First, a big thanks to Tim Westergen of Pandora for writing a thoughtful response to the mini-firestorm caused by yesterday's "Pandora Forces $29.95 Payments From Indie Bands" post and poll. And I made my reservations yesterday to participate in the resurection of the grandaddy of all music conferences The New Music Seminar on July 21st in NYC. I hope to see some of you there. $99 discount registration ends July 5th.
HYPEBOT FEATURES:
Pandora 's Westergren Responds To Artist Airplay Submission Controversy
- Join the Pandora discussion and vote in our apoll here.
- Reports: Sony & RED Taping IODA's Technology
- Gerd Leonhard: Music 2.0 In 60 Seconds
- Track Music Stocks Here
- Join others and share your story of how the economic downturn is effecting your music career alongside a ReverbNation survey: How is the Economic Downturn Affecting Artists?
MORE MUSIC INDSUTRY NEWS:
Microsoft, Yahoo And Real sued for failing to get all the necessary licenses. (Techdirt) TD's Mike Masnick is right again on his analysis. The real story here is how stupidly complex it is to license music.
- Michael Jackson airplay & album sales skyrocket. (FMQB) I have not seen the full charts yet but @coolfer tweeted from Billboard that "Michael Jackson wreaked havoc on top albums last week. No top 100 new release gained over the previous week. Total album sales down 8%" and "Michael Jackson catalog albums outsold the Black Eyed Peas' new album. 241,000 (58%) of MJ's album sales last week were digital". Amazing. And how down would the sales have been without MJ?
- EMI is refusing to stream music at the new PRS rates. (P2Pnet)
- Sony struggling as Walkman hits 30th anniversary (AP)
- Vibe Magazine is closing down leaving The Source the only major hip hop magazine standing. (NY Times) Some rumors have Quincy Jones buying back and relaunching.
- Here Comes the Video Shakeout: Joost Scales Down, CEO Mike Volpi Steps Out (Media Memo)
- Dell to make iPod Touch-like gadget. (PC World)
Apple has released a 3.1 beta for the 
