Chris Stephenson is a marketing executive for the Microsoft Zune.  Stephenson has decided to leave the company in order to take a position with Universal Music Group according to a source with The Wall Street Journal.

It is rumored that Stephenson will be joining as the chief marketing officer at Universal’s Interscope Geffen A&M Records.  Stephenson will be reporting to Jimmy Iovine.

Iovine is often credit for passing Eminem’s demo tape to Dr. Dre.  Iovine also co-produced the movie 8 Mile.  Before Iovine started Interscope, he was an engineer for John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen.  Iovine also produced albums for Tom Petty, Patti Smith, U2 and Dire Straits.

Stephenson said that he was looking forward to returning to the entertainment industry.  Before working at Microsoft, Stephenson was an executive at MTV.  Stephenson joined Microsoft around 2006 to help market the Zune.

The Zune has been struggling to compete against the Apple iPod.  And Stephenson’s departure comes at a time where Microsoft is close to shipping the Zune HD.  The Zune HD is expected to arrive on shelves on September 15.

Stephenson often times compared the iPod to Mount Rainier in Seattle.  The snow-covered mountain is just as difficult to climb as it is for Microsoft to compete with the iPod market share.

Eminem’s publishing company F.B.T. Productions will finally be appearing in court against Universal Music Group over digital music royalties.  The trial will feature witnesses such as Universal Music Group head Jimmy Iovine and Apple CEO Steve Jobs via video.  F.B.T. Productions is seeking additional royalties from purchases made through digital music services like iTunes.  Eminem himself isn’t expected to appear in court.

Eminem sued Universal based on how much the record company was taking away in digital royalties.  If P.B.T. wins the case, it could significantly impact how much the record labels make from online music sales.  This past summer, fellow Detroit native artist Kid Rock decided to have his music removed from iTunes because the record labels were already taking away too much money even after iTunes takes their cut.

Eminem’s record company is seeking about $1.3 million to settle the lawsuit.  The main defendant in this case is Aftermath Records, the label founded by Eminem’s friend and mentor Dr. Dre. One of Eminem’s singles from his upcoming album broke a digital download record.  Eminem’s “Crack a Bottle” featured Dr. Dre and Eminem and had about 418,000 download sales in the first week.

[via The Wrap]