Stories related to: music industry

Album sales in the US fell 15% in 2007, to just 500.5 million units. The total represents both the lowest sales figure and sharpest decline since Nielsen began keeping track of music sales estimates in 1993. Total digital sales, including both albums and singles, were up 14% with 1.4 billion units sold, but still 19% short of last year’s figures. More »

Part of the reasons CDs are still popular in the age of digital music is the extras, Reuters reports. When you buy a CD, you get extended album art, lyrics, and liner notes. With an album downloaded digitally, it's just song titles and thumbnail art. The industry hopes to change that in 2008, and Apple's iTunes is expected to lead the way. More »

Amazon’s burgeoning mp3 service landed another big fish today, adding Warner Music’s catalog to its online store. The Amazon shop aims to compete with Apple’s iTunes, selling songs for 89 cents as opposed to Apple’s 99 cents and without digital rights management software that makes sharing songs difficult and limits which players will play them. More »

Yahoo China—40% owned by the US Internet giant—can no longer allow users to download unlicensed music on its Web site. A Chinese court yesterday upheld a decision that the company violated copyright laws in effect since last year. The US has long complained about rampant music and movie piracy in China, and the decision could signal a tougher stance, reports the Wall Street Journal . More »

David Byrne and Thom Yorke don’t have much of anything nice to say about record labels, but they’re both excited about the contemporary musician’s access to audiences. The famous frontman from Talking Heads interviews the Radiohead impresario for Wired , and the latter says it was an “obvious” decision to self-release the group's latest record—and a treat to avoid the “silly games” of courting journalists. More »

After years of the iTunes model dominating digital music sales, the time for subscription music services could be near. So far, fewer than 3 million Americans have signed up for such services. But as customizable online radio stations and social networks where users sample and recommend music grow in popularity, the public may be ready for the subscription model, reports BusinessWeek. More »

The Oregon AG is playing hardball with the Recording Industry of America in a battle that could set a precedent for how the RIAA conducts its crusade against music sharing, ComputerWorld reports. Pitting alleged piracy against privacy, the AG is investigating the data mining RIAA used to subpoena the IDs of 17 U of Oregon students it suspects of piracy. More »

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are suing Showtime for stealing the title of their 1999 hit album. The cable network's "Californication" series, which stars David Duchovny, also features a character called Dani California—the title of a 2006 Chili Peppers song. The suit, for unfair competition, dilution of the value of the name, and unjust enrichment, seeks damages and an injunction against further use of the title. More »

Just how successful has Radiohead's experimental pay-if-you-want online album release been? That's in debate as the band denies a report that just 38% of fans opted to pay for In Rainbows , and most paid under $4. Radiohead said the the figures from comScore Inc. are "wholly inaccurate," reports Wired News . More »

Your band doesn't need a record label to find fame on iTunes, says the founder of the new digital music company TuneCore. All you need are your songs, and its helping hand to get a 10-track album into Apple's online store for the price of a "six-pack and a pizza."  TuneCore lets individual artists market themselves, then pocket all the sales after Apple takes its cut. More »

What Scary, Sporty, Ginger, Baby, and Posh want—what they really, really want—is for you to head to Victoria's Secret stores or website, where they will sell their upcoming greatest-hits album exclusively. The Spice Girls join a recent trend of nontraditional music releases that includes Radiohead, Prince, Madonna, and Paul McCartney, E! Online reports. The CD can be pre-ordered for 24 hours starting tomorrow. More »

Fans frustrated in their pursuit of instantly sold-out online tickets caught a break yesterday when a federal judge halted the use of scalper software on Ticketmaster. RMG Technologies' software let prospectors buy out concerts and resell tickets at inflated prices, Reuters reports. "They're cheating consumers, and we're not going to stand for it anymore," said a Ticketmaster lawyer. More »

Boy band "svengali" Lou Pearlman is accused of scamming more than $300 million, but some ex-singers and moms say there's more: The 'NSync and Backstreet Boys mogul pressured his underage wannabe stars for sex. One ex-assistant has gone on record with Vanity Fair , saying, "There was one guy in every band—one sacrifice—who takes it for Lou." More »

Oasis, Jamiroquai and other bands not tied to record labels may soon follow in Radiohead's footsteps by offering their music for free download, reports the Daily Telegraph . While fans may pay whatever they choose for Radiohead's new album, released today, a spokesperson says the majority of visitors preordering on the band's web site are bypassing the freebie in favor of the £40 box set. More »

“No, really, it’s up to you,” Radiohead’s website tells consumers pricing out a digital copy of the band’s next album, set to debut Oct. 10. The band is testing the theory that consumers will pay a fair price for the 10-song set if given the choice, bucking Apple’s industry-setting rates. Disdain for singles has long kept Radiohead off iTunes. More »

A music industry headed for financial crash-and-burn has radically downsized its once-extravagant videos, the AP reports. Viewers of today’s MTV Video Awards will see more single-camera videos and quirky YouTube-inspired concepts that save cash—all suited for play on small screens. "A comet hit the earth and the dinosaurs are dying," says video director Samuel Bayer. "There's a new age coming.” More »

Kanye West and 50 Cent are set for a showdown Tuesday when both of their new albums hit the market. In addition to facing off on the charts, the rap stars will meet on BET-TV's "106 & Park." The two have been trading trash-talk for weeks, with 50 even threatening to retire if Kanye outsells him in the first week. More »

Country music album sales are down nearly 30% so far this year. That might seem slightly less dramatic against the whole industry's 15% slide, but country’s been the biz’s final remaining hold-out—holding nearly even in 2005 and 2006 amid the digital revolution. So the newest dive may signal the last beachhead is broken, BusinessWeek reports. More »

European ISPs cannot be forced to hand over identities of illegally-downloading subscribers in copyright infringement suits, an advocate general for the EU's top court ruled today. Such information could only be procured in criminal, rather than civil, proceedings. The court most often sides with such opinions, though they are not legally binding. More »

It's time AM and FM radio broadcasters started paying for the music they play, a group of music industry types has decided. They're lobbying Congress to amend the federal law that has exempted terrestrial radio from paying artists' royalties for nearly a century, Business Week reports.   More »