Friday’s Music Brief: Free Music, Mubito, Paperless Tix, EMI Drops Distribution, ArtistDirect Buys MediaSentry & More

  HYPEBOT FEATURES:

• Is There An iLike Effect?
• New Column: You Can Always Go Back To School with Virgil Dickerson
• More Fallout: Mubito Enters Administration
• "Free" Thinker: A2IM's Jim Mahoney
• "Free" Thinker: Susan Ferris Of Indie Long Live Crime Records

MORE MUSIC INDUSTRY NEWS:

• As Sweden's internet anonymity fades, traffic plunges. (ars)
• Ticketmaster to launch paperless ticket technology in Canada with upcoming Metallica concert. (press release) The move is being promoted as both another way to thwart secondary ticketing and add convenience.
• 
  EMI will outsource its physical distribution to Sony DADC beginning later this summer. EMI
  will still maintain a retail customer service department
  there. EMI Christian Music Group
  will continue to operate its own physical distribution. EMI says it is now dedicating itself to its digital supply chain. (HITS)
• ARTISTdirect announces acquisition of MediaSentry (press release)
• So Much For MySpace Music Revolutionizing The Business (TechDirt)
• Ian Rogers writes about the direct to fan marketing efforts of two artists that he saw perform live recently. (Topspin)
• Not a single album was certified platinum in the first quarter of 2009. (US News)
• Thanks to Steve Finch and Crenk for naming Hypebot one of its Top 5 Digital Music Blogs That You Should Read On A Daily Basis