Thursday’s Music Briefing. IODA Cuts Staff, Digital Award Winners, Eventful & More

HYPEBOT FEATURES:

• New Mechanical Rates Expected Today
• MySpace Music’s Top 10
• MySpace Logs 1 Billion Plays, Radiohead & Oasis Debuts
• imeem Counters MySpace Music With Redesign
• Cut From The NY Times, Leeds Lands At Buzznet
• Sony Completes BMG Purchase
• Ticket Insurance: NFL Has It. Why Not Concerts?

MORE NEWS:

• Despite some substantial deals recently, digital distributor IODA has let go of 15% of its staff. (cNet) I here rumors of additional of troubles at other digital and physical distributors including RED. Expect more cuts and consolidation in the sector as realities of shrinking margins and slow growth couped with a rocky economey begin to take thier toll.

• A list of last nights winners of the UK’s BT Digital Music Awards. (BT)
• MTV Europe Awards has announced its nominees. See the list and vote here.
• EMI can sue MP3Tunes but not founder Michael Robertson (press release, cNet)
• 
  Eventful’s new service empowers fans with real-time updates for their favorite
  artists’ events. Eventful’s users indicate which performers they like by
  importing them from their iTunes and Last.fm libraries, choosing artists through
  Eventful’s recommendation engine, or inputting their favorites directly via a
  type-ahead selector. In addition, when tickets go on sale, Eventful’s Artist
  Tracker notifies users with links to purchase tickets.