Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group Inc., the largest music company in the world, is forming a joint venture to manage musicians with Live Nation Entertainment Inc., the world's biggest ticketing, concerts promotions and artist management firm. The deal puts Universal's small cluster of four management companies under Live Nation's Front Line Management Group, whose 90 executives manage 250 artists, including the Eagles, Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney and Christina Aguilera. Under the agreement, Front Line will oversee the joint venture.

YouTube has snagged a licensing deal with Merlin, a consortium of independent music labels that together represent 14,000 artists including Adele and Arcade Fire. The deal lets musicians represented by Merlin receive royalties each time a YouTube user publishes an online video that uses all or parts of a song owned by a Merlin artist. Merlin is considered to be the world's fifth-largest record label, after Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Group, which is being auctioned off by its owner, Citigroup.

Universal Music Group revived its Mercury label in the U.S. and named Sony BMG Music Entertainment executive David Massey as president. Mercury, whose roster once included John Mellencamp and Kiss, will be part of the New York-based Island Def Jam Music Group, Universal said. Mercury will operate separately in Britain.

Vevo, an online music video start-up, is pressing play on its latest product — a Facebook app that lets bands and musicians showcase their music, sell albums and merchandise, live stream concerts and collect mail addresses from their fans, among other things. The New York company, jointly owned by Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, is the latest player to dive into the crowded do-it-yourself market for apps and services for musicians. Digital start-ups such as ReverbNation, RootMusic, Bandcamp, Topspin and Songkick, as well as established giants such as Live Nation Entertainment, are rushing to be the online broker between bands and fans on Facebook and other digital platforms.

Vivendi's Universal Music Group said Friday that it had agreed to buy Sanctuary Group for $88 million to add merchandising and management of artists including Elton John. Universal Music's Centenary Music Holdings Ltd. will pay about 39 cents a share in cash for Sanctuary. That's 13% more than Thursday's closing price for London-based Sanctuary. The deal broadens Universal Music's scope, adding merchandising, artist management and talent businesses, as the company looks for new revenue streams.

Doug Morris has been named the new chief executive of Sony Music Entertainment, an appointment that was widely expected when Morris last year said he would step down as head of Universal Music Group at the end of 2010. Morris, 72, will succeed Rolf Schmidt-Holz on July 1, and Schmidt-Holz will exit Sony at the end of the month, when his contract expires. In the interim, Sony Corp. Chairman Howard Stringer will helm the music company. In a high-level corporate talent swap, a number of Sony executives are expected to move to Universal over the next few months, including Barry Weiss, the chairman of Sony's RCA/Jive Label Group, who is expected to lead Universal's operations in New York.

Seagram Co.'s Universal Music Group, the world's largest record company, is in talks to buy Rondor Music for $400 million to $500 million, according to a person familiar with the discussions. Rondor Music was started in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the founders and former co-heads of A&M Records. The Hollywood Reporter earlier today reported that the talks were in an advanced stage.

The corporate decor at Universal Music Group is high-tech modern, but here, in the Santa Barbara law offices of A. Barry Cappello, it's the Wild West. To the left is a rattlesnake, coiled and ready to strike. To the right is a bronze statue of a bucking bronco. A muffled hysteria unspools as faxes, phones and modems transmit the breaking news about Cappello's high-profile entertainment case against UMG.

There is another Counterpunch article today. Earl Ofari Hutchinson commends Universal Music Group for its decision to order rap group the Murderers to remove some potentially offensive lyrics from its debut album. F15

Seagram Co.'s Universal Music Group is expected to join American Online Inc. today to announce formation of an Internet venture, "Jimmy and Doug's Farm Club," a Web site where unsigned artists can post songs and vie for the attention of top executives at the world's biggest record company. Farmclub.com, the brainchild of Universal Music Group head Doug Morris and Interscope Records co-chief Jimmy Iovine, is expected to be up and running by February.

Universal Music Group Inc., the largest music company in the world, is forming a joint venture to manage musicians with Live Nation Entertainment Inc., the world's biggest ticketing, concerts promotions and artist management firm. The deal puts Universal's small cluster of four management companies under Live Nation's Front Line Management Group, whose 90 executives manage 250 artists, including the Eagles, Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney and Christina Aguilera. Under the agreement, Front Line will oversee the joint venture.

