Dulles, Va. - AOL (NYSE: TWX) has named Lynda Clarizio, who four years ago helped lead the company's $435 million acquisition of Advertising.com, as the new president of its Platform-A advertising arm. Clarizio has been serving as the president of Advertising.com, a key component of New York-based Platform-A. Now, she replaces Curt Viebranz, the former CEO of Tacoda, who became Platform-A's first president when the organization was announced last fall. AOL created Platform-A late last year by combining its various digital advertising companies, including Advertising.com, Tacoda, Third Screen Media, Lightningcast and AdTech.

London - U.K. rock band Marillion has raised $725,000 from fans to record their forthcoming fifteenth studio album, Billboard reports. Over 12,000 fans have paid about $60 to pre-order a deluxe edition of the double album. The current effort will be the band's third go at fan-financed albums; Marillion claims to have a database of some 90,000 fans.

Toronto - Digital music service provider Puretracks announced on Tuesday that it has developed a new DRM-free mobile music store and service for BlackBerry smartphones. Puretracks has licenses from all four major labels, as well as many independents, for a catalog of 2 million songs, but did not say specifically what content would be available on the new service. The Wi-Fi-based Puretracks Mobile Edition for BlackBerry, which will be previewed this week at South by Southwest in Austin, will launch first in the U.S. in April before rolling out to Canada and other markets.

New York - The Orchard (NASD: ORCD), a digital distributor of independent music and video, on Tuesday announced the launch of a toolset for artist and label clients. The Artist/Label Workstation includes features that offer control over catalogue and new release management, digital marketing reporting and analysis, accounting administration and royalty analysis. Separately, Gydget said that its viral fan widgets will be integrated into the new Orchard toolset. The company said that over 800 artists have begun using its widgets since launching nearly four months ago.

Milpitas, Calif. - SanDisk on Tuesday introduced its Sansa Fuze MP3 player, a 1.9-inch color-screen model that will come in 2GB ($79), 4GB ($99) and 8GB ($129) capacities. Scheduled to go on sale in the U.S. in April, the Sansa Fuze will also feature a microSD memory card slot and FM tuner, and come in colors including pink, red, blue, black and silver.

Austin - SongNumbers.com on Tuesday introduced its service that lets bands set up a phone number that anyone with a cell phone can call and preview and purchase music. A live demo of the service is available at 515-862-1000. Callers can press "1" at any time to purchase the song they are previewing, and receive an SMS text message with a link to the song. SongNumbers.com, which was created by the developers of Phonecasting.com, said the service is currently available through AT&T and Alltel.

London - The new album from U.K. rock band the Charlatans has been downloaded for free more than 60,000 times since it was made available through the website of radio station XFM on March 3.

London - Major record label EMI, whose new private equity owners had threatened to leave the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) trade group over costs associated with membership and the group's anti-piracy efforts, has decided to stick with the organization after a cost-saving plan was agreed upon.

Morristown, N.J. - Access Integrated Technologies (Access IT) (NASD: AIXD), a provider of digital cinema projection systems for movie theaters, announced on Tuesday a massive deal with four major movies studios, to provide movies to up to 10,000 digital cinema systems in the U.S. and Canada.

New York - Hulu, the online video joint venture between NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) and News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), will officially launch on Wednesday, ending 18 weeks of an invitation-only beta test. In addition to content from NBC, Universal and Fox, the company has announced new content partnerships with Warner Bros. Television Group, Lionsgate, and sports leagues NBA, NHL and NCAA.

New York, N.Y. - TargetSpot, a New York-based advertising marketplace specifically designed for streaming audio, has raised $8.6 million in its second round of venture capital, led by Bain Capital Ventures.

Mountain View, Calif. - Google (NASD: GOOG) announced on Tuesday that it has received approval from the European Commission for its $3.1 billion acquisition of online advertising giant DoubleClick, and completed the transaction. "With DoubleClick, Google now has the leading display ad platform, which will enable us to rapidly bring to market advances in technology and infrastructure that will dramatically improve the effectiveness, measurability and performance of digital media for publishers, advertisers and agencies, while improving the relevance of advertising for users," said Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt.

Fareham, England - 3Bill, a unit of Web and mobile software developer Symbios Solutions, announced on Tuesday that it has acquired social network platform Faces for an undisclosed sum.

Seattle - GridNetworks, a provider of managed Internet TV delivery services, said on Tuesday that it has received an investment from Cisco Systems (NASD: CSCO) that will round out its first round of financing, led by Panorama Capital and announced in October, at $9.5 million.

Tiburon, Calif. - Big Bear Entertainment, a creator of animated music videos -- also known as "Video Mods" -- has raised $550,000 in a first round of funding, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing.

Manhattan Beach, Calif. - MaxxAthlete, an online social network and Internet broadcast network for youth sports, has raised $3 million of a $5 million first round of venture capital financing, from unnamed investors, VentureWire reports.

Winter Park, Fla. - Highwinds Network Group, a provider of content delivery network services for IPTV and other applications, announced on Tuesday that it has closed a $55 million round of financing, led by General Catalyst Partners and Alta Communications.