VivendiSA’s Universal Music Publishing Group has struck deals with Maker Studios Inc. and Fullscreen Inc., two of the biggest “multichannel networks”—a new breed of digital entertainment companies that distribute, promote and sometimes produce videos specifically made for Google Inc.’s YouTube. Under terms of the deals, Universal will get an undisclosed percentage of revenue from ads that run alongside cover videos of the publisher’s songs on YouTube.

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The 65-year-old music industry veteran is taking with him some of his talent-management business, through which he handles the affairs of the Eagles, Christina Aguilera and other acts, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Azoff’s employment contract hadn’t been due to expire until mid-2014. Chief Executive Michael Rapino’s contract, also due to expire in 2014, was recently renewed for a new five-year term, Live Nation said last week, without mentioning Mr. Azoff.

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Nearly two-thirds of U.S. teenagers under the age of 18 say they use Google Inc.’s video-sharing site to listen to music, more than any other medium, according to a new consumer survey from Nielsen Co., one of many challenges facing record companies as they transition into the digital world.

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If Mr. Branson were to bid on Virgin, he would likely do so in partnership with Patrick Zelnik, a French music executive who owns the independent Naive Records label in Paris, this person added.

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Vevo hired Allen & Co. to look for investors, the people added. One of the people said Vevo hopes to raise $100 million to $150 million, at terms that would value the company at nearly $1 billion. Another person said Allen & Co. has pegged the video company’s value at $700 million to $800 million.

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The deal revamps the way Clear Channel Media & Entertainment calculates the royalties it pays to play music distributed by Big Machine Label Group, the company behind some of the biggest stars in country music, including Taylor Swift, Rascal Flatts and Tim McGraw.

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Approval by the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, would represent a victory for Sony, removing the possibility of a longer review of the deal’s antitrust implications. Such a review could add several months to the process.

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Internet video of the Sunday evening show became an instant sensation on Monday morning. That response is helping push the possibility of a virtual Tupac tour in coming months.

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The agreement represents an effort to resolve a standoff that dates to 2009, when the World Trade Organization ruled that China’s policy of allowing 20 foreign films a year to be shown there violated international trade rules.

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The 94-year-old investor got in and out of the movie business three times over the course of four decades, profiting handsomely as he repeatedly bought and sold Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. studio.

On the sidelines since 2005, Mr. Kerkorian is now on the hunt to buy a film studio, production company or other entertainment business, said Jay Rakow, an executive at Mr. Kerkorian’s investment vehicle, Tracinda Corp., during an interview.

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The music companies, Sony Corp.’s Sony Music Entertainment and Access Industries Inc.’s Warner Music Group, joined in an amended complaint to a suit filed last month by Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

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A replacement hasn’t been named, but one is expected before the end of January, according to a person familiar with the matter. Since May, Warner has been owned by Access Industries Inc., controlled by Russian-born billionaire Len Blavatnik. Stephen Cooper, a corporate turnaround specialist, replaced Mr. Bronfman in August as Warner Music’s chief executive.

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When it starts on Wednesday, the “app finder” is likely to include reviews from magazines and blogs that allow users to listen to albums as they read reviews, the people say. One app will display lyrics as a song plays, while another will generate a list of upcoming concerts by artists in a user’s Spotify playlists and offer links to buy tickets.

Since Stockholm-based Spotify is opening its app platform to any developer, much as Apple does for its iPhone app store, more functions are likely to arrive soon.

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Users of Google Music, as the service is tentatively named, could recommend songs in an online library to Google+ contacts, who in turn would be allowed to listen to those songs once for free. The songs would then be available for sale as MP3 downloads, probably for around the usual 99 cents each.

Digital-music services from Spotify AB and Research In Motion Ltd., too, have recently begun using social networking as a word-of-mouth marketing vehicle. It is too early to know how successful these efforts are at recruiting new customers and retaining existing ones, people in the music industry say, but they add that early signs are encouraging.

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Mr. Iger, 60 years old, will add the additional title of chairman of the board in March 2012, and will remain executive chairman until June 2016, at which time he is to retire from Disney at the age of 65.

The company said a successor had not been chosen.

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Last year, the classical-music charts were dominated by two distribution companies: the world’s largest record label and a five-year-old, Stockholm-based digital company with 43 employees, no performers under contract and virtually no profile in the broader music business.

The contrast between the giant Universal Music Group and the tiny X5 Music Group AB offers insight into the future of music distribution.

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And when word broke yesterday that RIM was working with the music labels to launch yet another music service, it was time to reach — slowly, because at this point who really cares? — for the bat again.

But it’s possible that RIM may not have a half-bad idea here: A scaled-back feature that gives some of its remaining customers something they’d like, and not much more.

As described by The Wall Street Journal’s Ethan Smith, the new service will give users access to a mere 50 songs at a time, and will let them share the songs with their friends via BlackBerry Messenger.

Is that it? For RIM’s sake, I hope so. Because at a certain price, it sort of makes sense: Yes, everyone says they want access to an unlimited world of music. But lots of people listen to the same small group of songs over and over.

