Keeping track of new music, media and industry news.

Famous Californian record shop Amoeba Music (well I assume it’s famous, as Zooey Deschanel once told me she shops there while buying some Francoise Hardy records from a shop I occasionally work in – one of my favourite personal Rock ‘n’ Roll Tedium experiences) has launched a bold new plan to maximise profit from its huge rare vinyl archive. They’re digitising their most scarce titles and selling the mp3s via their site, although what’s interesting is that they haven’t bothered to secure the rights to these recordings before flogging them. To avoid any potential conflicts, the money is being deposited into an escrow account. An intriguing plan, but seeing as they’ve apparently spent $11m (?!) putting the site together, Deschanel’s atrocious “She And Him” records will probably be considered rarities by the time Amoeba actually start seeing any profit…