Tuesday’s Music Briefing: iTunes Negotiations, 28M Tracks, Layoffs, The Onion & More

HYPEBOT FEATURES:

• 
  Music 2.0 By The Numbers – Hypebot’s Top List Posts
• eMusic Retools With Nod To Indie Retail
• Indie band Freezepop: Finding An Audience Through Gaming
• Hip Hop News From Pro Hip Hop
• iLike Responds To Deleted Sony & WMG Songs
• Can Tom Jones Save EMI?

MORE NEWS:

• UPDATED: A French report says iTunes is going DRM free today, but another says no DRM free from iTunes anytime soon. (cNet) Here is Hypebot’s look Inside The Major Label Negotiations With iTunes.
• The Rock Band video game says it has sold more than 28 million music tracks. (Shack)
• Sweden’s TeliaSonera jumps on the mobile music subscription bandwagon. (PC World)
• Film industry faces tech wave like one that shook up music. (Financial Post)
• Billboard is hosting a January 7th digital music conference in Las Vegas during CES. (CNS)
• A few layoffs at Rolling Stone as Jann Wenner prepares what seems to be a rather new digital
  strategy for the magazine. (Gawker)
• There are rumors of layoffs at music distributor Alliance Entertainment. Sony has cut 6000 in its global electronic division. Don’t miss Hypebot’s previous music industry layoffs list of our wounded and fallen industry brethren.
• i/denti/tee in partnership with EDUN LIVE (founded by Ali Hewson and Bono) produces an exclusive line of music tees printed with anthemic lyrics that all begin with "i". iTunes adds10 free songs with each purchase. (press release)
• Music Humor from The Onion: Staten Island Historians Piece Together Genealogy Of Wu-Tang Clan
• IODA Clients Recognized With More Than 60 Grammy Nominations (press release)