Hypebot’s New Music Business Briefing For Friday November 3rd, 2006

– Prince is extending his brand to Las Vegas with the opening of 3121 Jazz Cuisine (named after his latest album) inside The Rio where he will perform every Friday and Saturday for an indefinite period. (Reuters)

– A Spanish judge has dismissed the case against a man who downloaded and shared music on the Internet, saying there was "no talk of money or any other compensation beyond the sharing of material available among various users". (AP)

– The Zune juggernaut rolls on prior to the Nov 14 debut yesterday’s launch of Zune.net and related community site Zune-Arts.

– PRLady offers email ($50) and phone consultations ($200)for indie musicians looking for advice on publicity. On the one hand we’re skeptical; on the other hand knowledge is power.

– Soundation is another startup in the increasingly crowded field of helping acts sell downloads across the net without the middlemen.  This one carries a set-up fee but after that they only grab 10 cents a track. (press release)

– "New relationships between music companies, advertisers and file-sharing networks are signaling a major change…Instead of trying in vain to stop a trend that has spread like wildfire, record giants have finally figured out that when it comes to music piracy, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em." (Ottawa Citizen)