CD Warehouse Teams With Canadian Music Retailer

CD Warehouse, the publicly owned operator and franchisor of 340 music stores specializing in used CDs, plans to merge with Canadian music retailer CD Plus.com Ltd., which also sells previously owned CDs, in an exchange of stock. Terms will be disclosed later, the companies say. The combined company will operate and franchise nearly 500 stores and have combined revenues of more than $85 million. They will also link their Web sites. CD Warehouse currently has stores in 40 states, as well as Canada, England, France, Guatemala, and Venezuela.

CD Warehouse also says it recently added more than 1 million used CDs to its Web site, using a system by which orders are routed to the closest store to the customer for fulfillment.

In Nasdaq trading, CD Warehouse stock rose $0.75, or 13%, to $6.50, on more than triple average daily volume. CDPlus.com rose 10.3% on the Toronto Stock Exchange to Canadian $0.75.

--Don Jeffrey, N.Y.


Beck, Labels Settle Suits

Beck, Geffen Records, and Bong Load Custom Records have settled their lawsuits out of court, according to Beck's attorney Jill Berliner. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Geffen and Bong Load separately sued Beck in April for breach of contract, claiming that the musician had cited California's so-called "seven-year statute," which limits personal services contracts to seven years, and informed the labels he would no longer render his services to them (Bulletin, April 27). Beck countersued Geffen for copyright infringement, alleging that the label released his 1998 album "Mutations" without his authorization and had paid him nothing for it (Bulletin, May 8). Berliner says Beck's album "Midnight Vultures" will be released by Geffen in November.

--Chris Morris, L.A.


U.K.'s Mushroom/Infectious To Begin Selling Downloads

U.K. indie Mushroom/Infectious is to begin downloads of select artists from its Web site by the end of the month. Titles should be available at the site (www.infectiousxxx.co.uk) beginning next month, says Andrew Gummer, head of business affairs for the company, which handles releases from the Mushroom, Infectious, Fierce Panda, and Perfecto labels. Among acts to be featured are Muse, Ash, Peter Andre, Wilt, Seafood, and Elevator Suite.

Gummer says the site will be promoted from the end of this week on the main site of sister company Sky TV, the satellite TV broadcaster (www.skynow.co.uk). Both are owned by News Corp.

Downloads will be priced at 99 pence ($1.59) per track. Mail-order sales will also be conducted through the sites, and Mushroom/Infectious is recruiting other labels in order to provide a broader choice of repertoire. The company says it will be able to offer downloads on a territory-by-territory basis, refusing sales to potential buyers from areas where the labels do not hold rights. Using technology supplied by London-based In-Chair Viewing, potential buyers are screened according to their phone numbers.

--Dominic Pride, London


Rio Owner S3 Sells Stake Amid IPO Talk

A Taiwanese investor has acquired a 2.5% stake in S3 Inc., owner of the Rio digital download music player, for $14 million, according to reports. Microchip distributor VIA Technologies Inc. yesterday bought 1.35 million shares of Santa Clara, Calif.-based S3 at $10.419 per share. Meanwhile, CEO Ken Potashner has been fueling speculation of an initial public offering for S3's online music unit, RioPort, stating that the company is in talks with investment bankers and seeking investments in the unit, which was designed to provide content for the Rio player. The player would not be included in an IPO. S3 bought the Rio and RioPort in its acquisition of Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc. (Bulletin, Sept. 29).

--Brian Garrity, N.Y.


Jive Says Boys Are Still On Label

A representative of Jive Records has responded to yesterday's Billboard Bulletin story in which attorneys for Backstreet Boys' contend that the act is no longer on the label: "The Backstreet Boys are signed to a long-term, exclusive recording agreement with Jive Records."

--Melinda Newman, L.A.


VH1 Internet Site Names Senior VP

Fred Graver has been named senior VP of VH1.com, a division of MTV Networks' online division, MTVi. He is responsible for developing the VH1 brand on the Web and for creating interactive experiences between the site and the television network. Graver most recently worked in an Internet capacity as an executive producer for Disney and ABC Cable; prior to that, he was a comedy writer for TV programs "Late Show With David Letterman," "Cheers," and "In Living Color." He reports to MTVi president/CEO Nicholas Butterworth in New York.


