London - OK Go, the band that made the Rube Goldberg machine music video and recently had a public tiff with record label EMI over the ability for fans to embed said video, has asked and been let out of its contract with EMI's Capitol Records. The band will now re-release its new album "Of The Color of Blue Sky" on its own label, Paracadute Records. Singer Damian Kulash tells New York Magazine that EMI was not funding the level of promotion the band desired, noting, "The issue is that they just don't have any money" -- referring to EMI's public financing struggles. read more

Los Angeles - Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes LP format, which adds lyrics, cover art, videos, animation and other extras to a digital album, has disappointed labels that have experimented with it over the past six months since its launch, GigaOM reports. Music industry sources told GigaOM the format is not much generating consumer recognition, and only 29 iTunes LPs are currently on sale -- including a dozen available at launch. Some are balking at the up to $60,000 extra it can cost to produce an iTunes LP, which can eclipse overall sales for many albums. read more

San Francisco - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) online social network MySpace on Wednesday announced the launch of its new MySpace Games site, aimed at improving users' gaming experiences. Unveiled at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, the site features new tools and functionality for both users and developers. The company said that nearly one-third of its users play games on the site, and it hopes to increase this figure to 50%. Along with the revamped site, MySpace announced a MySpace Neon application for the iPhone that will let users access their MySpace games on the smartphone. read more

New York - Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) MTV Games and development studio Harmonix are working on "Rock Band 3," the next iteration of their music karaoke game that will not feature a specific at -- like the Beatles or Green Day -- for release in the fall. Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS) will again be the distributor for the title read more

OK Go has left EMI and will re-release its latest album, “Of The Color of Blue Sky,” on its own Paracadute Recordings label. The group has another viral video hit on its hands, but the latest came after a public flare-up over an EMI policy that prevented the band’s fans from embedding the YouTube video on other sites. Singer Damian Kulash had an op-ed in the New York Times about the policy’s impact on the band’s career. © 2010 Billboard (full story)