Wednesday’s Music 2.0 Briefing: Zune Updates, EMI Psychometrics, IRIS & More
HYPEBOT FEATURES –
- WMG is now selling mp3’s via WalMart.com and Napter appears poised to finally jump on the DRM bandwagon.
- Peter Gabriel’s servers were stolen pulling down several of his web sites.
- Ad supported Qtrax has inked a deal with Universal…for real this time.
- An overview of Day 1 at Digital NARM plus quick panel highlights.
- eMusic was forced to yank the Rolling Stones ABKCO catalog.
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Zune expands its Marketplace and adds more social networking functions. (press release) Check back with Hypebot later today (THURSDAY AM EST) we expect to break an exclusive Zune related story this afternoon (Wed.). I’m just giving Microsoft a bit of time to comment.
> New EMI hires are being forced to take psychometric tests – a favourite ploy of the boss, which typically includes general intelligence tests along with a paper to determine a candidate’s abilities. (Telegraph UK)
> Indie distributor IRIS has signed new deals with Alleviated, Labrador, Definitive and +1 plus direct artist deals with She Wants Revenge, Lou Reed, Larry Heard, Claude Von Stroke, and Lawson Rollins. (Billboard)
> The winners of this year’s Webby Awards have been announced. Music winners is BBC Radio 1 Meet The DJ’s and ResidentAdvisor.net, an EU music site with a heavy concert emphasis. Here’s a full list of winners.
> Neil Young is releasing his entire catalog on Blu-Ray disc. (AP)
