Monday’s Music 2.0 Briefing: Layoff Rumors, VIP Music Confab, Mobile Future, EMI 360 & Much More

>>> Layoff rumors continue to swirl with new reports of cuts at Universal Nashville reflecting a particularly tough year for country music. Other talk centers around broader Universal cuts and big changes at Sony BMG. EMI may wait until a new CEO is installed early next year to make cuts and no chatter is coming from the WMG camp. Here’s a roundup of last week’s layoff activity.

>>> Bonnaroo announced that this year’s TN fest will be June 12-15.

>>> imeem adds Universal to its ad support music social networking service giving it all four major labels. (cNet) Read our recent interview with imeem founder Dalton Caldwell here.

>>> Transmission, an invitation only gathering in Vancouver put on by Diamond Dog Music and featuring some heavyweights looked at the current state of music marketing.  (Globe & Mail) Here’s some info on last year’s conference just in case you forgot how rapidly things are changing. (…And I wasn’t invited?)

>>> The music industry is betting on mobile to reverse the downward revenue trend. (BBC) And the mobile industry is finally turning its full attention to music. (UK Times)

>>> The future of the long stalled music subscription model may finally be starting to look brighter. (BusinessWeek) 

>>> In an effort to build one of the world’s largest digital media services companies, Macrovision is acquiring Gemstar-TV Guide in a cash deal worth $2.8 billion. (TechWeb)

>>> EMI has added on demand video site BoxOffice360 owned by the British Internet Broadcasting Company to its list of retailers selling DRM free music and video. (Billboard.biz)

>>> An interesting look inside the New Zealand digital music trade. (Stuff.co.nz)

>>> Just to be sure you didn’t miss anything last week that might lead to you joining the growing numbers of our music industry brethren in the unemployment line, be sure to check out Hypebot’s Music 2.0 Week In Review.