Labels Flee iTunes to Push Album Sales

Sony blamed for UK price hike, now reversed

(NEWSER) - On Saturday, a Whitney Houston greatest-hits album cost about $8 in the UK iTunes store; but shortly after the singer was found dead, it had jumped to a little more than $12.50. The changed sparked a customer uproar. "It is just a case of iTunes cashing in on the singer's death, which in my opinion is totally parasitic," said one, according to DigitalSpy . But the Guardian reports that it was Sony, not iTunes, that was responsible for the change—which has now been reversed. More»

Amazon deal helps album hit milestone

(NEWSER) - Lady Gaga's new album Born This Way has zoomed to mega-hit status with sales of 1.11 million copies in its first week, making it the hottest-selling debut for an album since 50 Cent's The Massacre in 2005, according to Billboard . Only 17 albums in the last 20 years have hit a million in their first week of sales, although Gaga had a huge boost from an Amazon promotion, notes the Wall Street Journal . More»

Apple hypes it like crazy

(NEWSER) - After decades of legal battles over the “Apple” brand name, the Beatles and Steve Jobs have officially let it be and come together on iTunes. It’s not the big announcement many tech prognosticators were expecting , but Apple is hyping it to the nines, devoting its entire homepage to it. A round of TV commercials are planned as well, according to Tech Crunch . The Fab Four have even cropped up on Ping. More»

It's the biggest seller in 5 years

(NEWSER) - Nice week for Taylor Swift: Her Speak Now album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts, racking up 1,047,000 sales. (That includes iTunes and the like.) Billboard rounds up some of the milestones:

• It's the biggest single sales week for an album since 50 Cent's The Massacre sold 1,141,000 in 2005. (And the LA Times notes that Swift's feat may be more impressive given the state of the music industry.)

Equally anonymous distributors rise to the top of digital heap

(NEWSER) - You probably haven't heard of TuneCore, but the small startup has swiftly become the world’s biggest music distributor, helping bands you’ve also never heard of make a comfortable living selling music on iTunes. Unlike traditional distributors, which take a cut of music sales, TuneCore and similar digital distributors charge artists only a small upfront fee to list their music online. Apple takes its cut, and the artists keep the profits. More»