MSN and NBC Universal Digital Studios, a studio dedicated to creating original and unique programming for a wide range of digital platforms, have entered into an exclusive licensing agreement announced today by George Kliavkoff, chief digital officer of NBC Universal, and Rob Bennett, general manager of Entertainment and Video Services for MSN.

Two things strike me about the deal between Microsoft and Universal Music, which will see the record company get a cut of every Zune player the software giant (theoretically) sells. The first is that such an arrangement is an obvious sign that Microsoft is desperate, and the second is that it’s an obvious sign that the major record labels are not just desperate but creatively bankrupt.

Proving that Microsoft is not the monopoly in all aspects of computer technology, the company has reached an agreement that they hope will help the Zune digital music player compete with Apple iPod.

After demanding that YouTube remove all of its copyrighted videos last week, Comedy Central has given YouTube the okay to continue hosting video of its TV shows.

Warner Music Group signed a deal with Internet video provider Brightcove that will spread Warner-owned videos around the web in a free, ad-supported form.

The British Government is seeking to stop an EU directive that would force any website featuring video clips to register as a Television-Like Service.

In a move that may be foreboding for the recent Google-YouTube merger, Universal Music Group is suing video-sharing sites Bolt.com and Grouper for copyright infringement.

Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris called the two media sharing websites “copyright infringers” and hinted at legal action against them. YouTube has until the end of September to appease Morris and company…

The purists and pirate-pardoning, and by that I mean anybody outside the business, know that music wants to be free. The world’s largest music company, Universal Music Group, seems to be the first megalith to get that. Before the end of the year, expect your music to ride freely on the back of a SpiralFrog, courtesy of Madison Avenue.

A key aspect of lead generation is to engage people as early in their buying process as possible, because that’s where you can make the biggest difference. Simply put, engage early and often.

Okay, this one gets filed under no-brainer new media tactics, but I’m going to post something on it anyway.

Google has released a new version of their Gmail Notifier for the Mac. It’s a Universal Binary version, so it works nicely on both Power PC and Intel Macs.

Yes, the ladies love cool Jeremy – and, now, there’s proof that NBC Universal loves the cool ladies as well as it bought iVillage for $600M.

B2B marketers know getting field sales people to follow-up on sales leads is tough but getting channel partners (VARs, resellers and distributors) to follow-up and close-the-loop seems down right impossible.

Universal Music Group announced they had signed on to the Blu-Ray DVD format developed by Sony in the latest round of DVD Wars. This marks a major victory in the cosmic conflict between Japanese electronics goliaths Sony and Toshiba.

Many things with lead generation seem easier than they are. Take sales lead follow-up for example, research shows that sales people do not fully pursue around 70% of leads generated by marketing.

A deal inked with tech firm Snocap links EMI with the two largest music companies and may lead to legal peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing.

Most marketers believe that generating more sales leads is the key to hitting their revenue targets.

In an effort to offer investors up to $400 million of its common stock, preferred stock, depositary shares, debt securities and warrants, Ask Jeeves has filed a Form S-3 with the SEC. Once the SEC declares the filing effective, Ask Jeeves will be allowed to offer the requested amount of stock.

Working in the software market, one has to be acutely aware of the technology adoption cycle and its implications on company’s strategy at any given stage. B2B software marketing has been Eran’s area of expertise for over ten years, most of them spent in senior management positions with companies in this space. He now runs the MarketCapture consulting practice, helping software companies combine this kind of strategic awareness with hands-on approach to tactical execution of marketing programs.

While very few things are certain in the world of B2B marketing, I have heard the following three statements pretty much universally agreed upon by every sales and marketing executive: