Contributor

It’s safe to say that when looking at the music nominations for the Academy Awards this morning, literally thousands of people thought, “That’s IT?” While the Academy’s rules for the Best Original Song and Best Original Score categories  are surely very thoroughly thought through, it’s hard to imagine the thinking that deemed only two songs worthy of 2012 Oscar consideration.

Four majors become three and play an epic (pun intended) game of musical chairs with top execs. The indie world finally takes its place at the big table. The battle for control of music in the digital clouds is in full swing;  the new music business continued being born in a dizzying swirl of startups. Spotify Warner Music EMI Facebook Doug Morris L.A. Reid Google Converse Amazon Barry Weiss Bon Iver Beats by Dre and more -- what a year it's been to cover the music business ...

Madonna has signed with Interscope, a source close to the situation confirmed to Billboard.biz Wednesday morning.