Yahoo has hired Jeff Bronikowski, who until a year ago was SVP of global digital initiatives at Universal Music Group, as the new head of Yahoo Music, according to Billboard; he is replacing Michael Spiegelman, who, according to his LinkedIn profile, is now the senior director of global entertainment and lifestyles products at Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO). Since leaving Universal Music Group, Bronikowski has worked as an SVP at Classic Media, the firm behind brands like Casper the Friendly Ghost and Where’s Waldo.

If only the rest of Electronic Arts’ businesses could be doing so well ... During the company’s earnings call Monday, executives said that the company’s digital business was “growing very rapidly and (is) profitable” (Executives had said during a call last quarter that digital was in fact now the most profitable part of EA’s business).

The digital business is now expected to reach at least $750 million in sales next year, up from about $575 million this year. By contrast, executives said that they are not counting on much—if any—growth in the company’s traditional “packaged goods” business, which should account for about $3 billion in sales.

»  AOL (NYSE: AOL) is mulling over serious bids for its ICQ instant messaging service. [AllThingsD]

»  With $3 billion to burn, Liberty Global considers European acquisitions. [DealBook]

»  Analysts say display advertising should catapult Google’s sales to $1 billion this year. [BusinessWeek]

»  Google (NSDQ: GOOG) warns copycat Chinese site Goojje to stop using copycat logo. [AFP]

»  What kind of stock should you give your angel investor? [VentureBeat]

»  The iPad hasn’t even shipped yet and the predictions already have Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) cutting prices if sales are slow. [MarketBeat]

With sales of traditional video games down, Electronic Arts (NSDQ: ERTS) continues to look (so far unsuccessfully) for its digital business to make up the gap. The video game giant said that its digital revenue reached an all-time high of $152 million during its third fiscal quarter, up 30 percent compared to the same period a year ago; mobile revenue was up 14 percent year-over-year to $57 million.

		EPS*	Rev. vs Q0308	Net Inc. vs Q0308
Electronic Arts	Release		25%	87%

* vs. Analysts' Estimates: Beat Met Missed

Electronic Arts (NSDQ: ERTS)—which continues to try to move its business “beyond the console”—is bringing Madden NFL to Facebook. It isn’t exactly clear what EA has in mind for the Facebook version of its blockbuster video game; EA Sports President Peter Moore tells Bloomberg vaguely that it will be a “simpler experience” and that the company wants to make the game “more accessible.” A big economic shift is likely involved, since Madden NFL would presumably be ad- and virtual goods-supported on the social network.

Google (NSDQ: GOOG), which shook up the e-mail industry when it integrated chat with e-mail, is now trying to catch up to its rivals by letting Gmail users share status updates. The WSJ reports that Google will soon add a “new module that will allow Gmail users to view a stream of status updates from people they choose to connect with.” If it catches on, that could potentially add a new force to the Twitter-dominated microblogging world, considering that Gmail had 132 million unique users worldwide as of last March (the last figures I could quickly get my hands on).

Even with all the focus on local online ads by newspapers and directories sites, large parts of the space remain untapped. One of those spots is quick serve restaurants, otherwise known as fast food. In his role as a moderator on a Borrell Associates’ Local Online Ad Conference panel on portals and partnering, Lem Lloyd, VP of Yahoo’s channel sales said that Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) will look to that segment to grow its revenues. The 800-plus members of the Yahoo Newspaper Consortium will be key to tapping the $3 billion in total marketing dollars spent in the QSR category, he said. “Only $47 million was spent online by quick serve restaurants last year,” Lloyd noted. The main reason QSR web ad spend remains insignificant is due to the regional marketing decision-making at the major companies.

Update: After the panel, Lloyd told me that in addition to QSRs, Yahoo will aggressively pursue local online ad dollars from health and pharma marketers, as well as continuing education.

Motorola (NYSE: MOT) Ventures is leading a round of funding in social music startup TuneWiki; HillsVen Capital, Novel TMT, Benchmark Capital and Intellect Capital Ventures (the venture fund of Nordic phone company TeliaSonera) also participated in the funding. TuneWiki, which started out as a desktop app and site nearly two years ago, has since also launched several mobile apps for Android, the iPhone, BlackBerry and Symbian, which have gained significant traction.

Magazines’ newsstand sales were a mix of good and bad during the latter half of ‘09, as Audit Bureau of Circulations’ Fas-Fax (sub. req.) for magazines report. In its survey of 472 mags, publishers said that newsstand sales dropped 11 percent in h209, flat compared to the 11.1 percent during the same period the year before. Although things may not have worsened at the newsstand, paid circ slipped 1.12 percent. During the second half of ‘08, paid circ grew a slight .53 percent. The ABC’s Fas-Fax report does not break out online subscriptions, although it does include those amounts as part of the full results. Together, total paid and verified circ was down 2.23 percent.

Buzzmachine’s Jeff Jarvis opened Borrell Associates’ Local Online Advertising Conference with an extensive report about the revenue possibilities presented to hyperlocal sites. Amid an flurry of stats that aimed to show that hyperlocal sites can attract thousands of dollars in revenue with just a s small support staff, his primary point was that sites in general need to do more than just sell ads and post news items. The need to sell services, including optimizing advertisers’ web presence across search and directories sites, as well as on social media and the mobile web. In terms of content, Jarvis rejects the notion that there’s too much content on the web, which many observers has said dilutes the value of major publishers’ ad sales. He pointed the value of establishing networks that filter the huge waves of content as the best way for media companies to recapture revenue. (Jarvis has posted an outline of his presentation, here.)

Canadian online news daily The Mark News has closed a round of funding, led by Innovation Grade Capital, Thunder Road Capital, and Arlene Dickinson, CEO of Venture Communications and co-host of CBC’s The Dragon’s Den. The amount was not disclosed. The Mark bills itself as a “smarter, Canadian version of the Huffington Post,” which I’m sure HuffPo is thrilled by. It has news and commentary from about 600 contributors, focusing in politics, business, science, technology, sports and arts. The money will be used to add “hundreds of new contributors, expand our multimedia offering, launch a French version, and sign revenue and content distribution partnerships.” More details in release.