New Music Business Briefing: Sony Shuts Connect, WMG Cuts, Moby’s Mute, Payola, Pete Wentz & More

>>> Sony is shutting down its music and video download service Connect and layoff all 20 staffers.  Sony Connect never gained any traction and when compared to Apple’s success is failure of major proportions from a company who had led previous generations of music innovation.

>>> There have been more cutbacks as part of an ongoing restructuring bid at Warner Music Group. Among those let go last week were VP of promotion Felicia Swerling-Suslow, a nine-year WMG vet and her New York counterpart Dale Connone, an eight-year vet. At Reprise , VP of Adult Radio Alex Coronfly and National Dr. of Rock and Alternative Carlyn Kessler and New York local rep Dan Severs we among those let go.

>>> Recent NY and FCC settlements made you want to believe payola might be a thing of the past, but now come fresh charges via a former Univision promo exec. (UPI)

>>> Moby has signed with his international label Mute for the U.S. after his former label V2 disolved last year. (Reuters)

>>> A profile of Fall Out Boy singer as well label, clothing and nightclub emprisario Pete Wentz. (Forbes.com)

>>> R.I.P. – Richard Bell – Canadian keyboardist for Janis Joplin’s Full Tilt Boogie Band and a later version of The Band at 62.

>>> Is Jay-Z leaving Def Jam when his contract expires later this year and taking a bunch of his acts with him? (The Fury) The rumored new label partnership with Beyonce’ may be funded by Apple (some we doubt that) and World Entertainment. Is a Jayonce’s label real or just more hip hop hype? It could take months to find out…

>>>After smartly securing the rights to make Paul McCartney’s new release available on eMusic, the mp3 discount download subscription service featured McCartney in an aggressive ad campaign alongside eMusic’s usual "subscribe and get 25 tracks free" promotion. Even with eMusic "giving away" thousands of free McCartney tracks, the release still missed #1 by just a couple of thousand  units.  Or is the reason that McCartney did not reach #1 becauseeMusic does not report all of the free tracks to Soundscan?

>>> Just because we don’t want you to miss anything important, here’s last Week In Review.