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(Jay-Z in shades, with Lyor Cohen, Julie Greenwald, Kevin Liles, Michael Kyser, all from Atlantic Records. Also Estelle, T.I. and two people I don’t recognize in the back, left.)

The Daily News says:

“A well-placed industry source tells us that Jay… has been taking top-secret meetings with his old pals and former manager, Lyor Cohen and Kevin Liles. Topics of the hush-hush conversations have included giving Jay his own record label at WMG, tentatively to be called the Carter Music Group...

Jay knows Lyor and Kevin from back when they all worked together at Def Jam, and he obviously wants to work something out with his friends,” says our insider. “He wants to get the dream team back together….”

Meanwhile, Billboard Magazine reports (thanks, Mariel!):

“Jay-Z is close to signing a deal that will bring his future recordings
to Sony, Billboard sources confirm.  The deal — which will link Jay-Z’sRoc Nation releases with Sony’s Epic Records for distribution —  “is 95% complete” according to people familiar with the ongoing negotiations…

Speculation has intensified in the past week that a Sony deal is in the works. Sony CEO Howard Stringer and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation partner Jay Brown have been spotted meeting in Los Angeles and New York; Epic Records president Amanda Ghost is managed by Roc Nation and Brown; and Jay-Z’s wife, Beyonce, is a Sony artist on the Columbia Records label.”

However, none of this will really have any effect on you, the listener. Blueprint 3 will still be available for public consumption, the songs will still play on the radio, and the artists under the Roc Nation umbrella, like Wale and Sauce Money, will still have the same opportunities.