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Big Four label EMI Group is still in the news with their announcement made last week. Capitol Records has crawled into bed with Virgin Records in the first restructuring announcement from the struggling EMI. These two sub-labels persay will form into the one, new Capitol Music Group.

The new, bigger, better, Capitol Music Group will be lead by former Virgin Records CEO Jason Flom. That will leave Capitol’s former CEO in the dust with a large severance package.

Music Execs say that the move will help the groups to “be better equipped than ever to promote and nurture artistic talent blah blah.” But don’t expect to see the disappearance of the Virgin Brand, as the two groups will both continue to put out their own separate albums.

The merger is pretty much a business move to lower costs in the marketing, IT, and finance divisions of the company, since the groups will keep their same ole distinct identities. Capital Music Group will also continue to operate two offices, as Virgin is focused on the East Coast in New York, and Capitol is deeply rooted in the west in Los Angeles.

So what I take from all this mumbo jumbo is that the consumer will not notice any change in the music put out by Virgin and Capitol Records. All this seems to be is a corporate cost cutting scheme that the EMI Group’s bottom line seems to be in dire need of. Don’t expect any Timbaland - Coldplay collaborations developing from this merger…at least I hope not..

Wilco announced they are scheduled to release their new album, Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch Records), May 15. They currently have over 18 tracks recorded, but the definite track list is not set.

Sky Blue Sky will be the anticipated follow up to a Ghost is born which undeniably turned some heads with its release all the way back in 2004.

For future news regarding the album, fans are suppose to check out their page here at wilcoworld.net. They are also looking to get some music up from the new album online “soonish.” Rad.

Just stay tuned with Independent Music Blog, and I’ll do my best to keep you up to date on the new Wilco album Sky Blue Sky, as it’s one I’ll definitely be checking out.

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Yesterday it was reported on Reuters that a lot of independent music labels joined together to make an agency that will work on new licensing deals. The new licensing deals are to be targeted with the new web 2.0 media companies like YouTube and Myspace.

The agency is called Merlin, and is said to be “the fifth major” (or maybe fourth) label in the industry. The agency feels like the independent music labels have been shit on too much already by media companies who fail to license music that they use. The quote of a Merlin official sums it up well:

“[Merlin is addressing the] growing assumption that, for emerging media, only the four majors need to be licensed, with the rest free to air.”

I think initially, Merlin will be a great thing for the indie music scene, because it will put some licensing monies back into the pockets of the indie music labels (which is good). As long as Merlin doesn’t get the mentality like a big label (which I’m sure they won’t) this is going to be great for the indie music scene.

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Sigur Rós is working on a new album, and I’m pumped. On their official site on January 13th, they announced they are working on a new full length album. There last full length album was Takk which came out in 2005. The new album will hopefully be done by the end of the year.

In their news release on their website, they said they started recording older songs written awhile ago, but are unsure where they are going with the album from this point on.

This is the album I am anticipating most this year, as Takk has earned its place in the Top 10, or maybe even Top 5, albums of all time in my collection. It’s ambient tunes and arrangements never fail to put me to sleep or let my mind wander. It’s great music, and I cannot wait for their new offering, as I think it will surpass Takk ’s greatness.

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Coolfer, a great music industry blog, recently brought EMI’s new business moves to my attention. The “Big Four” music label EMI Group could be flirting with a potential buyout or merger with the mighty Warner Music Group.

Coolfer first had an article on January 13th saying EMI could be on the selling block because of some restructuring taking place at EMI. The New York Times suspected the restructuring to be a sign that they may be looking to push for a sale or merger.

Later, on January 16th, its reported that EMI restructuring their debt to make a potential buyout or merger unattractive. (okay..??) So now a takeover attempt by Warner Music Group will likely be kicked to the curb, unless it is extremely generous.

If a Warner-EMI merger happens, I see only evil as a result. An over sized Warner-EMI conglomerate will only bring more problems to the music industry, which is trying to change rapidly.

Finally, CNN Money has a great article on it titled “Warner-EMI: A Sad Song” for those interested in reading more in depth about the business side of things dealing with Warner and EMI.

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Subpop Records just announced that Jimmy Tamborello’s Dntel will be releasing Dumb Luck, its first album for the label, sometime late in April.

The album will be featuring many artists, like Grizzly Bear, Fog, and Conor Oberst to name a few. The track list, unlike the release date, is pretty much set. It is as follows:

1. Dumb Luck
2. To a Fault (featuring Grizzly Bear)
3. I’d Like to Know (featuring Lali Puna)
4. Roll On (featuring Jenny Lewis)
5. The Distance (featuring Arthur & Yu)
6. Rock My Boat (featuring Mia Doi Todd)
7. Natural Resources (featuring Fog)
8. Breakfast in Bed (featuring Conor Oberst)
9. Dreams (featuring Mystic Chords of Memory)

Personally, I’m looking forward to the release as I have become a big Tamborello fan after his Postal Service collaboration with Ben Gibbard. That exposed me to Dntel, who I’ve enjoyed listening to. I’ll keep you updated and probably provide a review of Dntel’s Dumb Luck after it is released.

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