Music Biz News: Livewire Buys FoneStarz, OurStage + NMS, Record Industry Lobbying $’s Pay Off & More

• Livewire Mobile, a developer of mobile music apps and content, has acquired FoneStarz Media Group, a UK mobile digital storefront and content supplier.
• Music discovery site OurStage is teaming up for a third time with the New Music Seminar to launch the "Live at the Roxy" competition, giving artists a chance to perform at  Hollywood famed Roxy. Details here.
  
• LimeWire Still Shedding Assets Before Shutdown – And a Federal Court Date (MediaMemo)

More Music Industry News & Commentary:

• MPAA & RIAA Lobbied Extensively In Favor of Domain Seizures – The recent action by US against rogue websites comes on the heels of significant lobbying efforts by the MPAA and RIAA who together spent a total of $1.8 million in just the last 3 months to lobby in Washington. Public records reveal that the industry groups focused heavily on legislation and authorities involved in domain name seizures. (TorrentFreak)
• How To Measure The Dedication Of Your Fans.  (MC)
• What Amazon Needs to Do to Compete With iTunes. (AW)
• The Future of the Music Business: Sell Out to Corporations. (A)
• Music Industry Predictions 2011 Part 2: My Shot at Immortality. (SB)
• 10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2011. (RWW)
• Today’s Music Business Paradigm.(Lefsetz)
• On Downloading Pickle. (Dubber) 
• 3 ways the web is making music smarter. (TNW) 
• Ask an Algorithm: How to Coax People to Listen to Your Band. (Wired)
• Fans share their Music Gifting memories. (NARM)
• R.I.P. – Musician and artist Don Van Vliet, who performed a complex brand of experimental rock under the name Captain Beefheart, died Friday. He was 69.