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It’s so frustrating that one of the world’s most-pirated bands hasn’t yet been offered a deal it can accept to go online, with Paul McCartney today telling Billboard that even though the surviving members of the band would like to go for it, negotiations aren’t going well.

“That is constantly being talked of, we’d like to do it,” McCartney told Billboard.

“We are very for it, we’ve been pushing it,” he said. “But there are a couple of sticking points, I understand. So the last word I got back was that it had stalled, the whole process…They [EMI] want something we’re not prepared to give them.”
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We know Apple already offers music DRM-free through iTunes Plus from EMI, and are convinced reports Sony BMG is already preparing its music for introduction through the service, now it seems the two remaining majors Warner and Universal, are in “discussions” to offer their music DRM-free through Apple’s service as well.

That’s over a year since EMI signed-up, and in the meantime the majors have left the majority of legitimate music consumers, who overwhelmingly use iTunes, consigned to purchasing a flawed, DRM-laden product.

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More signs of a developing relationship between Sony and Apple this morning.

Sony Pictures Television has reached another interesting deal with iTunes, offering its all-new legal drama, ‘Canterbury’s Law’ for purchase through the UK arm of the service.

It’s not the first television series the company has introduced into the UK market in this way - both Damages and Rescue Me (the first episode of the latter was made available free) also reached these shores through iTunes.

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EMI continues to refocus itself as a Web 2.0 music company, working to connect music makers with their fans..

…now as part of the deal to raise the value of music beyond that of a commodity, the company has appointed former MyCokeMusic leader, Rafael McDonnell to the new role of vice president - brand partnerships, licensing and synchronization for the UK and Ireland.

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EMI’s senior executives provided a full and frank interview with Billboard today - an essential read for anyone in the business of music, the interview looks across the label’s revivified strategy and explores its new formation into three separate business units.

We like what they’re saying, to be blunt. The label seems prepared to make the transition away from music retail and toward relationship management, working to bring fans and bands closer together, which is exactly what most people have been saying all the labels should do.

We think EMI’s extensive recent root and branch reorganisation means it’s closer than most to achieving that dream.

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‘New Order: Live from Glasgow’ will hit US TV screens this Sunday, November 16 at 8:00 p.m. ET in an exclusive premiere deal with the Dallas-based HDNet Concert series.

Filmed over two nights in October 2006 before a sell-out crowd at the Glasgow Academy, the band play new material as well as their classic hits including “Blue Monday,” “True Faith,” and, of course, l “Love Will Tear Us Apart (Again).”

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Apple’s “hobby” the Apple TV has a chance at becoming a ubiquitous household item, though the company may need to add support for non-Apple media services and implement many new features if it seriously intends making an iPod-level impact on this important growing market.

The reason Apple has the chance is visible in the growing momentum behind development of solutions to bring online video to the front room - a sector becoming quickly more intense.

Online video on-demand services such as iTunes or Hulu are hot properties, meaning many more devices - including TVs offering features similar to the Apple TV - should begin to reach market en masse starting next year. And even if Apple does not develop such solutions there will still be winners and losers in the race to offer the ‘iPod’ equivalent of the multimedia for the front room box.

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Highly-respected music manager Pete Jenner will speak at the third of MusicTank’s ‘Lets Sell Recorded Music’ events, in a speech focusing on how we can license compelling alternatives to file sharing.
 
The event - which takes place November 18 at the MCPS-PRS Alliance - will also feature Beggar’s Simon Wheeler, Jez Bell From MCPS-PRS Alliance, Clintons’ Tom Frederikse On Panel.
 
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Here’s the iPhone app I’ve been looking for - SoundCheck - so, what’s it do?

OK - you’re in some shop testing headphones, a car stereo system, maybe a mixing desk or a PA. You know what the sound frequencies the product’s meant to support are, and because of the nature of these things you must make a subjective decision to see if they deliver their tech spec. claims.

You don’t have to do that any more.

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OpenTV Corp. has launched a movie portal application in partnership with Bell TV, Canada’s leading satellite and High Definition TV provider.

The Bell TV movie portal developed by OpenTV enables movie content providers to promote specific channels, as well as the movies they feature, through a fully customizable application that runs on OpenTV’s Core middleware platform. In addition to a themed search option, the application features a unique scheduling option that allows viewers to schedule movie recordings and set reminders weeks in advance.

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