SonyBMG is set to announce a dismantling of its Sony Urban Music division that will hand pink slips to a large number of employees just in time for the holiday. Sources said employees’ nerves have been rattled while they wait for the layoff ax to fall ever since Rob Stringer, brother of Sony Corp. boss Howard Stringer, took over for Ienner in September.

• New, old media lines blur: AOL CEO
  AOL’s new chief, Randy Falco, sees the line dividing traditional and new media blurring even further as he takes the reins of the online division of the world’s biggest media company Time Warner.
• Check out Coolfers post “More On Hip Hop Sales: Is It Entrepreneurship Or Is It Danger Mouse”? and “Hip Hop’s Transformation Into A Singles and Ringtone Business”.

And………

Check out “Not a rapper, just a hustler that can rap good”. Read excerpt Below.

I think 2006 will be remembered as the year that The Hustler trumped The MC as the prevailing icon of the culture. The year that rappers became so busy trying to be entrepreneurs and pitchmen and Hollywood actors that they didn’t have the time or the inclination to make dope music anymore. The year that being a rap artist—someone who sincerely aspires to spit mind-blowing rhymes—became, well, kinda corny. The year all your favorite rap stars started adamantly denying they were rappers.

Where, exactly, does that leave rap fans? If it’s corny to make rap music, is it corny to listen to it too?
I have nothing against hustlers per say. There’s always been hustlers in hip-hop, and a good lot of them have managed to make hot music. The problem with so many of the hip-hop hustlers today is that hustling is their sole focus, their primary purpose, their reason to be. That and the fact that they’re often peddling Bull#!# products. Their goal is to charm you with their slick persona/sexy swagger/dramatic backstory/titillating beefs—and then get you to shell out for a mediocre album, or some ugly sneakers (word to Ice Cream), or a weird energy drink. In some places, guys like that are called con artists. And nobody wants to feel like they’ve been conned.

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Based in the Jacksonville area, Veronicas Veil are rapidly expanding their fanbase with their unique brand of dueling vocal heavy progressive rock. Fronted by both Randy Winter and Jordyn Jackson, they have been described in press as ‘the direction Evanescence should have gone.’ Veronicas Veil have sold roughly 8,000 copies of their demo cd ‘Middle of Nowhere‘ through their sold out gigging in Florida, grabbing the attention of major and indie labels. Atlantic and Virgin have been out to see the band very recently, with a second Atlantic showcase scheduled for tomorrow in Florida. No management or legal attached. For more information, contact Randy Winter 904.226.4490. Check out the tracks Echoes and Self-Destruct

• 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.

• Check out the review of Microsoft’s Zune from the Washington Post.
• A group of leading international record companies has lost a lawsuit against against Baidu.com, one of China’s largest Internet search engines, for the alleged illegal downloading and sharing of their music.