EMI

Judge Shutters Websites Selling "Re-Recorded" Beatles Tunes

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 19, 2009 - 11:17am.

Los Angeles - A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction against two websites, BlueBeat.com and Basebeat.com, that had been selling unauthorized downloads of songs from the Beatles and other artists on the cheap, the Associated Press reported.

EMI First Record Label to Bring Music Videos to Hulu

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 18, 2009 - 1:03pm.

London - U.K.-based EMI has signed a deal to become the first major record label to feature its music videos on Hulu, the video portal joint venture between NBC Universal (NYSE: GE), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) and Disney (NYSE: DIS).

Terra Firma Writes Down 90% of Investment in EMI

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 17, 2009 - 8:09am.

London - Terra Firma, the private equity firm that acquired major record label EMI for $4.8 billion in 2007, has written its investment in the firm down by 90%, the Financial Times reported. An offer from Terra Firm to inject another $1.68 billion into EMI, in return for lender Citigroup writing off $1.68 billion of its $4.4 billion loan that helped finance the deal, was rejected by Citigroup.

Beatles to Release Re-mastered Catalog on $279 USB Drive

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 4, 2009 - 10:38am.

London - The Beatles' record label, Apple Corps, and EMI Music have announced plans to release a limited edition apple-shaped USB drive, containing the entire Beatles re-mastered catalog in FLAC and MP3 format. The 30,000 USB apples will become available on Dec. 7 in the U.K. and Dec. 8 in North America, with a price tag of $279.

U.K. Parliament to Consider "Three-Strikes" P2P Bill

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 28, 2009 - 10:14am.

London - The U.K. government plans to introduce a bill mimicking France's recently enacted "three-strikes" legislation on file-sharing, which authorizes the suspension of the Internet accounts of those warned repeatedly they are violating copyrights, according to published reports. The bill will "make technical measures available, including account suspension," U.K. business, innovation and skills minister Peter Mandelson said at a meeting of government and entertainment industry heads, according to PaidContent's coverage.

Online Music Industry to Develop EU-Wide Licensing Scheme

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 21, 2009 - 9:22am.

Brussels - The EU's Competition Commissioner, Neelie Kroes, on Wednesday announced a partnership between European royalty collection societies, major labels and online music retailers including Apple (NASD: AAPL) and Amazon (NASD: AMZN), to develop an EU-wide licensing scheme for music. Currently, rights for music and other copyrighted works must be negotiated separately for each individual country, with that particular country's collection society.

MOG to Debut $5 Streaming Music Service Next Month

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 14, 2009 - 11:36am.

Berkeley, Calif. - MOG, a network of user-created music blogs, announced on Wednesday that it has signed licensing deals with all four major record labels, and plans to launch its own digital music service in North America by the end of November.

Creators of Kazaa, Skype Plan Subscription Music Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 14, 2009 - 9:28am.

Los Angeles - The creators of peer-to-peer technology firms including file-sharing service Kazaa, Internet phone service Skype and video service Joost have announced plans to develop a new subscription-based music service called Rdio, The New York Times reports. Details on the new venture were sparse, but Zennstrom and Friis have established offices for Rdio in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and hope to offer Rdio online and to mobile devices by early next year.

EMI Drops Suit Against Grooveshark, Licenses Music to Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 13, 2009 - 11:48am.

London - Major record label EMI has dropped its copyright infringement lawsuit against free music streaming site Grooveshark, and has instead agreed to license both its recording and publishing catalogs to the site for U.S. use, Wired.com reports. "We think services like Grooveshark offer great music discovery options for fans," Mark Piibe, EMI Music's global head of digital business development, told Wired.com. "In turn, Grooveshark offers a new revenue stream for our artists and will help us learn more about how we can better connect different types of fans with artists."

U.K. Unlimited MP3 Download Service Datz Shuts Down

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 16, 2009 - 10:37am.

London - Datz, the provider of an unlimited MP3 download service in the U.K., has shut down after failing to generate enough revenue to pay music licensing fees, Billboard reported.

Sony Music, EMI Not Convinced on Unlimited Download Model

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 10, 2009 - 11:27am.

London - Major record labels EMI and Sony (NYSE: SNE) Music have expressed doubt about the unlimited song download service model, arguing that it may in effect cannibalize existing sales, instead of woo non-paying file-swappers to a legal service, New Media Age reported.

Irish ISP Eircom, Major Labels Developing Music Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 4, 2009 - 7:43am.

Dublin, Ireland - Irish ISP Eircom, which agreed to block access to file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay, as well as suspend the accounts of repeat file-swappers, has also "signed a memorandum of understanding with the four major labels to develop an innovative new music service for all Irish consumers," the company said in a statement. Eircom did not provide any further details, but said that the service is expected to launch in the next few months.

EMI to Sell Remastered Beatles at 7-11, Restoration Hardware

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 2, 2009 - 9:41am.

