Music News Bulletin - 07/11/08

Collaborative music site MixMatchMusic seeks first institutional round November 4, 2008
"Two months after its official launch, collaborative music platform developer MixMatchMusic Ltd. is seeking a first round of venture funding of up to $3 million. According to founding CEO Charles Feinn, the company has begun meeting with VCs but hasn't received any term sheets yet. The startup has three full-time employees and has been subsisting on a friends-and-family round since being formed last year. (The company was among several that presented at last month's SanFran MusicTech Summit, an event I wrote about here.)" [TheDeal]

Sony and Bertelsmann End Their Partnership in Music
Sony and Bertelsmann said on Tuesday they would unravel their joint venture in music, ending a four-year partnership that has generated more dissonance than harmony. [OopsTime]

EMI announces restructuring plans 07/11/08
"Troubled music giant EMI will today announce major restructuring plans.

Elio Leoni-Sceti, chief executive of the company's recorded music division, will unveil the plans at a presentation to staff. The Italian Executive will announce that the business will be split into three distinct global units: new music, catalogue and music services, and with an increase in marketing resources, according to the Financial Times. The online music service EMI.com will launch this December." [Guardian]

In Defense Of Major Labels 3-11-08
"Sometimes you write something and it gets taken the wrong way. Last week, for instance, a post about EMI criticized the prevailing online consensus about the free-ness of music. Now, since the post didn't say anything about the many bad things major labels do, some thought that the post was taking the side of major labels and the RIAA. Not true, but fair enough. One of the problems with blogs as a platform is that they make it much easier to criticize things other people say than to offer a cohesive and nuanced position of your own. Here, then, is one take on the decline and fall of the music business and related issues (the RIAA, DMCA, downloading, layoffs, indie as a model, creative commons, etc.). The bottom line: everyone is going to have to accept that things are going to get a little worse." [Idolator]

Now That’s What They Called Synergy! 10 Years of Pooling Hit Singles 3/11/08
"In commemorating the first decade of the Now That’s What I Call Music! album series in the United States, Wednesday’s New York Times does a fine job running down the relevant stats: 29 volumes in the main series! 61 million in sales! 12 Britney Spears songs! But the piece fails to mention the core reason that the series—also celebrating a quarter-century in Britain, where it started—launched over here in the first place: the U.S. labels’ murder of the commercial single." [Idolator]