Hypebot’s New Music Industry Briefing For Wednesday August 30th, 2006

SpiralFrog has signed a deal to make Universal‘s catalog available as free downloads via an ad supported network before the end of the year and claims other labels will follow suit. (Hypebot). It sounds revolutionary but HITS claims tracks will expire 6 months after downloading. (HITS)

– BMI shows record revenue growth in fiscal 2005-2006. (BMI)

– Programmers have cracked iTunes DRM and are sharing their software. (Engadget)

NEWS: More on what music is coming pre-loaded into the Zune player including some from Beggars (Madison & Pine) and write a Haiku and won a Zune sticker. (Zune Insider)

– Blogrebrity previews Gawker Media’s upcoming music/celebrity blog Idolater. (Blogebrity)

– Influential bluegrass/newgrass artists Nickle Creek are going on an indefinite hiatus. (Billboard.com)

Worthy Click – Musicast lets you broadcast your iTunes playlists via your web page or podcast.