Content acquisition intern, IODA

Bloggers know that a good Apple story is a sure-fire way to precious pageviews and ultimately, cash. Music groups are figuring out how to capitalize on the cult of Steve Jobs, too. Silicon Alley Insider reports that since appearing in an Apple ad on April 27, "Shut Up and Let Me Go" by The Ting Tings shot up to No. 11 on the iTunes charts and No. 93 on Billboard's top 100. Additionally, Apple fanboys snatched up copies of "Music Is My Hot Hot Sex" after Apple debuted the song in an ad on October 28, and then "New Soul" by Yael Naim took its turn on the charts after Apple featured it in its MacBook Air ad campaign. So the capitalist-friendly among us can't help but cheer music group The Bird & the Bee for their video director Dennis Liu's cynical attempt at an Apple-whoring music video, embedded below.

As part of Neil Young's appearance at Sun's JavaOne conference, groups of hacks were herded into a conference room to ask questions of the aging rock legend, presumably about how awesome Java is, but I think the plan is that Java is just awesome because Young says so, and he trotted out an expansive interactive discography powered by the Java functionality built into Sony's Blu-ray hardware and a clean car project with telemetrics powered by Sun-sponsored software. Because I doubt there's anything baby boomer executives and the formerly flannel-shirted Gen-X set they spawned like more than getting the most out of their cars and home theater systems. Except maybe hearing Young pontificate on the virtues of an all-analog recording process.

The music snobbery is going to get a whole lot thicker on MySpace now that thousands of independent labels have signed on for "virtual major" Merlin.

Sony has acquired Gracenote, the company whose software tells digital music listeners what song they're annoying fellow BART riders with. Sony paid $260 million for Emeryville-based digital media identification company Gracenote, and is likely to integrate its services with its digital audio players. [AP]

Veronica Belmont is no longer a "Rojas-level" hire at Jason Calacanis's Mahalo Daily videoblog. But she's lending her name to former Calacanis partner Peter Rojas's music site RCRD LBL. Or, rather, music group the Carps is lending it for her. They've written a song titled "Veronica Belmont." Why? Because the song lyrics all about the Internet, on which Belmont obviously plays a crucial role. Along with something called Chocolate Rain and the word pwned. (Photo by Veronica Belmont)

Shawn "Jay Z" Carter signing with LiveNation demonstrates that one of the most entrepreneurial artists of our generation has decided that the business of recording music is advertising. The No. 1 digital music retailer, iTunes, has understood this for some time — Apple sells iPods, and iTunes is a service to make it relatively cheap and easy to fill those iPods. Carter will be happy to make a little chump change from digital sales, but the MC knows the real money is in branded events and merchandise. What the labels call "piracy" is actually free distribution of promotional material, and such a model is not without precedent.

HP endorser turned Mac user Jay-Z is dumping his current label, Def Jam, where he held the title of president, for a $150 million deal with concert promoter Live Nation. The deal includes increased financing for non-music ventures, touring, and new albums. The massive falloff in record sales means the industry's top moneymakers, whose profits subsidize the discovery and marketing of new artists, are deserting the labels. And who can blame them? (Photo by ashbyyokosuka)

Apple now holds a 19 percent share of the U.S. music market, beating Wal-Mart's 15 percent and taking the No. 1 spot for the first time. Just last month, Apple moved past Best Buy for the No. 2 spot. The data, from an NPD survey, came from a leaked internal email from Apple. Ars Technica suspects the increase in buying is related to Christmas gifts of iPods and iTunes gift cards. Most surprising to me? People still buy music.

The crooner who's never gonna give you up is having his greatest hits collection rereleased by Sony BMG. Rick Astley: The Ultimate Collection will be out at the end of Aprill, which should make for some fun rickrolling gifts. Grand Theft Auto IV comes out around the same time. I can't be the only one with this idea to put the Rick Astley CD in the GTA IV case and give it to an unsuspecting friend. If you can't wait until the end of the month, you can pick up the digital version at Amazon.com or iTunes. Burn it on a CD for your own real-world rickroll.

