play music

Today's music industry is often one step forward, one or two steps back. As progress is made in new formats, products and services, revenue is lost in the abandonment of older formats and products. With unlimited mobile music services on the horizon, now is the time to ponder their impact.

• Metallica's Death Magnetic held on to the top spot on the album chart last week, but overall US album sales dropped to 6.92 million units. That's 16.5% lower than the same week in 2007 and one of the lower weeks in 2008. (Billboard.biz)

From the blog of Jupiter analyst David Card, a list of things physical media need to do in the 21st century:

The MTV Video Music Awards is something that I looked forward to, course that was back in 1989 (the 2008 VMAs are 25 yrs old btw) but I think that's the last time they were any good. I'm sure others would disagree but this is the age of the internet so leave a comment because you can.

I don’t play music or speak outside anymore.  Especially not at anything called a festival.  This is because the only reason I tour anymore is to release kids from poverty, to ask the audience to sponsor a child through Compassion International.  And, truth is, folks have a hard time paying attention to one guy with a guitar strumming and talking in the Summer heat...especially wh

Check out this article on Warner Music Group's Edgar Bronfman, Jr. written by the New York Times' Andrew Ross Sorkin. The piece tries to dismiss Bronfman's popular reputation, which Sorkin calls "undeserved." He adds that Bronfman's peer group is having a to go of it these days as well, and that "Bronfman has done a good job running Warner Music: the company is more profitable than it has been in years."

• According to BusinessWeek, Sony BMG is "finalizing plans to sell songs without the copyright protection" and "will make at least part of its collection available without so-called digital rights management, or DRM, software some time in the first quarter." (BusinessWeek.com)