"AOL Music Is Shutting Down. We All Just Got Laid Off..."

The following is a breaking and developing story. Please check back for updates throughout the weekend, including any official confirmations or announcements from AOL.
2nd update: 3:15 pm PCT, Saturday, to include more details on Spinner and AOL Radio.

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Last year, Digital Music News broke the brutal gutting and dismantling of Yahoo Music.  Turns out that wasn't an isolated incident: according to numerous tweets and emails on Friday, AOL is now shutting down AOL Music and its subsidiary properties immediately.  All personel are either getting completely laid off (with some possibly reshuffled), according to preliminary (and unconfirmed) details.
AOL's official PR pontiff has yet to confirm the carnage, but here's a tweet directly from the inside.  (Actually, it was quickly deleted, and snapped from the trash by @lorilewis).

That's Spinner, an early internet radio pioneer transformed into an aficionado, indie-aimed music site by AOL.   Now, it's just one of several properties getting shuttered for good.  At present, it remains unclear if any properties will remain, or if all music assets are getting wiped and written off.
(Updated, 3 pm Saturday: It now looks like AOL Radio, powered by Slacker, will be a surviving property.)
Those details aside, the shutdown marks the end of a once-proud 'music portal' concept, one predicated on aggregating a large number of musical assets and wrapping an ad-friendly bow around it.  Indeed, AOL acquired the once-proud Spinner alongside Nullsoft for $400 million back in 1999, a quaint relic of a dot-bomb era turned sour.
Fast-forward 14 years, and the whole music portal concept still draws some tonnage, though its relevance to music fans is wildly outdated.  Instead, fans are now comfortable surfing across a decentralized landscape, one that might include Spotify, YouTube, iTunes, Wikipedia, BitTorrent, Google, Vevo, Pandora, and a few artist websites in any given day.
And you know how big corporations lay people off, right?  The utterly dehumanizing experience typically starts with a deactivation meeting, while things like access codes, access keys and computers are simultaneously nullified and seized.  You get a few boxes, and a few hours (if that) to pack it up and leave.  Just ask Spinner head Dan Reilly, whose original - and quickly deleted tweet - went something like this...

"Well, we all just got laid off. AOL Music is finished."

Now, he's just trying to hold onto some things, even for a few days...

More details ahead. 

Credit : Digital Music News

Budget Cuts Seen Slowing Cleanup

New York City's response to the blizzard has been hampered by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's decision to reduce the Sanitation Department's workforce as part of citywide budget cuts, the head of the sanitation workers' union charged Monday.

"We are undermanned—we need another 400" workers, Harry Nespoli, president of the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association, said in a telephone interview. "This is a perfect example of why you need the manpower in New York City. We're shorthanded here."

Jason Post, a spokesman for Mr. Bloomberg, confirmed that there are 400 fewer workers at the department than two years ago, but insisted the city's snow-fighting force has not been diminished.

"The number of people assigned to snow fighting is the same," Mr. Post said. "How? Other staff normally working in administrative positions have been reassigned to field posts."

Mr. Post said workers are staffing the same number of plows and sanding trucks "as ever." Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty said he directed sanitation officers and administrative personnel to help clear the streets.

"I cut down on some of my support people to a minimum, so I'd get more plows out there," Mr. Doherty said.

The department currently has about 6,000 workers and the city has roughly 2,400 employees per 12-hour shift on the streets clearing snow.

Still, the city on Sunday announced it was seeking to hire private heavy-duty equipment to assist the sanitation department with snow removal. It is also seeking "licensed operators of dump trucks, tractor trailers, and roll-on roll-off trucks," the department said in a statement.

Mr. Nespoli praised the workforce, saying the workers are doing a yeoman's job. But he said the staff reductions have nevertheless taken a toll.

"Whenever you cut your workforce down, it's going to hurt services," Mr. Nespoli said. "Guys are retiring, and they have to replace these people. You can't allow a city like New York not to have the services that the public's used to," he said. "This is a major blizzard."

To combat multibillion dollar deficits, Mr. Bloomberg has been aggressively cutting city agency budgets to keep the books balanced. He unveiled last month his latest round of budget cuts, which called for a further reduction—via attrition—of 265 sanitation workers by June 2012.

Mr. Nespoli said he's hoping the mayor will replenish the ranks as the economy improves. "When something like this here, as devastating as what this city got hit with yesterday and today, the more manpower you have the better it is," he said.