New York - Pop culture-inspired fashion retail store chain Hot Topic plans next month to launch its own digital music store, ShockHound, which will sell music from at least three of the four major labels in MP3 format, The New York Times reported on Monday. "For us, music merchandise is where the profit is," Hot Topic president Jerry Cook told The Times. "The reason we carry CDs in the stores is that to be in a music-centered business and not have music would be a contradiction. And you can't be an online music store and not have MP3s." In addition to MP3s from a wide range of artists, the ShockHound store also expects to sell t-shirts from more than 1,000 bands, as well as music on vinyl.

Los Angeles - "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane has signed a deal with Google to release a new project exclusively on the Internet, which will be syndicated via Google's AdSense system to "thousands of Web sites that are predetermined to be gathering spots for Mr. MacFarlance's target audience," The New York Times reported. MacFarlane will share in ad revenue generated by "Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy," which will debut the first of 50 two-minute episodes in September.

Washington - The U.S. Copyright Office has announced that it will introduce its new online copyright registration system on Tuesday. In addition to added convenience, the service will offer features including a lower filing fee of $35 for a basic claim; faster processing time; earlier effective date of registration; and online status tracking.

London - European wireless carrier Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) on Monday announced a partnership with News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace that will see video footage from Vodafone-sponsored music events placed on MySpace sites in Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. Vodafone sponsors events including TBAs in the U.K. and Music Unlimited Cologne in Germany.

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Games and Harmonix studio said on Monday that "Rock Band 2," the sequel to their 15 million unit-selling music game with vocal, guitar and drum accessories, will be released to retailers in September. The game will initially be exclusive to the Xbox 360, but then launch on other platforms before the end of the year.

New York - (RED), the nonprofit campaign spearheaded by U2 frontman Bono whose goal is to help eliminate AIDS in Africa, announced on Monday that it plans to launch a $5-per-month digital music subscription service that will help fund its efforts. Powered by PassAlong Networks, the service will each week receive one new exclusive song from a top artist; one song by an emerging talent; a "Crackerjack surprise," such as a music video; and stores describing details of (RED) dollars being put to work in Africa.

San Francisco - Online social network Hi5 announced on Monday that it has acquired PixVerse, the provider of a Flash-based, no-download virtual world platform for social networks.

San Francisco - Mashery, a provider of services that help companies create APIs that open their content for use across the Web, announced that it has raised $2 million in new financing, led by .406 Ventures.

Washington - A federal jury has handed down the first criminal copyright infringement conviction, finding a 26-year-old Virginia man guilty for his role in operating EliteTorrents.org, a peer-to-peer site that offered pre-release movies and other content, the U.S. Justice Department said.

London - Major record label EMI has filed copyright infringement litigation against online social network Hi5, video site VideoEgg, and ten undisclosed John Doe defendants, TechCrunch reported.

Seattle - RealNetworks (NASD: RNWK) on Monday unveiled a "Music Without Limits" initiative, which includes the launch of a new DRM-free Rhapsody MP3 store and 100,000 album giveaway, full-song streaming and MP3 sales partnerships with iLike, MTV (NYSE: VIA) and Yahoo (NASD: YHOO), and an unlimited mobile subscription service deal with Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ). The Rhapsody MP3 catalog will include more than 5 million songs from all four major labels, available both for purchase and as full-song samples (25 songs per person per month) -- a feature not available at Apple's iTunes Store.

Los Angeles - Platinum Studios, a company that controls a library of more than 5,600 comic book characters that it adapts for various media, announced on Monday that it is in talks to acquire WOWIO, a digital distributor of digital books and comics.

Beijing - Chinese online video site Youku.com announced on Monday that it has raised $30 million in new private equity financing, led by Maverick Capital, with participation from previous investors Brookside Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, Farallon Capital and Chengwei Ventures.

New York - PopTok, a service that lets people inject movie, TV and music clips into IM and e-mail conversations, on Monday announced a private beta launch of its application, and seed funding from Jerusalem Venture Partners and GTI Group.

Emeryville, Calif. - Lithium Technologies, the provider of a platform that lets businesses create their own social networks and online communities, announced on Monday that it has raised a $12 million second round of financing, led by Benchmark Capital.

It's hardly an original insight to note that traditional media companies are trapped in their legacy business models at a time of rapid change in technology and consumer behavior. But rarely do you see the old and the new in such stark tension as in the case of NBC Universal's plans for presenting the upcoming Summer Olympics in Beijing. According to this AP story, NBC will offer an unprecedented 1,400 hours of TV coverage across its six networks--more than all previous Summer Olympics combined--as well as 2,200 hours of live coverage on the Web and over 3,000 hours of highlights available on-demand from NBCOlympics.com.