Music industry news from Hypebot:

One of Hypebot’s most read posts ever, The Rise Of The Musical Middle Class – Part I & II , outlines how the fragmentation of media and rising power of the Internet is creating a new middle class of artists who may never drink Cristal and ride in limos but who make a decent living. Add your comments to those of more than a dozen industry insiders.

The big news this week for music marketers came as social networking sites moved to open their services up to outside developers and marketers:

• Google launched OpenSocial which creates a single standard for widgets and apps across platforms.  Many major sites including MySpace signed on.
• Facebook appears ready to announce major moves into music

The head of investment firm Terra Firma issued another memo to his EMI staff (full text here).  After reading it and a previous memo, Hypebot asked, "Has Guy Hands Aready Lost His Way?"

EMI joined WMG, Sony and many indie labels in making their product available on imeem’s viral song and video streaming service. EMI also signed a deal with Music Choice.

Paste Magazine is following the Radiohead model and offering subscriptions for "pay what you want" during a 2 week experiment.

Music industry job openings in the Warner Brother’s Records Tech Dept. and at the Future Of Music Coalition.

OurDigitalMusic.com had a roundup of articles on saving money on downloads and mp3 players and 5 New Indie Rock Bands You Need To Know About.

See ProHipHop’s Hypebot Industry News category for past roundups.