (18%) or at least that running without them was a worthy experiment (48%) . I totally disagree. My understanding of the changes...
Continue reading "Flom Exits Capitol. Are Label Heads Dinosaurs?" »
Pearl Jam is expanding the band's bootleg program for their 12-city U.S. tour via Verizon Wireless. Verizon customers will have exclusive mobile access to to new live recordings. Pearl Jam will also be supporting Verizon Wireless' HopeLine program that turns unused wireless phones into support for victims of domestic violence by holding phone collection drives at each venue.
The Pearl Jam Mobile Bootleg Program:
Continue reading "Pearl Jams Offers Verizon Mobile Bootlegs" »
UK police have arrested a man suspected of selling a "vast quantity" of pre-release albums on eBay, weeks before their official release. The man, a DJ and music reviewer based in London, was arrested on suspicion of theft and money laundering. The case centres on the alleged sale of pre-release copies of albums by artists including Foals, Delays, Grand National and Kelly Rowland.
If charges are brought, it is thought this would be the first ever prosecution involving the sale of pre-release music in the UK.
More: IFPI
HYPEBOT FEATURES:
> A look inside the tug of war between Live Nation executives over doing more expensive 360 deals with superstars. (WSJ) Billboard says its gotten so bad that Chairmen Michael Cohl may be on the way out.
> Founder and former of Harp Magazine Scott Crawford is launching BLURT, a new music digital magazine and website. Joined by Managing Editor Fred Mills, Senior Editor Randy Harward, Associate Editor Andy Tennille and Contributing Editor A.D. Amorosi, BLURT will cover "modern music and entertainment".
> RIAA is doubling the settlement costs for students fighting subpoenas.(ars) Now that's building loyalty in tne next generation of fans!
> Wal-Mart sold 104K of its new exclusive Journey album in the first week. (press release) Not bad considering the band doesn't even have the original lead singer.
> Jon Folk has been named VP of Buddy Lee Attractions. He joined the BLA team 14 years ago and is Responsible Agent (RA) for the Honky Tonk Tailgate Party and others.
FT Deutschland is reporting that Bertelsmann is trying to sell its 50% stake in Sony BMG for $1.5 billion over the next 4 to 6 weeks, but may
only get $1.2 - $1.3 billion. FTD's unamed source says talks are “well
advanced”.
Bertelsmann’s revenue from Sony BMG fell 27% to €1.5 billion in 2007 which in part came from the sale of their publishing company. A recent 40% increase in digital music sales has not been enough to counter the 17% slide in CD sales last year. Industry wide declines are hovering around 16% for 2008.
via PaidContent
EMI and BBC Worldwide have struck a deal to release EMI related material from the 
network's extensive archive of TV and radio recordings. In return the BBC will have
the opportunity to use EMI artists’ performances to create new programming which can be sold to international broadcasters and consumers.
Slicethepie, the UK based online artist financing site, has added Paul Brown to the board, as Commercial Director. Paul will combine his new role with his current position as Managing Director, International at Pandora.Previously Director of Digital Business at Sony BMG Music UK, Brown spent 6 years working...
Continue reading "SliceThePie Adds Pandora's Brown To Board" »
Represents Biggest Bundle Of Rights Outside the Four Major Labels 
Merlin's mission, collective bargaining, is the best hope that indie labels have to get their fair share of revenues generated from music 2.0 services like Last.FM, MySpace and YouTube. Now that Merlin has critical mass lets hope that deals follow...soon. Todays Merlin press release shares some impressive stats:
Here is the full text of the leaked Capital EMI memo on the departure of Capital Records head Lee Trick and the temporary replacement, Ian Ralfini, GM of Blue Note Label Group's Manhattan Records who will head only marketing.
Organization Announcement:
EMI Music North America Marketing
Lee Trink will be stepping down from his position as President of Capitol Music Group at the end of June. He will be working closely with the company to ensure a smooth transition. Since first joining EMI as GM and EVP of Virgin Records in 2006, and during his time at Capitol, Lee has been instrumental in building upon careers for artists and breaking emerging talent. We would like to thank him for his contribution to EMI and want to wish him well in his future pursuits.
