LOS ANGELES, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. pop star Madonna's "Sticky & Sweet Tour" has become the largest grossing tour of a solo artist in history, producers at Live Nation said Monday.

Unplugging the amps? Bad move, WMG.

Every Axl Rose has its thorns.

-- Goodmail to launch video-in-email ad system; *Comcast*, Cox, *AOL*, *Yahoo* as partners: Goodmail Systems, a Silicon Valley-based email marketing provider is slated to roll out an email video system called Certified Video next year. Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA), Cox, AOL (NYSE: TWX) and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) have already joined the service, which will let advertisers insert clips (like TV show promos or movie trailers) into email. The spots would start playing immediately once a recipient opened the message, though they’d have to turn on the sound themselves. Live Nation (NYSE: LYV) has signed on as one of the first media clients. -- NAI retools behavioral targeting privacy guidelines : The Network Advertising Initiative has retooled its behavioral targeting guidelines. It’s the first major update to the ad net trade association’s rulebook in eight years—an upgrade that comes almost a year after the FTC suggested its own set of privacy guidelines (though the government actually stopped short of imposing those rules). Some changes include forcing networks to explicitly get consumers’ consent before serving them ads based on sensitive info like social security numbers or medical data, as well as getting parental consent before serving targeted ads to kids under the age of 13. Major ad networks like AOL’s Advertising.com, Yahoo, WPP’s 24/7 Real Media and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) are all part of the self-regulatory group, as well as indie nets like [X+1] and interCLICK. -- Advertisers’ social net struggles: Aside from the miserable economy, here’s another reason why ad spending on social nets is not growing as strongly as previously anticipated: a survey says that just 3 percent of Internet users in the United States would willingly let publishers use their friends for advertising. Meanwhile, for those who become Facebook “Fans” of a product or marketer, there’s usually very little follow-through by advertisers and so the groups tend to die off quickly. -- Quantcast deals expected to drive online video measurement: After Quantcast inked deals to measure the online video views for sites run by ABC, Hulu and BBE last week, maybe now Nielsen and comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) will soon do more than just count vistors to those sites. Both companies say be patient, while the Interactive Advertising Bureau is pushing for more thorough video metrics. Meanwhile, social net measurement firm Lotame aims to offer better counting of display ad clicks with a new tool called Time Spent, ClickZ reports. 

-- Goodmail to launch video-in-email ad system; *Comcast*, Cox, *AOL*, *Yahoo* as partners: Goodmail Systems, a Silicon Valley-based email marketing provider is slated to roll out an email video system called Certified Video next year. Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA), Cox, AOL (NYSE: TWX) and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) have already joined the service, which will let advertisers insert clips (like TV show promos or movie trailers) into email. The spots would start playing immediately once a recipient opened the message, though they’d have to turn on the sound themselves. Live Nation (NYSE: LYV) has signed on as one of the first media clients. -- NAI retools behavioral targeting privacy guidelines : The Network Advertising Initiative has retooled its behavioral targeting guidelines. It’s the first major update to the ad net trade association’s rulebook in eight years—an upgrade that comes almost a year after the FTC suggested its own set of privacy guidelines (though the government actually stopped short of imposing those rules). Some changes include forcing networks to explicitly get consumers’ consent before serving them ads based on sensitive info like social security numbers or medical data, as well as getting parental consent before serving targeted ads to kids under the age of 13. Major ad networks like AOL’s Advertising.com, Yahoo (and its subsidiaries like 24/7 Real Media and BlueLithium) and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) are all part of the self-regulatory group, as well as indie nets like [X+1] and interCLICK. -- Advertisers’ social net struggles: Aside from the miserable economy, here’s another reason why ad spending on social nets is not growing as strongly as previously anticipated: a survey says that just 3 percent of Internet users in the United States would willingly let publishers use their friends for advertising. Meanwhile, for those who become Facebook “Fans” of a product or marketer, there’s usually very little follow-through by advertisers and so the groups tend to die off quickly. -- Quantcast deals expected to drive online video measurement: After Quantcast inked deals to measure the online video views for sites run by ABC, Hulu and BBE last week, maybe now Nielsen and comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) will soon do more than just count vistors to those sites. Both companies say be patient, while the Interactive Advertising Bureau is pushing for more thorough video metrics. Meanwhile, social net measurement firm Lotame aims to offer better counting of display ad clicks with a new tool called Time Spent, ClickZ reports. 

Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Analyst initiations

Analyst upgrades:

• Goldman upgraded Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) to Buy from Neutral based on valuation and a potential margin rebound at Linens N' Things.
  
• Citigroup upgraded Rockwell Automation Inc. (NYSE: ROK) to Hold from Sell on valuation and believes expectations have been reset to a reasonable level. The company's target was lowered to $27 from $33.
  
• Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Ceradyne (NASDAQ: CRDN) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation following the recent weakness and thinks the Army will move forward with a larger XSAPI procurement in FY09. The firm raised their target to $30 from $26.
• Goldman added Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) to the Conviction Buy List.
  
• Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
  
• Analog Devices (NYSE: ADI) was raised to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.

Analyst downgrades:

Continue reading Analyst calls: BBBY, WYE, SLH, ADM, BRCM, TEVA . . .

Analyst calls: BBBY, WYE, SLH, ADM, BRCM, TEVA . . . originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shares on Wall Street are pointing for higher gains with some trading with above average volumes, as the traders and financial sector await the U.S. Senate to vote on $700 billion bailout plan tonight.[More...]

Every so often, we take a break from our usual trawl through SEC filings to talk about a real life experience with a publicly traded company. On Friday night, a normally robust time for filings, I kicked off early to head up to Saratoga Springs and catch Elvis Costello and the Police in a concert [...]

Filed under: Deals, Products and services, Management, Marketing and advertising

According to a Billboard report Tuesday morning, Live Nation Inc. (NYSE: LYV) "has entered into a long-term global partnership" with Canadian rock band Nickelback, following other high profile acts U2, Madonna, and Jay-Z. The reported $50-$70 million deal is set to commence after the band finishes its current deal with Road Runner Records, a record label in the Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE: WMG), and will include three tours and albums with the possibility of a fourth left open. Virtually every aspect of the band's career will be managed and distributed via Live Nation, and the band will begin touring in Live Nation venues as soon as next year.

Reuters further reports that the band has two albums and a greatest hits album left with Road Runner Records, with the band's last album selling 10 million copies. The news source speculates that the deal could be expensive if the band's new albums in the future fail to deliver the success that the band has enjoyed to date. The deal also throws into question the value of Road Runner Records after Warner Music Group bought the label in December 2006 for $73.5 million. Despite other high profile artists, Nickelback is the label's most successful act.

Live Nation has raised the stakes for music companies since beginning to sign major artists last year. By offering services for nearly every aspect of those acts' careers, Live Nation means managing careers are simplified in theory. In addition, the growth of the digital music market has made it easier for the company and the acts it signs to distance the services from the tendencies associated with music companies and traditional recordings deals. Unfortunately, since the deals have yet to commence for any artist, the success of deals such as this have yet to be seen.

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Filed under: Good news, Products and services, Competitive strategy, Marketing and advertising

Despite criticism by Irish band U2's manager Paul McGuinness over Radiohead's method for releasing In Rainbows last October, U2's lead singer Bono has published an open letter in NME disagreeing and applauding Radiohead for the album and how it was released. McGuinness told the BBC in early June that the method was "a failure and backfired" because "it still resulted in over 60%-70% of listeners acquiring the album through illegal channels."

Bono's letter to NME, printed in last week's issue, takes a sharp left turn from his manager's opinion, calling Radiohead "courageous and imaginative in trying to figure out some new relationship with their audience." Bono also remarked how "blessed" he feels "to be around at the same time" as "a sacred talent" like Radiohead. U2 have recently taken steps to reach their audience, joining forces with Live Nation Inc. (NYSE: LYV) in a deal that will market their music and concerts with related products from one location.

U2 is still signed to Universal Music Group for the band's record releases, which may have been one reason McGuinness came out against the method Radiohead used last year. Neverthless, the disagreement between manager and lead singer is insignificant compared to the applaud Radiohead continue to receive from fellow artists. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, a band that was also signed to Universal Music Group, has also come out in support of Radiohead's method, even though he, too, took issue with some aspects of it. Reznor has since released two NIN albums the same way.

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Tom Dorsey and Tammy DeRosier - What a Start to 2008