New York - Universal Music Group announced on Monday its intention to acquire V2 Music Group, whose holdings include record label V2 Records.

London - We7, a new free, ad-supported music download service backed by musician Peter Gabriel, announced that V2 Records is the first to sign on to its service. The deal will make songs from artists including Bloc Party, Stereophonics and Cold War Kids available for free download to anyone willing to listen to targeted ads grafted onto the tracks. The ads disappear after several listens.