• The Futureheads who were a biz buzz band a couple years ago have been dropped from their Label.

• Google stock price surpassed $500 for the first time Tuesday, marking another milestone in a rapid rise that has catapulted the Internet search leader into the corporate elite. Google’s remarkable success has minted Page and Brin, both 33, as multibillionaires along with their hand-picked chief executive, Eric Schmidt. Hundreds of other Google employees are millionaires because so many investors want to own a piece of a company that has become the Internet’s most powerful financial force while building a brand so ingrained in society that it has become part of the English language.

Google will be a driving force in delivering new music. You Watch.

• Last week Jay-Z was sued by a little known outfit called Bridgeport Music Inc, over samples he used in the 2003 single, “Justify My Thug.” The forces behind this suit are a new sort of nuisance for the music business, a growing set of companies who produce nothing and only generate income through lawsuits to protect intellectual property portfolios of which they’ve gained control.
• Textango, a new Los Angelesbased company allows any artist to sell their music by premium text messaging. Textango did the math, and found that about 89% of teenagers in the USdo not have credit cards, a requirement when buying music off of digital download services. They also found that only 1% of phones can handle full Mp3 tracks, let alone albums. Textango’s solution? Let the biggest music buying demographic in the world bill the music to their cell phones, and get the music on their computers.
  Textango has already entered into an agreement with Victory records, and is said to announce other major label agreements soon.

Unsigned artists can go to www.textango.com and sign up for an account.