Hypebot’s New Music Business Week In Review: Universal Details, Pea Drops, EMI Fumbles & Much More

>>> More details of the Universal DRM-free experiment which start next week emerged with Rhapsody giving Hypebot an exclusive interview as well as details of the Google’s important role in the test.  Also read Hypebot’s commentary "DRM Free Won’t Save The Music Industry But It Empower’s Those Who Can".

>>> Black Eyed Pea Will.i.am will drop his solo release on 8/28 DRM free and paying fans to help him sell it via a Musicane widget.

>>> EMI has hired ad firm Saatchi & Saatchi to design a year long catalog push using its "Lovemark" strategy to re-brand the product. Rumors are also flying that the new owners of EMI are eying changes at the top.

>>> This week marked the 25th Anniversary of the CD.

>>> A new hack makes it easy to download free mp3’s from hundreds of thousands of songs on MySpace.

>>> An understaffed Epic Records hired competitor Koch to help push its Hip Hop releases.

>>> Passalong has spun off indie and d.i.y. download enabler Speakerheart.