Ian Ralfini, GM of Blue Note Label Group's Manhattan Records, has agreed....
Continue reading "Text Of Leaked EMI Memo On Trink, Ralfini" »
Yesterday, artist and producer T-Pain announced the formation of his own full service Nappy Boy Digital label. (full story here). Julia Kadarusman, a spokesperson for the label answered a few questions about the new venture:
Q: Is T-Pain releasing his own music via the new label or is he still tied to a major?
A: T-Pain remains a Konvict/Jive Records (Sony BMG) recording artist.
EMI has confirmed that Capital Music Group President Lee Trink is officially out as of the end of the month. It's all part of a broader restructuring effort at parent EMI.
The fate of Virgin's Jason Flom has not been confirmed. (more)
HYPEBOT FEATURES:
> Indie music trade group Merlin has hit 12,000 members and is talks with Last.fm, MySpace Music and others. (Variety) Impressive numbers, but its time for a breakthrough...
> Yahoo! Music got a redesign with more emphasis on music news and concerts plus song lyrics and the FoxyTunes player app. (MarketNews)
> Radio AOL has relaunched with 200 net stations alongside 150 CBS Radio local offerings. (press release)
> Metallica is stopping early blog reviews of their new CD...after inviting writers to preview 6 tracks.(Listening Post) Sad...
> Sony UK is giving away free music video downloads from 7Digital with every new Walkman. (7Digital)
> SanDisk has acquired mp3 player manufacturer Music Gremlin (press release)
> Chasing the long tail: Here Japan is an English language web site offeriing only the music of Japan but in all its forms from traditional to rock and beyond.
ALL FOUR MAJORS HAVE WITHDRAWN LAWSUIT
XM Satellite Radio and EMI Music today announced that they have resolved the lawsuit brought in May of 2006 by EMI and the other three major labels against XM over its Pioneer Inno, a portable satellite radio with advanced recording features. The companies did not disclose terms of the agreement.
Similar agreements were announced in December 2007 between XM and both Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group and February 2008 between XM and SONY BMG. XM must still settle with several smaller labels and publishers.
LEE TRINK AND JASON FLOM'S DAYS APPEAR NUMBER
According to Fox News, Lee Trink, president of Capitol Records sill be leaving the label as of June 30th. Jason Flom, head of Virgin Records Both labels are part of EMI Music. This is all part of a promised restructuring by parent EMI's 
new owners Terra Firma which includes cutting 2000 plus positions worldwide.
According to reports, I find hard to believe, neither Trink nor Flom will be replaced. It's said that Guy Hands does not believe in label presidents and will only appoint heads of A&R and marketing. What happens when they disagree? And can you imagine how Coldplay feels releasing a new album on a rudderless label?
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK IN THE COMMENTS SECTION AND VOTE IN OUR POLL.
Producer and artist T-Pain steps launched what he says will be a full service, independent 
record label
, Nappy Boy Digital. The label provides an outlet for T-Pain to release tracks without "the constraints of the traditional major label machine".
T-Pain collaborator Tay Dizm is the first artist on the newly formed label. The debut single, "Beam Me Up," was produced by Atlanta hit-maker Bangladesh and features T-Pain and Florida rapper Rick Ross. iTunes began an exclusive on May 20th and a web-wide release begins at the end of June.
PREVIOUSLY: Introduction, 1. Off With Their Heads, 2. Cut The Fat, 3. Build Label Brands, 4. Serve The Niches, 5. Release More Records
The music industry is facing many challenges. How can the major labels and the
entrepreneurs that seek to replace them adjust to compete in this evolving environment?
Part 6: Serve the customer or in music business terms: serve the fan. This must be the mantra of every artist, manager, label, agent and concert promoter. Nothing matters if the fan is not just satisfied, but engaged and excited.
