Twitter Announces Deals with Google & Microsoft

Three Letter Circus > It was reported on Sunday that Citigroup was “lining up” buyers (including WMG) for EMI in an attempt to pressure owner Terra Firma into selling the music company (Guardian)… However the next day a statement to the contrary was released by the bank claiming that they were not seeking buyers, implying they couldn’t do so being a debt holder not an equity owner (Reuters)…

Tweet Deal > Twitter’s seeming indifference to being labeled “profitable” ends with the micro-blogging service’s announcement of two content-search deals with Google and Microsoft (specifically Bing). The deals, worth a combined $25 million, will allow tweets to appear in both service’s search engine results (BW)…

It’s All Good > UK regulators approved the proposed merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, an about-face for the Competition Commission who previously expressed serious concerns over the deal (NYTimes)…

Freedom of Choice > Hulu makes further inroads in the music video arena by adding content from Warner Music Group, who is also the only major music group yet to make a deal with the label-backed video service Vevo. A similar arrangement between Hulu and EMI was announced last month (MediaMemo)…

Hulu launching in UK with new 19 Entertainment series

Continuing with their recent string of announcements, MySpace Music revealed a new deal with digital-media distro service TuneCore to allow independent (unsigned) artists to have their music included in the MySpace Music on-demand streaming service for a flat fee (Epicenter)… EMI is taking legal action against video site Vimeo, claiming that while the site may feature original video content created by users, many songs under their control are used in such videos throughout the site without a license (ars)… Can a scientific formula detect radio payola? A researcher at University at Buffalo says yes (Science Daily)… More from the Terra Firma-EMI saga, as it appears that Citigroup made a bid for the music company just prior to the investment firm’s recent legal action against the bank (FW)… And Hulu prepares to cross the Atlantic.  The popular online TV and movie streaming site prepares to launch in the UK early next year, but with just one show, a new 19 Entertainment reality series, If I Can Dream (MediaMemo)…

EMI and owner Terra Firma are back in the headlines as the private equity investment firm reportedly prepares to write down its investment in the struggling music company by 90% after their latest bid to restructure debt was denied… But it wasn’t all gloom and doom for EMI this week as the the music group announced a first-of-its-kind deal with Hulu to distribute artist content on the popular online video destination… MySpace snapped up online streaming music service Imeem for a bargain basement price, a move some suspect was more about talent than technology… And Sony announced plans to launch an online store that will sell music, movies, books and mobile applications, sound familiar?