Danger Mouse's Latest Album a Blank CD

40B tracks shared illegally, group claims

(NEWSER) - Nearly all—95%—of music downloads globally are illegal, at least according to the industry, Techdirt reports. The numbers come from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and indicate that even a 25% increase in online music purchases last year couldn’t overcome the effects of piracy. According to the IFPI, revenues around the world are down 7%. More»

Free All Music is innovative, but still might not work

(NEWSER) - A new site thinks it has the answer the music industry’s woes: Free All Music will allow users to download a high-quality mp3 with no copy restrictions in exchange for watching a 15-second video ad of their choosing. The site then takes a user’s handle and uses it to produce another ad, for third-party sites, that announces what the user downloaded and who sponsored it. Users may download 15 mp3s a month—and perhaps more if Free All Music eventually sells more sponsorships. More»

'The Fixer' is their best song in years, however you come by it

(NEWSER) - Pearl Jam has been proudly iconoclastic for years—releasing records on vinyl, eschewing music videos, “bootlegging” concerts, and fighting Ticketmaster—but they’re getting old. So it surprises Jonah Weiner that The Fixer, the single from the band’s new album Backspacer, is “by far the most exciting track the band has released in years,” he writes for Slate. And the rub: It's sold exclusively at Target, with ringtones available from Verizon. More»

Inventor, guitarist 'changed the course of 20th-century popular music'

(NEWSER) - Musical innovator and guitar legend Les Paul died today in White Plains, NY. He was 94. A “virtuoso guitarist” himself, in the early 1940s Paul pioneered the “log” guitar, “probably the first solid-body electric guitar," writes Jon Pareles of the New York Times. His popular Gibson Les Paul guitar and his recording inventions helped him “change the course of 20th-century popular music.” More»

Streaming music gets a foothold among listeners

(NEWSER) - The wide world of online music now offers a range of ways to stream your tunes, from pay sites to musical social-networking services. It’s hard to tell which will stick around, but experts say they may help save the music industry, CNN reports. A sampling:

• Napster: It’s back and it’s legal, and for $5 a month, you can stream 7 million songs and download five.