Baidu Inc., China's largest search engine, has struck a deal to license songs from three major record labels, giving music companies a rare victory against piracy in the world's most populous country. Terms of the multiyear deal, announced Tuesday, call for Baidu to pay Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment for each song that is downloaded or streamed through Baidu's new ad-supported music social network, dubbed Ting. Baidu also agreed to pay the labels for songs delivered through its MP3 Search service.

Doug Morris has been named the new chief executive of Sony Music Entertainment, an appointment that was widely expected when Morris last year said he would step down as head of Universal Music Group at the end of 2010. Morris, 72, will succeed Rolf Schmidt-Holz on July 1, and Schmidt-Holz will exit Sony at the end of the month, when his contract expires. In the interim, Sony Corp. Chairman Howard Stringer will helm the music company. In a high-level corporate talent swap, a number of Sony executives are expected to move to Universal over the next few months, including Barry Weiss, the chairman of Sony's RCA/Jive Label Group, who is expected to lead Universal's operations in New York.

Matt Damon has been in Chicago working on "Contagion," the pandemic thriller directed by Steven Soderbergh, and the actor said he's consciously tried to enjoy the experience because he doubts that he will have many more chances to work with the filmmaker. "He's retiring, he's been talking about it for years and it's getting closer," Damon said of Soderbergh, whose credits include "Erin Brockovich," "Ocean's Eleven," "The Informant" and "Sex, Lies, and Videotape. " Soderbergh turns 48 next month.

If Rio Caraeff had his way, the phrase "I want my MTV" would be replaced by "I want my Vevo." The 34-year-old Santa Monica music executive, who once headed the digital music business for Universal Music Group, launched Vevo in December. In April — less than six months later — the site vaulted into the No. 1 spot for online music videos in the U.S., garnering more than 43 million unique viewers who watched 350 million streams, according to ComScore Inc. Among all video sites, Vevo ranked fourth, just after Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Fox Interactive Media, and beating out the likes of Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp.

The Justice Department has started reviewing the pricing and promotion of digital music by Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., according to sources familiar with the discussions. Four music labels — EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group — were contacted by Justice Department officials several weeks ago, sources said. Investigators had asked about the labels' participation in Amazon's program that gives discounts on albums and songs a day before the music is released widely in stores and on other music sites.

Seagram's Universal Music Group will announce today that it will make a broad selection of its artists' music available for digital distribution and playback by the newest generation of portable music devices, including the Diamond Multimedia Rio MP3 player and products from Toshiba and Panasonic. Sources say the company will distribute the music with anti-piracy technology, most likely from Sunnyvale, Calif.-based InterTrust Technologies, with which it signed an agreement in May.

Seagram Co.'s Universal Music Group has acquired AVI Entertainment Group's music catalog, which includes songs by gospel star Clara Ward, blues singer Slim Harpo, Liberace and others. The transaction, whose terms were not disclosed, is the latest in a string of music acquisitions for Seagram since the Canadian conglomerate bought MCA/Universal nearly three years ago.

Bob Mercer, a music industry executive who was managing director of EMI Music in Britain in the 1970s and most recently was chief executive of the "Now That's What I Call Music!" venture that releases a bestselling series of hit-single compilation albums, has died. He was 65. Mercer died of lung cancer May 5 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said his wife, Margie. As chief executive of "Now That's What I Call Music!," Mercer presided over an enterprise that has sold 77 million albums in the United States since its debut in 1998.

French media conglomerate Vivendi hopes it has found a leader inside its Universal Music Group to help guide it into the digital future. Lucian Grainge, head of the music group's international operation, has been named chief executive, starting Jan. 1, 2011. Until then, he will share responsibilities with Chairman and Chief Executive Doug Morris, who said in November that he planned to step down from the executive post. Morris, 71, remains chairman of the music group. Grainge, 49, has spent the last five years running operations in 50 countries outside of North America and is credited with expanding Universal Music's reach through digital distribution as well as moving into new businesses, such as merchandise sales, live event production and artist services.