Atomic Pop, 4AD Ink Digital Distribution Deal

Online music company Atomic Pop has struck an exclusive worldwide digital distribution deal with U.K. indie 4AD. Santa Monica, Calif.-based Atomic Pop will make tracks and albums from the 4AD catalog, as well as future releases, available for sale as MP3 and Liquid Audio downloads at atomicpop.com starting this month. The pact also includes use of tracks for custom compilations. 4AD's past and current acts include Dead Can Dance, Throwing Muses, Lush, the Pixies, the Breeders, and Gus Gus.

--Marilyn A. Gillen, N.Y.


Bonnier Label, Virgin Ink Scandinavian Distribution Deal

Stockholm-based Bonnier Music Scandinavia has signed a distribution deal with Virgin Records for Sweden, Norway, and Finland. The indie label--launched earlier this year by the Bonnier book/newspaper publishing house in association with Jonas Siljemark, former managing director of Arcade Music Co. Sweden (Bulletin, March 4)--has already released two singles through distributors SDS in Sweden, MSO in Norway, and GDC in Denmark. The latter will continue to distribute Bonnier product in Denmark.

The first release through Virgin will be "Opa Opa," the debut album from dance/pop act Antique, set for Oct. 13. Antique is currently on a Scandinavian tour; the act's debut single, also called "Opa Opa," was a top-10 hit in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. A second single, "Dinata Dinata," is about to be released.

--Kai R. Lofthus, Oslo


Orchard Sprouts European Arms

The Orchard, a New York-based supplier of CDs by independent labels and artists to Internet retailers, has opened offices in Stockholm, Munich, and Rome. The new offices will be responsible for making titles by local acts available in the U.S. for the first time, according to a statement. Managing directors of the branches are DJ and artist manager Marc Van der Bossche in Sweden, e-commerce vet Dirk Ducar in Germany, and promoter Massimiliano Silenzi in Italy.

The Orchard is headed by CEO Richard Gottehrer, a producer and co-founder of Sire.


New Management For Lynyrd Skynyrd

Lynyrd Skynyrd has signed an exclusive management deal with Ken Levitan's Vector Management in Nashville, after more than a decade of co-management by Charlie Brusco's Alliance Artists and Joe Boylan's Legends Artists Management. Ross Schilling, formerly of the William Morris Agency in Nashville, has moved to Vector to assist Levitan in managing the CMC International act.

Skynyrd is currently on a co-headlining tour with ZZ Top that is racking up big numbers, including a Sept. 28 sellout at Philips Arena in Atlanta that took in $556,552. Other big dates on the tour include Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn., on Sept. 26 ($429,621); First Union Center in Philadelphia on Oct. 2 ($506,032); and the Pittsburgh Civic Arena on Oct. 3 ($483,519). The band is booked by Mike Piranian at CAA.

--Ray Waddell, Amusement Business


Disney Gets A&R Executive

Walt Disney Records has named Jay Landers as senior VP of A&R. Landers, who most recently held the same title at EMI and Angel Records, reports to Walt Disney Records Worldwide president Russ Bach in Burbank, Calif.


XM Goes Public

XM Satellite Radio raised $120 million in an initial public offering yesterday. The Washington, D.C.-based company sold 10 million shares at $12 per share after cutting its expected price range Monday to $12-$13 from $14-$16. The stock's price remained unchanged at the end of its first full day of trading.

--Brian Garrity, N.Y.


Mjuice, InfoSpace Link For Content

Digital music retailer Mjuice.com has inked a deal to provide some of its secured MP3 content to InfoSpace.com. Mjuice will provide InfoSpace with 10 tracks per week.

--Eileen Fitzpatrick, L.A.


For The Record

Contrary to a story in yesterday's Bulletin, Lori Froeling is senior VP of business affairs for Universal Music Group's catalog entity, Universal Music Enterprises.


What's On

Late-night tonight: Beth Hart (on Letterman), Nanci Griffith and Darius Rucker (Leno), Meat Loaf (Kilborn).

Bravo profiles Madonna tonight at 10 ET.

Melissa Etheridge appears tomorrow on Regis & Kathie Lee.