Los Angeles - A week after signing Colombian pop star Shakira to a reported $70-$100 million "360 deal," concert promotion giant Live Nation announced on Tuesday that it signed a new multi-faceted contract with Canadian rock band Nickelback. [more..]

McLean, Va. - Gannett, the media company that publishes USA Today, said on Tuesday that it has acquired Chicago-based marketing and database services firm ShopLocal though separate deals with owners Tribune and McClatchy. [more..]

Washington - The Washington Post has named Marcus Brauchli, the former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, as its new executive editor. [more..]

Malmo, Sweden - A recent survey found that nearly eight in ten consumers don't put much stock in the opinions of professional music reviews, preferring instead to seek recommendations from online music stores or social networking applications (40%) or friends, family and other shoppers (41%). [more..]

New York - Despite woes in the buyout market, private equity fundraising continued to hold its ground during the first half of this year, dropping only slightly from 2007's record levels, according to a new report by Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst. [more..]

Cupertino, Calif. - Mobixell Networks, a provider of mobile multimedia and advertising services, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $6 million in new funding from existing investors Apax, Intel Capital and smac partners. [more..]

Santa Monica, Calif. - Topspin Media, a provider of music marketing tools and services, has raised an undisclosed sum in its second round of funding from the Foundry Group. [more..]

Viacom is likely to come out of its lawsuit knowing more about the content, audience, reach and viral properties of user-generated video, in finer detail and over a longer period of time, than almost any other media company, blogs Paul Sweeting. [more..]

Last time both O2 and Apple experienced an increase in traffic, but yesterday traffic to the manufacturer’s site hardly increased at all, blogs Robin Goad. [more..]

London - O2, Apple's iPhone launch partner in the U.K., was forced to stop taking pre-orders for the device Monday when a crush of customers who received text messages of the offer from the company crashed the site, The Register reported. [more..]

Washington - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is set to introduce a set of public service announcements for the upcoming digital TV transition, which for the first time will feature the commissioners themselves, TVWeek.com reports. [more..]

Boston - The Massachusetts State Legislature has proposed a bill that would expand the up to 20% tax credit it provides film productions to video game developers who set up shop in the state, The Boston Globe reported. [more..]

Timonium, Md. - Online retail giant Amazon.com on Tuesday launched a new payment option developed by Bill Me Later, which allows customers to pay for their purchases online without using a credit card. [more..]

Santa Clara, Calif. - Intel announced on Tuesday that it has formed a strategic alliance with film studio DreamWorks Animation, aimed at "revolutionizing 3D filmmaking technology," the companies said. [more..]

New York - LimeWire, a provider of peer-to-peer file-sharing software that runs on the Gnutella network, announced on Tuesday the launch of Live at Lime, a live recording series featuring indie artists that will be sold exclusively through its LimeWire Store. [more..]

New York - Mobile entertainment publisher Thumbplay announced that it has partnered with Universal Music Group to offer a suite of exclusive Jay-Z ringtones and other mobile content. [more..]

London - Video Games Live, the live symphonic concert touring series that features video game music, announced that EMI Classics has released a compilation CD and digital album featuring music from the concerts. [more..]

New York - Linden Lab, creators of the "Second Life" virtual world, announced on Tuesday a successful test of virtual world interoperability, during which avatars were "teleported" between the Second Life Preview Grid and an OpenSim virtual world server. [more..]

London - Game publisher Square Enix on Tuesday released its "Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes" game for the iPod at the iTunes Store. [more..]