Interesting week as usual, see below for news you might have missed!

1. Just Dizle interview with Roy Ayers (plus mix) [KN]
2. Bandcamp nixes free downloads, adds incentives to sell [Prefix]
3. 24 Tips for Indie Artists [Kleer]
4. Gospel Music Community Reacts to the death of Linda Sapp [Mlive]
5. Why Albums Are Released on Tuesdays in the U.S. [NPR]
6. Billboard Unveils Indie “Dreamseekers” Chart [WSJ]
7. [New Music} Lauryn Hill & Ron Isley - Close To You [GFM]
8. [Video] AIMP Forum: The History of 360 Deals [MIR]
9. How Much Does It Cost To Run iTunes? Hint: It’s Big [Hypebot]
10. More Rapper Beef on Twitter [MTV]

AllHipHop.com is reporting that Jermaine Dupri has been dropped from his position as head of the Island Def Jam Urban Division, a post he’s been in since February of last year.  While it’s unknown about the specifics of his termination (though an official announcement is expected soon), the hip hop industry had taken a big hit this past year despite the huge successes of artists like T.I. and Lil Wayne.  What’s more interesting, though, is what this means for Dupri’s Tag Records, the partnership announced last year between Island Def Jam and the men’s deodorant line.

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“Don’t do it, reconsider!”

Aside from the select few artists who achieve the type of success where their concerts, merchandise, endorsements and other ancillary income actually generates significant revenue, this can’t be good.

SAN FRANCISCO–Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. thinks there is still a big place in the world for much-maligned major record labels.

“The value that we have is both on the editorial side, and on the marketing and promotion side,” Bronfman said in a panel at the Web 2.0 Summit on Thursday afternoon. “Those channels are getting harder, not easier.” In other words, it was an argument very similar to the one that newspapers and magazines have made in justifying their place in an industry that’s getting flooded by scrappy bloggers–big music labels provide the quality and experience.

Even in the face of In Rainbows, the label-ditching, revolutionary effort from Radiohead, he said he hasn’t changed his mind. “There will be different models (as opposed to labels, particularly for artists or bands who have built up a long and distinguished career, whose products don’t necessarily need marketing or promotion, whose editorial is going to go out unfettered, but there are very, very few of those,” Bronfman insisted. “It’s getting harder to build a multiyear, certainly a multidecade career, than ever before.”

Bronfman shared the stage with moderator and conference host John Battelle, and co-panelist Chris DeWolfe, co-founder and CEO of MySpace. Bronfman’s Warner Music Group, along with each of the other major labels, has taken a financial stake in MySpace Music, the News Corp.-owned social network’s ambitious retail and streaming hub.
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