And if RIM is smart — I know — they won’t position it as a competitor to Apple’s dominant iTunes, or the subscription services like Spotify that have yet to take off. They’ll sell it as a cool way to show off your favorite few songs of the moment, and tell your friends about it.

Again, if this works, it will depend on pricing — a couple bucks a month would make sense — and execution. And RIM hasn’t given us much reason to think it will get either element right. But the modest scope of RIM’s ambitions — pulling this off sure isn’t as hard as making a credible iPad competitor — gives them a shot here.

And if BBM Music does work, it wouldn’t be a reason to buy a new BlackBerry, but it might make you happier you own one. And that would be a modest win for a company searching for any kind of victory, anywhere.

And now, just because I can, a Rick Rubin Queen remix from back in the days when mobile phones were shoe-sized:

The tentative deal, which would value Warner at around $3.3 billion including assumption of debt, wasn’t finalized, these people cautioned, and could be beaten by a higher last-minute bid.

Spokesmen for Warner Music and Access Industries declined to comment.

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The marketing deal being discussed by San Francisco-based Zynga and the singer involve Lady Gaga’s third studio album “Born This Way,” due to be released May 23, though the exact details of their agreement are still being worked out, these people said. There are more than 250 million active monthly players of Zynga’s online games on Facebook, which include FarmVille and CityVille.

Spokeswomen for Zynga and Lady Gaga declined to comment.

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If such a deal were to come to fruition it would add a new competitor to the television industry by increasing the degree to which Netflix vies with premium-cable television channels like Time Warner Inc.’s HBO.

The discussions for the series–a political drama called “House of Cards” based on a British miniseries–is part of a growing behind-the-scenes push by Netflix to secure from Hollywood production companies more original shows that will run initially on Netflix’s streaming Internet service, according to a person familiar with Netflix’s plans. Original series like “The Sopranos,” “The Wire” and “True Blood” have been a big part of HBO’s growth over the years.

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Such steep discounts are a cornerstone of Amazon’s strategy to gain traction in a market in which iTunes remains the dominant player. At the same time, a debate has arisen among music labels about whether such discounts risk undermining the value of their products.

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Beatles songs are finally available in Apple’s iTunes store. But ATD’s Peter Kafka says that iTunes is all about apps these days, while digital music sales have flattened out–and even the Fab Four may have a hard time changing that.

The deal was outlined by Jeff Jones, chief executive of the Beatles’ corporate entity, Apple Corps Ltd., and Roger Faxon, CEO of EMI Group Ltd., which owns and distributes the band’s recordings. The meeting took place at EMI’s London headquarters this past July 14, less than a month after Mr. Faxon took the reins at EMI.

Under the terms, Apple Inc.’s digital media store is the Beatles’ exclusive online retailer at least until January, Mr. Faxon said in an interview Tuesday, after the much-awaited deal was announced. It marks the first time that Beatles songs have been available for digital-download sales.

“Jeff and I sat down shortly after I arrived” as CEO of EMI, Mr. Faxon recalled. “We agreed this really was the moment to do this. After that it was very easy to cut a deal.” They code-named the initiative “Bastille,” as it coincided with Bastille Day.

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A federal court has permanently enjoined the New York company from distributing its software, which lets users upload and download free, often illegal, copies of songs and other media. But earlier this week a new version, “LimeWire Pirate Edition,” surfaced online, purportedly created by a “secret” team of software developers.

“We demand that all persons using the LimeWire software, name, or trademark in order to upload or download copyrighted works in any manner cease and desist from doing so,” said a statement on LimeWire.com. The statement also asserted that the company is “taking all steps to comply with the injunction.”

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Irving Azoff, Live Nation Entertainment’s colorful executive chairman, has long been known in the music industry for his short fuse. Now thanks to Twitter, anyone who feels like it can get a taste of Azoff’s legendary temper.

In less than 24 hours, during which he’s posted just eight tweets (and changed his profile picture twice), @irvingazoff has already gotten involved in a series of surreal microblog brawls: with celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, Billboard business columnist Glenn Peoples (”u r a jerk,” Azoff tweeted) and rival concert promoter Randy Phillips, whom Azoff implied was a habitual liar.

Azoff apparently signed up for a Twitter account earlier this summer, but until Tuesday night, he had barely used it. Then, out of the blue, he let loose a tweet that set the music world—industry and fans alike—ablaze: “so if you want ticket prices to go down stop stealing music.”

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The network said that in the 10 days since the iPad’s debut, its TV-show watching app has been downloaded 205,000 times, giving the Walt Disney Co. (DIS) unit a presence on nearly half the 450,000 devices that Apple says it has sold. Moreover, users have watched at least part of 650,000 television episodes using the app, generating “several million” ad impressions, according to an ABC spokesman, although the precise number is still being calculated.

Disney-ABC television President Anne Sweeney says the network is pleased with the initial results.

Advertisers on the iPad so far include Clorox (CLX), Lexus, AT&T (T), Heineken, Sears (SHLD) and Target (TGT). For now, Disney is delivering the same kind of 30-second spots seen on television.

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