The record label Warner Music has a new website, www.rhino.tv, with free-to-view music videos. It's in Web 2.0, which means that it is slick and high quality and offers an alternative to YouTube. It's also a useful resource for artist information, although the site only features Warner-related acts so far – that's anyone from Neil Young, Madonna, R.E.M. and the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Foals (right). Designed for fans, each artist's profile page has a useful biography, and you can also stream the artists' songs and videos for free.

MyTravel cemented its recovery from the ashes of Airtours yesterday with a £2.8bn deal to merge with its European arch rival Thomas Cook.

The dispute between Madonna's record label, Maverick, and its parent company Warner Music has been exacerbated by new documents which reveal Maverick has been haemorrhaging money since 1999.

Madonna's record label launched a $200m (£110m) breach of contract lawsuit against Warner Music yesterday marking an end to the 12-year-old joint venture between the two firms.

NEW RADICALS

Market Leaders Pick Their Market Leader

Not long ago, 'sensitive' female singers were only to be heard in angsty students' bedsits. So how come they're suddenly cool?

Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller opened recently in London. It's hardly a musical in the conventional sense - no book, no plot - just a bunch of songs, tightly drilled and blasted right up into the cheap seats. But what a bunch. "Hound Dog", "On Broadway", "Love Potion Number Nine", "Spanish Harlem", "Stand by Me"... What must it be like to be the creators of this giant catalogue of seminal pop hits?

Jacqui Dankworth, Cleo Laine's daughter, is becoming famous in her own right. Her new album is entitled Field of Blue

The media deal of the decade - the proposed marriage between Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) to create the world's largest media company - is the object of renewed speculation on Wall Street that it is about to fall apart.

Music biz folk will have good cause to party at this year's Brits awards, writes Jim White. Britpop is alive and well and making them a mint

Is gansta rap all a white conspiracy? Daniel Jeffreys reports on the US's black liberal backlash, while in the UK Lloyd Bradley wonders why only white kids need protecting

JOHN SHEPHERD