Sausalito, Calif. - ImageSpan, a provider of enabling infrastructure for digital content licensing, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $11 million in its second round of financing, led by Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments.

New York - Major record label Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) has pulled its catalog from free on-demand music streaming service Last.fm, according to reports. The label was the first of the majors to sign a deal to stream its songs for free on Last.fm -- which was acquired by CBS (NYSE: CBS) for $280 million -- and it may be seeking to improve the terms of its deal with the move.

*A correction has been made to this story.

New York - SpiralFrog, the developer of a free, ad-supported peer-to-peer music download service, on Tuesday announced its second deal with a major record label, as EMI Music signed on to offer its catalog on the site.

London - The chief economist for U.K. royalty agency MCPS-PRS Alliance and a Vanderbilt Ph.D. student have teamed to develop a proposal that would see new music technology start-ups offer equity in their companies to record labels in exchange for licenses to use their music. Will Page and David Touve's proposal stems from the reality that start-ups that legally license music pay more royalties than they generate in income in the early going, while those that forego licenses are sometimes sued out of business. This proposal would provide a payout for record labels, especially if a music start-up is later acquired, while giving new technologies a chance to legally gain exposure.

New York - RightsFLow, a provider of outsourced licensing and royalty services, has announced a mechanical licensing agreement with The Harry Fox Agency for full-length, permanent digital downloads. "Our clients look to us to provide a turnkey outsourced solution for publishing licensing and royalty administration," said RightsFlow president and CEO Patrick Sullivan. "Working with HFA is a key step that will allow us to license and account more swiftly and efficiently, allow our clients to get more product available for sale, and create a greater value for all."

New York - RightsFlow, LLC, a private New York-based company, announced the launch of its outsourced music publishing licensing and royalty systems for record labels, distributors, online music retailers, and others engaged in distribution and sale of recorded music.

San Francisco - Sonific, a provider of licensed music widgets and free music applications for social media, said on Tuesday that it will take its service offline "as a consequence of the unworkable music licensing situation and the resulting lack of solid revenue modeling," co-founder and CEO Gerd Leonhard wrote in a note on Sonific.com. The company had attracted 80,000 users to its service and amassed a library of over 200,000 licensed songs.

New York - Major label Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) this week hired Jim Griffin, former head of digital at Geffen and a vocal industry critic, to oversee a plan that would have consumers pay a monthly fee through their Internet service providers for unlimited access to music, Portfolio.com reported. "We're still clinging to the vine of music as a product," Griffin told Portfolio.com, dubbing the state of affairs "Tarzan" economics. "But we're swinging toward the vine of music as a service. We need to get ready to let go and grab the next vine, which is a pool of money and a fair way to split it up, rather than controlling the quantity and destiny of sound recordings."

Los Angeles - Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) and major record label Sony BMG (NYSE: SNE) on Tuesday announced a digital licensing agreement for the Southeast Asia and India markets, in some areas creating licensing rules in countries where none previously existed.

Denver - Digital music distributor IODA has advised the independent record labels it represents not to sign streaming deals with free services like Imeem and Lala.com until it can negotiate more favorable royalty rates, Billboard reported.

New York - Major record label Universal Music Group has instituted a new policy whereby streaming of songs from Universal artists will be limited to 90-second clips on sites that have not secured a deal that compensates the company for every full-song stream, Billboard reports.

New York - The Orchard, a digital distributor of independent music, on Wednesday announced that it has signed new distribution deals with labels including Reader's Digest Music, MC Records and Gigantic Music. The additions include many jazz recordings from Reader's Digest Music, in addition to albums from O'Death, Devo and Bill Laswell's Ohm Resistance label.

New York - Music Choice, a provider of digital music services for cable TV providers and mobile carriers, announced on Tuesday that it has signed a licensing agreement with major label EMI Music, giving it the rights to stream EMI's entire music video library on TV and online in the U.S. The videos will be available through Music Choice's free on-demand network from cable operators, and its free online music service for broadband subscribers.

New York - SpiralFrog, the operator of a free, ad-supported music download service, said on Monday that it has signed a new licensing agreement with Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which controls over 625,000 copyrights. Currently, SpiralFrog is live in the U.S. and Canada, offering more than 800,000 songs for downloading and 3,500 music videos from Universal Music Group and independent labels.

Los Angeles - Gemstar-TV Guide International, a provider of electronic program guides for digital TV services, said on Thursday that it has signed three new patent license agreements in Europe, with German consumer electronics firms Loewe Opta, Metz-Werke and Kathrein-Werke. The deals will allow the companies to incorporate Gemstar's program guides into their television, set-top boxes and digital video recorders.

Chicago - Hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan have become the first musicians to legally license a sample from a Beatles song for one of their own compositions, Pitchfork reported on Tuesday.

Seattle - Getty Images, a distributor and licensor of professional photography, on Monday announced the launch of Soundtrack, a new music licensing service developed by its recently-acquired Pump Audio unit. The service offers more than 20,000 tracks available to license for use in broadcast and film production, advertising and other media projects.

New York - Major label Sony BMG has agreed to license its catalog to music-focused social network Imeem, Forbes.com reported, citing sources familiar with the situation. Warner Music signed a similar deal with the company in July, and sources at Universal Music and EMI told Forbes that they are in discussions with the company on potential partnerships. Under Warner's deal, the label shares in the ad revenue generated on Imeem, which claimed over 18 million active users as of August.

New York - SpiralFrog, the developer of an ad-supported, free music download service, announced on Thursday that it has signed new licensing agreements with Universal Music Publishing and Universal Music Canada. The company already has a deal in place with Universal Music Group. SpiralFrog, which is currently beta testing its service, has also secured license agreements with EMI Music Publishing, KOCH Records, BMI and others, making for an available library of over 700,000 songs. The service offers free, DRM-wrapped songs that remain available for 30 days, a term that can be lengthened by answering survey questions.

New York - Digital music retailer eMusic said on Wednesday that it has renewed licensing agreements with four top independent labels: Beggars Group, Matador, Concord Music Group and ATO Records. Additionally, the company said its overall label roster now includes 20,000 independent labels, while its catalog now surpasses 2.8 million tracks.