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According to The Hollywood Reporter, Michael Jackson has become a major investor and partner in the new Web site HollywoodTicket.com. The site, which is set to launch later this summer, will serve as a promo vehicle for celebrities. "It's exactly the type of site that Jackson has longed to get involved with," said one source close to the King of Pop. "He prefers to get them while they're young and impressionable."… Despite the whiplash-inducing Nasdaq ride of the last few months, dollars continue to fall down on Internet concerns like rain. Just last week, we reported that WWW.com had secured over $22 million in venture financing from British TV broadcaster Carlton Communications (Hitsdailydouble.com, 5/25). Today, the WWW.com pot has fattened to over $40 million, with additional funds from Synapse Capital, Gold & Appel Limited and Transamerica Business Credit Corp. Also landing some major coin was Powerful Media, parent company to Inside.com, which raised $23 million from KPE, Lehman Brothers, Flatiron Partners, Jupiter Communications and Goldman, Sachs. Since there's really nothing sexy about this story, here's a link to something sexy… Rap impresario Russell Simmons' 360hip-hop.com, in conjunction with "Rock The Vote" and the Active Elements Foundation, will serve as the host for "Rap The Vote," a movement aimed at giving a political voice to urban American youth. "The Recording Industry Association of America was proud to play a part in the founding and successes of previous ‘Rock The Vote' efforts," said RIAA President and CEO hilary rosen',390,400);">hilary rosen',390,400);">Hilary Rosen, who is also a Rock The Vote board member. "Young people look up to and identify with recording artists and I'm proud to be associated with the message they are sending." Some of the stars appearing in PSAs for Rap The Vote 2000 include LL Cool J, Mary J. Blige and Sean "Puffy" Combs. The Rock/Rap The Vote 25-city bus tour begins June 30 in New York City with a brief stopover to post bail for Bad Boy rapper Black Rob… Circuit City has reached a retail agreement with XM Satellite Radio. According to the agreement, Circuit City will carry XM's products—direct satellite-to-consumer radio—in its approximately 600 stores. XM already made a similar pact with Best Buy (Hitsdailydouble.com, 5/22). The company is now ever closer to beaming its radio frequencies directly into the heads of consumers, just like that guy with the foil hat on the corner claims already… Habitual downloader EMusic.com has partnered with Portland, OR-based indie music distributor NAIL Distribution. The deal also gives EMusic.com an equity investment in NAIL. "As the labels we distribute seek out a broader audience for their material," said Mike Jones, CEO of NAIL Distribution, "we now have a partner that firmly understands the nuances of selling downloadable music. And, more importantly, one that isn't being currently sued by the RIAA."… European-based independent music company edel music has chosen Liquid Audio as its preferred provider of digital distribution. Through the agreement, edel plans to make its music library available to millions of fans on the Internet through the more than 800 music and retail Web sites in the Liquid Music Network. As opposed to that portion of its library that is currently available to users of Scour, iMesh, Gnutella or Napster.