EMI CEO Leoni-Sceti Exits; Allen Named Executive Chairman

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

London
– Struggling major record label EMI Music on Wednesday said that CEO Elio
Leoni-Sceti will step down on March 31, to be replaced by Charles Allen as
executive chairman.

Allen had served as non-executive chairman of EMI since
January 2009.

EMI said that Leoni-Sceti’s two-and-a-half year tenure saw
"increased sales, improved market share and industry-leading
margins."

"Our goals for EMI Music remain the same," said Allen.

"I will support and guide the group’s strong team, keep EMI’s focus on
creativity and superb A&R, and deliver a digital platform. This is a great
business — our task is to ensure it has a great future."

EMI parent
company Terra Firm has now written off 90% of the $4.7 billion it spent to
acquire EMI back in 2007, and is reportedly seeking $150 million to keep up
with loan payments to Citigroup, which helped finance the acquisition,
PaidContent noted.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ur934
(EMI statement)

http://snipurl.com/ur91v
(PaidContent)

Google to Digitize Books in Natl. Libraries of Rome, Florence

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Mountain View, Calif. – Google (NASD: GOOG) on Wednesday announced an agreement with
the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage that will bring works from the
National Libraries of Florence and Rome
to its Google Books project.

The deal will see Google digitize up to a million
out-of-copyright works housed in the Italian libraries, to include rare
historical books and literature from the period of the founding of Italy.

The
company noted its support for other digitization efforts, such as the European
Commission’s Europeana, and said that the books it scans will be available for
inclusion in Europeana.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ur8sg
(Google blog)

Imeem Founder Caldwell Nabs Funding for Mixed Media Labs

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Los Angeles
– Imeem co-founder and former CEO Dalton Caldwell has raised $370,00 of an
expected $600,000 in debt financing for his new start-up Mixed Media Labs, VentureBeat
reported, citing a regulatory filing.

Information on investors was not provided.

The imeem streaming music service was
acquired by MySpace last year, and promptly shut down.

The website for Mixed
Media Labs does not provide information on the company, and Caldwell told VentureBeat: "I am not
currently in a position to talk about my new company."

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ur8dj
(VentureBeat)

http://www.mixedmedialabs.com

Charlotte Church Gets $3M From Power Amp to Finance Album

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

London
– Welsh singer-songwriter and television host Charlotte Church has signed a $3
million deal with investment fund Power Amp Music to finance the recording of a
new album, the Financial Times reported.

For its investment, Power Amp gets 50%
of gross revenue from Church’s recordings, publishing, merchandise and touring for
an undisclosed period.

"[The deal] provides me with a financial commitment
equivalent to that of a major record company but with a much greater degree of
control and ownership over my career," Church told FT.com.

Church parted
ways with her former label Sony Music in 2006, after selling 10.5 million
albums worldwide.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ur7rx
(Financial Times)

http://www.powerampmusic.com

http://www.charlottechurch.com

Eyeblaster

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Digital Ad Firm Eyeblaster Files for $115 Million IPO

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

New York
– After withdrawing plans for a previous IPO back in 2008, Eyeblaster, a
provider of digital marketing and advertising services, announced on Wednesday
that it has filed a registration statement with the SEC to raise up to $115
million in an initial public offering of shares. J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank will
serve as co-lead underwriters for the deal.

Founded in 1999, New York-based
Eyeblaster provides services covering advertising and marketing in rich media,
in-stream video, display and search.

To date, the company has raised a total of
$38 million in venture capital, from firms including Sycamore Technology
Ventures, Insight Venture Partners and Eli Barkat.

The company posted revenue
of $65.1 million and earnings of $9.8 million for 2009.

Eyeblaster said it will
use proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including
working capital and capital expenditures.

 

Related Links:
http://www.eyeblaster.com/Content.aspx?page=press_releases&id=114

http://snipurl.com/ur7mc
(DMW previous coverage)

Brizzly Parent Co. Thing Labs Acquires Birdfeed, Wikirank

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Francisco
– Thing Labs, a developer of Web-based software that includes social media
content aggregator Brizzly, has acquired Twitter iPhone application Birdfeed,
and Wikirank, a tool for visualizing Wikipedia data, GigaOM reports.

Financial terms of the
acquisitions were not disclosed.

Thing Labs’ Brizzly recently debuted a
wiki-format guide to trending topics on Twitter.

The company says it will
integrate Wikirank’s technology into the Brizzly Guide in coming months.

Out of
the Birdfeed acquisition, a new Brizzly iPhone application was launched today,
allowing users to post to multiple social media services from their
smartphones.

 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/ur79z
(GigaOM)

http://www.brizzly.com

http://wikirank.com

Sony PlayStation Network Gets HD Films From 6 Major Studios

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Foster City,
Calif. – Sony Computer
Entertainment America (NYSE: SNE) said on Tuesday that its PlayStation Network online
service for the PlayStation 3 is now the first such service to offer HD movies
from all six major Hollywood movie studios for purchase and rental. Following a
U.S.-only launch, the films from Fox, Disney, Paramount,
Sony Pictures, Universal and Warner Bros. are also expected to soon become
available to PlayStation Network users in the U.K.,
France, Germany and Spain.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uqhnb

Jelli, Triton Launch 'Crowdsourced' Radio in National Syndication

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

San Mateo,
Calif. – Jelli, the provider of
"crowdsourced" radio programming platform, and partner Triton Media
on Tuesday announced that their "Rock Jelli" and "Pop
Jelli" programs have launched into national syndication. The Jelli Web-based
game and song-choosing platform lets users vote on favorite songs to create an
on-air playlist; listeners may then also vote to take the song off the air,
even in mid-spin. The companies announced new deals to air Jelli programs on ten
stations in Boston; Philadelphia; Las Vegas; Fort Myers, Fla.; Jersey Shore;
Syracuse, N.Y.; Utica, N.Y.; Bozeman, Mon.; Missoula, Mon.; and Casper, Wy.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uqhsc

http://www.tritonmedia.com

http://www.jelli.net

Seven45 Studios' "Power Gig" Music Game to Feature Real Guitar

By
Mark Hefflinger
-
0

Boston
– Seven45 Studios on Tuesday announced plans to release a music-based video
game for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 that utilizes an actual six-string
electric guitar as a controller. Set for release in the fall, "Power Gig:
Rise of the SixString" will allow fans to play in a typical beat-match
mode, as well as in "chord play" mode, where they will have to use
the correct placement of fingers to fret chords. The guitar controller will be
made by instrument manufacturer First Act, a sister company to Seven45 Studios.


 

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/uqiyr

http://www.powergig.com

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