New Music Business Briefing: iTunes Goes Mobile, IPods Soar, Zune Drops, Universal Cuts Sanctuary & More

>>> Apple made major upgrades to the iPod line including larger capacities and a new touch screen edition with Wifi.  At the same time they lowered prices on many players and dropped the 8GB iPhone $200. A new mobile iTunes was also announced and will rollout in a special Starbucks cross-promotion.  (more from Hypebot) In one group of announcements Apple just made it much much harder for any competitor to gain traction and with WiFi paved the way for future advancements.

>>> Microsoft cut prices on all Zunes $50.  The player which most who buy it love according to surveys is stuck at about 10% of sector sales. (Zune Insider, cNet) With growing label adoption of universal mp3’s Microsoft and others have a window of opportunity to compete with Apple. But to do so they need to be much more bold with their designs and features.

>>> Universal will close down Sanctuary’s label and concentrate on developing the management and merchandise divisions absorbing the music catalog into Universal UK. (FMQB) You know its strange times when a label buys a label only to shut it down and concentrate on its other income streams.

>>> Mobile music service provider Groove Mobile has landed $6 million more in backing for a toal to date of $32 million. (press release)

>>> Universal has filed a lawsuit against Eisner backed file sharing site Veoh. (Bloomberg)

>>> Online D.I.Y. label Beta  is expanding into the UK.

>>> MyStrands is launching MyStrands.tv, a YouTube channel creator that can easily be shared.