Los Angeles - Major record label EMI plans to expand distribution of its anticipated remastered Beatles CD catalog beyond traditional record stores, to include retailers such as Restoration Hardware, Starbucks, Whole Foods, Ralph's, Pathmark, 7-Eleven and Blockbuster, Brandweek reported. "It will allow us to reach the everyday places people shop," Bill Gagnon, senior vice president of catalog marketing for EMI Music North America, told Brandweek.

Report: Vevo in Talks with CBS, NBC to Add Music Programming

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 2, 2009 - 8:34am.

New York - Vevo, the music video site joint venture between Universal Music Group and Sony (NYSE: SNE) Music that will be based on technology from Google's (NASD: GOOG) YouTube, is in talks with CBS (NYSE: CBS) and NBC (NYSE: GE) to license and develop music-related programming for the site, Reuters reported.

Majors to Launch Bandit.fm Aussie Unlimited Streaming Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 18, 2009 - 11:46am.

Sydney - The four major record labels are set to launch an unlimited streaming music service in Australia in October, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Sony Music (NYSE: SNE) will reportedly operate Bandit.fm, which will offer unlimited streaming for about $10 AUS per month ($8.26 USD). It's unclear how large of a catalog the service will offer from Sony Music, Universal Music, EMI and Warner Music (NYSE: WMG), but it will likely eventually offer the ability to stream music through televisions.

Report: Major Labels to Introduce 'CMX' Digital Album Format

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 11, 2009 - 10:35am.

London - The four major record labels have been developing a new digital music album format, "CMX," that will combines songs, lyrics, artwork and videos into a single file, the Times Online reported. Sony (NYSE: SNE) Music, Warner Music (NYSE: WMG), EMI and Universal Music are said to have approached Apple 18 months ago about joining the project, but were rebuffed by the iTunes Store operator -- which is itself now working on a new digital album format called "Cocktail."

"Second Life" Co-Creator Cory Ondrejka Leaving EMI

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 10, 2009 - 11:50am.

London - Cory Ondrejka, the co-founder of virtual world second life who joined major record label EMI as executive vice president of digital marketing, has announced that he is resigning, less than 18 months after joining the company. "Thanks EMI for a great year and a half, time to return to entrepreneurial roots, last day 21 Aug," Ondrejka wrote in a Twitter post. Ondrejka becomes the second new executive to leave EMI; former Google CIO Douglas Merrill left the company in March

Report: Record Labels Paid $12.4 Million for 18% Spotify Stake

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 10, 2009 - 10:49am.

Palo Alto, Calif. - Spotify, the European ad-supported streaming music service preparing for a U.S. launch, has sold a 17.3% stake in the company for about $12.4 million to the four major record labels and independent label aggregator Merlin, TechCrunch reported.

Napster Signs Pan-European Licensing Deal With EMI

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on August 5, 2009 - 11:01am.

Hamburg, Germany - Digital music service Napster's (NASD: NAPS) unit in Luxembourg has signed a pan-European deal to license major label EMI's repertoire for use across Europe, Billboard reported. The deal with CELAS, which represents EMI in Europe, includes full access to EMI's Anglo-American repertoire. CELAS has also negotiated deals with 7digital, iTunes and Nokia.

tags: Music | Napster | EMI |

Report: EMI Stops Selling CDs to Some Indie Record Stores

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 30, 2009 - 11:53am.

London - Major record label EMI has begun informing some independent record stores that it will no longer sell them physical product, and that if they wish to carry EMI CDs, they will need to purchase them from stores like Walmart or Best Buy and resell them, according to a post on ex-Grosker head Wayne Rosso's blog. "Several [independent record stores] I have spoken with are so upset that they vow never to buy any EMI catalog again -- or any new artist releases either," Rosso wrote. "Only the certifiable hit product that they know will sell. They will no longer take chances on new EMI artists."

Judge Shutters Websites Selling "Re-Recorded" Beatles Tunes

EMI First Record Label to Bring Music Videos to Hulu

Terra Firma Writes Down 90% of Investment in EMI

Beatles to Release Re-mastered Catalog on $279 USB Drive

U.K. Parliament to Consider "Three-Strikes" P2P Bill

Online Music Industry to Develop EU-Wide Licensing Scheme

MOG to Debut $5 Streaming Music Service Next Month

Creators of Kazaa, Skype Plan Subscription Music Service

EMI Drops Suit Against Grooveshark, Licenses Music to Service

U.K. Unlimited MP3 Download Service Datz Shuts Down

Sony Music, EMI Not Convinced on Unlimited Download Model

Irish ISP Eircom, Major Labels Developing Music Service

EMI to Sell Remastered Beatles at 7-11, Restoration Hardware

Report: Vevo in Talks with CBS, NBC to Add Music Programming

Majors to Launch Bandit.fm Aussie Unlimited Streaming Service

Report: Major Labels to Introduce 'CMX' Digital Album Format

"Second Life" Co-Creator Cory Ondrejka Leaving EMI

Report: Record Labels Paid $12.4 Million for 18% Spotify Stake

Napster Signs Pan-European Licensing Deal With EMI

Report: EMI Stops Selling CDs to Some Indie Record Stores

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