How? First, as Google says, "Do No Harm". Stop suing people. I don't mean the physical goods pirates or even the major P2P enablers. Stop suing fans. It's not making your point or making you money. Make a statement and publicly stop today.
Next, show fans you know they are hurting economically...
Continue reading "Can The Music Industry Save Itself ? - Part 6: Serve The Fans" »
MORNING NEWS - UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY
> Bertlesmann is pushing Sony to buy its stake in Sony BMG. (AFP) Only at fire sale prices
> There's little new for music in the new faster, cheaper better iPhone. (Billboard) Has Steve used us and moved on? Should we be surprised?
> "Bits, Bands and Books" - an Op-Ed on the digitization of art and media from the New York Times. (free reg. required)
> Are NIN the new darlings of Silicon Valley? You'll think so if you read Valleywag.
> The return of vinyl. (Blogging Stocks)
> Downtown Music Publishing has appointed Sean McGraw as Director of Licensing Administration and Jeremy Yohai as Manager of Copyright Relations. They ewill focus on servicing the publishing company’s more than 2,500 songs recorded by artists ranging from Aretha Franklin and The Isley Bros to Mary J. Blige and Miley Cyrus.
> Feel guilty about grabbing music free P2P? Send your favorite rocker a letter, enclose $5 and be sure to cc: DearRockers.com.
> 10 mobile social networks worth checking out. (ReadWriteWeb)
UPDATED:
EMI Music has appointed co-founder of Linden Lab, Cory Ondrejka, SVP Digital Strategy, a new position created to help drive EMI 's digital business. Ondrejka led the development of the virtual world, Second Life. In his new role, Ondrejka is tasked with building a digital strategy for EMI Music, as well as to "drive innovation around new revenue opportunities and build a world-class engineering". Ondrejka will be based in LA.
On his personal blog Ondrejka shares a decidedly different view of the music industry and hints at his focus at EMI:
"I neither buy nor hear much new music. Since 2000, I’ve only purchased 5 albums. Three by Rush...Why not? I hear lots of new music I like – anything from the first couple seasons of Alias would work – but I never hear new music in the right context to buy it."
EMI Music Publishing UK, has appointed Kenny McGoff to head function as SVP, Head of A&R. He will report to EMI Publishing UK President Guy Moot and to be based in London. McGoff originally joined the company as A&R Manager in 2000, and has since signed UK songwriters including Arctic Monkeys, The Enemy, The Feeling, the Fratellis, Kasabian, Paul Epworth, Reverend & The Makers, Scouting For Girls and The Zutons. - MORE AFTER THE JUMP.
NOTE TO LABELS, PUBLICISTS, ETC: Despite the many stories we run on EMI, Hypebot is not partial to them. (We don't dislike them either.) It just that their press department does a better job of getting us timely info. Please make sure we're on your lists: hypebot-at-skylineonline-dot-com.
Ars says this may be an effort by a rival corporation, but whoever it is, give The Consumer Coalition For Competition In Satellite Radio credit for taking a strong stand on a controversial issue - should XM and Sirius merge? They're not just demanding hearings; they want the execs involved fired and fined $250 million.
"To counter the potentially dim prospects facing subscribers of satellite radio under a monopoly provider, a group of concerned Sirius and XM subscribers have formed the Consumer Coalition for Competition in Satellite Radio ("C3SR")...(we are) committed to opposing the creation of a monopoly in satellite radio..." - VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
Continue reading "Call For No Satellite Merger, $250M Fines" »
No, its not a reality show following Shawn Fanning from Napster riches to financial ruin. Nor is it a look at how Lyor Cohen survives when they finally 
take away the corporate jet. The Secret Life of Sam King, will tell the story of a junior Universal employee who starts her own record label and will feature artists and music from the label reports the Financial Times.
Bebo and Universal Music will produce this online drama based on the music industry as part of an effort to promote the site's music offerings. And Universal gets to show off new music in a new format. This might almost make it worth signing up for yet another social networking service. I said might...
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