Seattle - Online retail giant Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) announced on Monday that it will begin selling out-of-print albums from major labels Sony BMG and EMI on-demand through its CreateSpace service.

Amsterdam - Apparel designer Tommy Hilfiger on Wednesday announced the launch of TommyTV, an online video channel collaboration with Sony BMG Europe that will showcase high-profile artists paired with emerging talent at intimate gigs across the world. TommyTV's "The Hilfiger Sessions" has already featured Wyclef Jean and Kelly Rowland. The channel will also offer interviews and videos uploaded by aspiring artists to "Hilfiger Auditions."

Pasadena, Calif. - Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG's Epic/Legacy Recordings on Friday announced a promotion for the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album, in the form of a video mashup that will let users insert themselves as Jackson in the legendary music video to the title track. The label teamed with Big Stage and YouTube (NASD: GOOG) on the promotion, which prompts users to upload photos of themselves, which will then be turned into a 3D avatar by Big Stage and integrated into a version of the video with its own YouTube page.

Los Angeles - Following the switch to MP3 format at retail giant Wal-Mart's digital music store, songs from artists on major labels Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG and Warner Music (NYSE: WMG) have disappeared from the site, Digital Music News reported. Wal-Mart announced last August that it would migrate from Windows Media Audio to the unprotected MP3 format, saying at the time that EMI and Universal Music were on board.

Beijing - A Chinese court has agreed to hear two multi-million dollar copyright infringement claims brought by major record labels against Chinese search engine Baidu, and Web portal Sohu and its Sogou media search engine, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The Beijing Intermediate People's Court will hear a $9 million claim against Baidu brought by Universal Music Group, Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG and Warner Music (NYSE: WMG), who will argue that the search engine aids copyright infringement by providing "deep links" to unauthorized downloads on third-party sites.

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace online social network on Thursday announced details of an anticipated new music service, a spin-off that will be a joint venture with major labels Universal Music, Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG and Warner Music (NYSE: WMG) owning minority stakes. The fourth major, EMI, is not party to the deal initially, but people involved in the negotiations told The New York Times it would probably join soon.

Los Angeles - Gossip blogger Perez Hilton, who recently made a deal to help run a record label imprint with Warner Music, has announced a boycott of Sony BMG, in light of that label's pending copyright infringement lawsuit against him, Wired.com reports. Hilton posted unauthorized Britney Spears tracks on his website, prompting a lawsuit from Sony BMG label Zomba. Hilton says he will now no longer write about Sony BMG artists that he has covered in the past, which include Christina Aguilera, The Gossip, Justin Timberlake and Tori Amos. "Why should we help the company suing us make money???? Especially when their lawsuit is personal!" reads a note on PerezHilton.com. "We KNOW that our support can help their artists, some of our favorites, immensely. We hope alienating us was worth it for Sony BMG!"

London - Mobile network operator 3 UK has launched its first ad-supported mobile music video channel with major label Sony BMG. The service is offered with no data charges to subscribers, but requires that they view short ads at the beginning and end of each video.

New York - Sony BMG's (NYSE: SNE) RCA Music Group announced on Monday that Alicia Keys' "No One" has become the first ringback tone to be certified "Gold," representing sales of over 500,000 copies. A ringback tone plays when a caller dials your cell phone number -- instead of the usual ringing. RCA added that the song has also sold over 2 million master recording ringtones, and that Keys has sold over 4.3 million mobile downloads since the end of last year.

Berlin - Major record label Sony BMG (NYSE: SNE) is developing an online music subscription service that will offer unlimited access to songs, according to comments made by CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Associated Press reported. Schmidt-Holtz added that Sony BMG is in talks with other major music distributors, and said the company may also partner with mobile network operators.

Gutersloh, Germany - German media conglomerate Bertelsmann has reported its annual earnings for 2007, and said that revenues from its share of joint venture record label Sony BMG fell 27.8%, to $2.3 billion, as physical revenues fell 17% and digital revenues increased by 40%. Digital now accounts for 17% of total revenue at Sony BMG, up from 12% in 2006.

London - We7, a digital music service co-founded by musician Peter Gabriel that offers ad-supported free downloads, has announced a licensing deal with Sony BMG, but for its forthcoming ad-supported streaming service -- not for downloads. "(The labels) have come a long way since this time last year and feel comfortable with streaming, but still have a few more hurdles to jump before they are fully comfortable with downloads. It will get there, and probably at an accelerated pace during 2008 and early 2009," We7 CEO Steve Purdham told Music Ally.

Luxembourg - European music-focused social network MusicMakesFriends.com announced on Wednesday that it has signed licensing deals with major record labels Universal Music, Sony BMG and EMI, to make their entire catalogs available for streaming on its service.

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

I spent the past week at our Digital Music Forum in New York City with 500 senior industry insiders immersed in two days of high level discussions about the future of the music industry. I don’t often toot our own horn, but this was one heck of a great event.

New York - Managers of top recording artists are considering legal action against major record labels, saying that Universal, Warner Music (NYSE: WMG) and EMI are dragging their feet in distributing hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements from copyright infringement lawsuits against file-sharing firms like Napster and Kazaa, the New York Post reported. "Artist managers and lawyers have been wondering for months when their artists will see money from the copyright settlements and how it will be accounted for," attorney John Branca, who has represented Korn and The Rolling Stones, told the Post. "Some of them are even talking about filing lawsuits if they don't get paid soon."

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace has been pitching a new music service that would offer ad-supported downloads and streaming, according to published reports. PaidContent first reported news of the talks between MySpace and the four major labels, which would reportedly be offered equity in the proposed service in return for use of their copyrighted content.

DMW’s CEO & Publisher provides a wrap-up of the top stories of the week. Who’s hot, who’s not and what’s the industry buzz?

In the days following Microsoft’s (NASD: MSFT) announcement of its unsolicited $44.6 billion takeover bid for Yahoo (NASD: YHOO), much of the news focused on the battle between Google and Microsoft to color the other’s motives as anti-competitive. As reports surfaced that Yahoo may try to avoid being acquired by Microsoft by giving control of its search advertising to Google in exchange for a large revenue share (although nothing has made public by either Google or Yahoo on this), Microsoft reportedly began lobbying government officials to block any such deal between the two on antitrust grounds setting the stage for what is likely to be a long and public battle between Google and Microsoft over control of the Internet.

San Francisco - The U.S. Department of Justice has served major record labels Universal Music and Sony BMG (NYSE: SNE) with notices that seek information on Total Music, a project the majors are jointly working on that would purportedly offer a $5 per month subscription to their catalogs via mobile phones, digital music players and other platforms, Wired.com reported, citing the Music Ally newsletter.

Los Angeles - Microsoft (NASD: MSFT) has signed deals with Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Networks and major label Sony BMG (NYSE: SNE), to offer clips of TV shows and music videos on its free MSN Video service in Europe, Variety reports. The deal will bring clips of shows such as "South Park" and "Pimp My Ride," as well as music videos, to MSN Video sites in nine countries, including the U.K.

Tokyo - Google (NASD: GOOG) is in talks with Chinese digital music distributor Top100.cn to launch a free music download service in China, and major label Universal Music Group has confirmed its involvement in the negotiations, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Fellow major labels Sony BMG (NYSE: SNE), EMI and Warner Music (NYSE: WMG) are also considering joining the venture, people familiar with the matter told The Journal.