Moby has announced he has signed a US deal with EMI's Mute. Although he has a long standing relationship with Mute outside North America, the former techno-head was until recently signed to V2 in the US. However, with that previously reported decision of V2 owners Sheridan Square to stop releasing new pop and rock music, he needed to look elsewhere for a recording deal moving forward, and picked Mute US because, he tells Billboard: "A: I live a few blocks from Mute US headquarters, B: the people at Mute US are my friends, and C: the people at Mute US are smart and love music", which all sounds fair enough to me. V2 will continue to manage the four Moby titles they released in the US.
The other high profile band to be affected by V2 US's change of direction, of course, were The White Stripes who, while signed to XL in the UK, were signed to V2 in North America. As previously reported, they found a new US home with Warner Bros.