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Live Nation and AEG have long been competitive, but the heat appears to be dramatically increasing in their rivalry.

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GAME ON: The field of challengers hoping to take a bite out of Apple’s dominance in online music continues to grow, with Amazon and Rhapsody America—an alliance of MTV Networks, RealNetworks and Verizon—preparing to join the fray, and Wal-Mart rolling out an expanded retail initiative. Amazon and Wal-Mart’s tactics involve variable-pricing structures that undercut the iTunes 99-cent/$9.99 standard for higher-quality, DRM-free MP3s that will play on any device. Rhapsody America, meanwhile, is touting a projected “open system” accessible via PC, portable device and cellphone, , although the new entity has yet to announce deals with the Big Four, an obvious prerequisite for mounting a challenge to iTunes. What remains to be seen is whether any of these features will be sufficiently alluring to get online consumers out of the habit of shopping iTunes, with its elegant interface, myriad features and ease of use. But the very fact that major players are putting their considerable muscle behind these new initiatives means that the level playing field the members of the Big Four have long desired is now more than a pipe dream, if less than a slam dunk… Considering the concepts Rick Rubin rolled out in that much-talked-about cover story in the prestigious New York Times Sunday Magazine last weekend, the Columbia Records creative head is surely among those pressing for the parent company to get more into the game. Some have called the guru-esque depiction of the bearded one polarizing, others have declared it premature and still others have dismissed it as a puff piece, but there’s no question that celebrity profiler Lynn Hirschberg vividly captured the thoughtfulness, self-assurance and refreshing idealism of this gifted producer and adventurous executive. Conspicuous by its absence, though, was any mention of Sony Music N.A. chief Rob Stringer, whose idea it was to go after Rubin. Although he’s depicted as a lone voice in the wilderness of the music business, Rubin’s main point, about the critical need to figure out how to harness technology while prioritizing the development of quality artists, is no different from the beliefs of any other major label executive with a clue. The key issue is that no one has yet discovered the ultimate solution, but all are desperately looking for it, at a time many view as a critical tipping point in the evolution of the biz… On another battlefront, Live Nation and chief rival AEG have long been competitive, but the heat appears to be dramatically increasing in their rivalry. Live Nation threw down the gauntlet by refusing to renew its deal with Ticketmaster, meaning that the spurned vendor and AEG now have a mutual agenda regarding the #1 concert promoter. AEG’s Philip Anschutz and TM’s Barry Diller (who also has a big stake in Irving Azoff’s Front Line Management) have very deep pockets; will AEG make an offer to Madonna competitive with Live Nation’s?… As Guy Hands begins to put his imprint on EMI, historians are noting that the ousted Eric Nicoli had a less than distinguished eight-year reign as the British company’s monarch. During that time, EMI Music Publishing consistently put points on the board, while recorded music continued to struggle after Nicoli replaced Ken & Nancy Berry with the Alain Levy/David Munns tandem. Despite a late-inning rally involving the consolidation of Capitol and Virgin in the U.S. and the shedding of copy protection, Nicoli will probably be viewed in retrospect as a music business outsider who never managed to break the code… While Hands was slamming the door on Nicoli, he was opening it wide for EMP chief Roger Faxon, whom the new boss seems to have properly identified as a key to the company’s future. Meanwhile, Hands’ valuation of Roger Ames remains a mystery, prompting many to wonder, if not Ames, then who? He’s already in place, and his grasp of the business is both comprehensive and up-to-date… In a closely related matter, could we see the return of a former EMI bigwig in a key role?… That much-talked-about story in Rolling Stone about Lyor Cohen’s extravagant, dope-smoking Hamptons weekend, in which staff writer Austin Scaggs described his crash course in “How to Roll Like a Mogul 101,” captured a form of excessive behavior that has become extremely rare in today’s music business... Names in the Rumor Mill: Andy Gould, Kanye West, Ron Fair, Heidi Ellen Robinson, Rob Glaser, Microsoft, Rob Cavallo and Lucian Grainge.
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