Cielo!

Or rather, Madonna! - another one:

Pop star Madonna is close to leaving her long-time Warner Bros. Records label for a wide-ranging $US120 million (A$134 million) deal with concert promotion firm Live Nation, a source familiar with the talks said on Wednesday.

The story was first reported on the Wall Street Journal's website, which said Madonna would receive a mix of cash and stock in exchange for allowing Live Nation to distribute three studio albums, promote concert tours, sell merchandise and license her name.

Such a deal is virtually unprecedented, but may become more common as struggling record labels and other players in the music industry seek to shore up revenues by going into business with musical acts, rather than just taking fees for selling their albums or concert tickets.

OK, so no mention of music being given away, but the other key elements are there: concert tours, merchandise and licensing. Bye-bye music industry. (Via TechCrunch.)

Real and Virtual Pirates

Far be it from me to give any publicity to the arch-enemy Disney (hawk, spit), but this story about the latter's plans for a MMORPG spin-off from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" film is of note. It shows clearly how virtual worlds are entering the mainstream alongside traditional, "physical" merchandising.