Photo by Thuany Gabriela

  • DIY music blog Altered Zones is disbanding. For years, the blog has hosted great events, highlighted experimental music and promoted independent acts across the country. Editors Ric Leichtung and Emilie Friedlander will now act as contributors to Pitchfork and plan to launch a new project in 2012. RIP Altered Zones.

  • In other RIP news, Wednesday was Napster’s last day of existence. I’m surprised to learn it still existed in the first place. RIP Godfather Of Illegal Downloading.

  • The Grammy nominations were announced Wednesday night. For the most part, Beyonce got snubbed, Bruno Mars cleaned up, and Bon Iver was nominated for Best New Artist. Someone tell the Grammys it’s not 2008 anymore. Some of the nominees, though, were of the CMJ persuasion. Congrats!

  • In news that will excite your mom, Bruce Springsteen will be the keynote speaker at the 2012 SXSW.

  • Lily Allen had a baby daughter over the weekend.

  • According to the Apple rumor mill, the iTunes Music Store is launching in all of Latin America next week.

  • Spotify announced it is “coming to as many platforms as it possibly can.” Maybe to compete with the third-party Spotify apps that are everywhere.

  • Tim McGraw won a lawsuit against his label, Curb. Apparently, McGraw breached his contract by having an album ready “too soon.”

  • Exec Thomas Hesse is leaving Sony to head up corporate development at German media company Bertelsmann.

  • Elvis Presley’s so-called “real daughter” is suing the late rockstar’s estate for $130 million in “damages for defamation and infliction of emotional distress.” This should be good.

  • Elvis Costello encouraged fans not to buy his outrageously ($225) priced box set. He claimed the price “appears to be either a misprint or a satire.”

  • Michael Jackson’s doctor was sentenced to four years in state prison. He’ll probably only serve half that sentence due to overcrowding.

    Industry Wrap is a weekly CMJ column covering industry-related music news. Send tips to Kate Shapiro at kshapiro [AT] cmj [DOT] com.