• Axl Rose has fired his manager Merck Mercuriadis. Read here.
• CBS Revives CBS Records to Make Music for TV, ITunes
  CBS Corp. plans to revive its CBS Records label to produce music for television programs
  Internet sales to tap consumer demand for downloaded songs. CBS music and videos initially will be sold only online at Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes store and through Web outlets such as cbsrecords.com.
• Facebook Not for Sale
  Facebook another social-networking Web site courted by Yahoo! isn’t for sale, board member Peter Thiel said. “It’s going to remain an independent company,” Thiel said
  in an interview last week. “The plan is to actually build it, maybe at some point take it public, but definitely not to sell it.” (Ruben Ramirez)
• American use 10 Hours of Media a Day
  Americans will spend nearly 10 hours a day watching television, surfing the Internet, reading books, newspapers and magazines and listening to music this year, the U.S. Census Bureau said on Friday.
• David Geffen; a Billion short for the LA TIMES
  Media mogul David Geffen’s $2 billion bid for the Los Angeles Times is about $1 billion short of what big shareholders of parent Tribune Co. want for the storied newspaper. L.A. Times is closer to $3 billion and have said any sale of the paper would have to be done as tax-free transaction, sources said.

Sorry to report that Ahmet Ertegun, who helped define American music as the founder of Atlantic Records has died today at the age of 83. Ertegun remained connected to the music scene until his last days.

• EMI  Ends Takeover Discussions; Shares Drop
  EMI ended talks to be acquired by Permira Advisers LLP after failing to agree on a price, the second time this year that takeover plans collapsed.  The approach was EMI’s second takeover advance this year. EMI and Warner Music Group Corp. each offered about $4.6 billion for each other in June. Shares of EMI had their biggest decline in almost two years
  after the London-based company said it didn’t get a bid “that fully reflects the prospects for and value of the company.” (Zimri Smith)

“EMI can just about survive on its own, but it’s not a great growth story,” said Alex Degroote, an analyst at London’s Panmure Gordon.

 

Unsigned the October has been selling out their recent club run. Currently promoting recent self-produced CD Bye Bye Beautiful. Lead vocalist Dustin Burnette is a rock star. Check out the video. For more information email here.  New tour dates include:
Dec 20 2006 Headliners Music Hall (X-Mas Bash) Louisville, Kentucky
Dec 22 2006 The Duck Inn Evansville, Indiana
Dec 29 2006 Eziekial’s Metropolis, Illinois
Jan 18 2007 The Big Apple Murray, Kentucky
Jan 20 2007 A1A Concert Hall (AVIO) Lexington, Kentucky
Jan 27 2007 The Masquerade Atlanta, Georgia
Mar 02 2007  The Poison Room Cincinnati, Ohio

Unsigned One Less Reason in the vein of Hinder/Nickelback who hails from Orlando also has been pulling in solid numbers at their recent club dates. See below for upcoming shows.
Dec 15 2006  The VFW Jackson, Tennessee
Dec 30 2006  The French Quarter Jacksonville, Florida
Dec 31 2006  Floyds music store Tallahassee, Florida
Jan 19 2007  Nashville Station Macon, Georgia
Jan 26 2007  New Daisy Theater Memphis, Tennessee
Jan 27 2007  Off the Wagon Montgomery, Alabama

Alternative indie act Sounds Under Radio who hails from Austin Texas has been picked up by legal Dan Friedman. Record was produced by Will Hoffman. Check out the track
Portrait of a Summer Thief

The Register reports Apple’s iTunes has experienced a collapse in sales revenues this year according to analyst co Forrester Research.

While the iTunes service saw healthy growth for much of the period, since January the monthly rev has fallen by 65%, with the average transaction size falling 17%.

And it isn’t just Apple’s problem. Nielsen Soundscan has grimmer news for prospective
digital download services, indicating three consecutive quarters of flat or declining revs for the sector as a whole.

“ITunes won’t save the music business, or Apple,” analyst
Josh Bernoff wrote in the report.

No Recovery

In 2005, iTunes sales dropped after Christmas before rising “significantly’ in May. That recovery didn’t materialize this year, Forrester said.
    
The report also found that most music stored on iPods isn’t purchased from iTunes. Apple sells about 20 iTunes songs for each iPod purchased, even though the devices can store hundreds or thousands of songs.