Why is Apple suddenly in talks with record labels about bundling an unlimited music plan with new iPods, after resisting such a move for years? Steve Jobs has scoffed at music subscriptions in the past, saying customers want to "own their music." Never take Steve at his word: For years, he shot down the idea of iPods with video or an Apple-branded cell phone — until he made them happen. The same is about to happen for music subscriptions, I suspect — but not because Jobs has suddenly changed his mind about consumers' tastes.

After a careful and thorough review of the proposed transaction, the Division concluded that the evidence does not demonstrate that the proposed merger of XM and Sirius is likely to substantially lessen competition, and that the transaction therefore is not likely to harm consumers. The Division reached this conclusion because the evidence did not show that the merger would enable the parties to profitably increase prices to satellite radio customers for several reasons, including: a lack of competition between the parties in important segments even without the merger; the competitive alternative services available to consumers; technological change that is expected to make those alternatives increasingly attractive over time; and efficiencies likely to flow from the transaction that could benefit consumers.

Apple executives will meet with music labels next week to discuss selling music subscriptions on iTunes, the New York Times notes, confirming prior reports. At the meetings, label execs will argue that customers are ready for subscriptions because they're used to watching movies expire after they rent them on iTunes. Despite his long-held reservations, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is reportedly willing to listen. He's even said to be considering making music subscriptions part of purchasing an iPod or iPhone — probably just to spite NBC CEO Jeff Zucker.

Apple has opened negotiations with the major record labels by offering only $20 per customer for a proposed unlimited plan at the iTunes music store, according to the Financial Times. Nokia is offering $80, but then cell-phone manufacturers have the price of phones subsidized by carriers who've gotten used to paying hundreds of dollars to acquire new customers. Apple has traditionally made its profits on the devices themselves, since iTunes margins are paltry, and are already slashing prices on units in order to meet sales forecasts. Labels are looking to get as much as $100 from iPod buyers and $8 a month from iPhone subscribers. Both sides are really fighting over how much of the profit from music they'll keep. Me, I'll stick with vinyl. (Illustration by Gizmodo)

"After a certain point the free 'promotional' use of their music becomes a substitute for people actually buying their music.... The problem is that the labels think their music is worth and what the market thinks it's worth are very different things right now. That doesn't mean that music has no value — I certainly don't believe that, otherwise I wouldn't have started a music site — but that there isn't as much value in at as a retail object." — RCRD LBL founder Peter Rojas, responding to Ted Mico of Capitol Records on the problem of giving away music online as a form of marketing. [PSFK]

"I need more marketing and promotion on the Internet like I need a root canal without anesthetic," Capitol Records' Ted Mico told an audience at the "Ad-Supported Music, a New Hope for the Industry?" panel today at the South by Southwest conference in Austin. Fledging music startups seeking licenses from major labels frequently try to offer "marketing and promotion" in exchange for concessions on deal points. But as Beggars' Group's Simon Wheeler said, "Promotion is great, but only when it's built on a sound commercial base." The song remains the same: Show them the money.

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor has made the first section of a four-part album available as a BitTorrent download. The rest of the 36-track album is available on the band's website or on Amazon.com, without copying restrictions, for $5. Reznor has been a constant critic of record labels and the music industry for years. Last year he admitted that he frequently pirated music himself. He included this statement in the upload notes for the album, Ghosts I:

Apple is now the second largest music retailer, beating Best Buy, in the United States. NPD Group, the market-research firm which tracks sales, estimates 12 single-song downloads as an album. Why don't they just count revenues? That would be easier. [BusinessWeek]

The four major labels are now talking to News Corp. about its plans to launch a MySpace music service which would make music available via free digital streams, MP3 downloads and through subscription plans. What I want to know: How much do I pay to stop MySpace from playing music every time I land on a page? [Sydney Morning Herald]

When Eric Schmidt looks at Baidu, he doesn't see a China-grown website that accounts for 61 percent of search traffic because of its ease of use and mastery of the native tongue, as Baidu founder Robin Li claims. Instead, Schmidt sees a search engine beating the poo out of Google China because of its ease of use in downloading MP3s. (Nearly 100 percent of digital music downloads in China are unlicensed.) Schmidt's response?