Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
Daily News: Wednesday
Thieves & Villains sign to Victory: Crazed Hits supported Thieves And Villains have signed to Victory Records. We first told you about the band two weeks ago, in this post.
Details on planned MySpace Music Service: “News Corp. has tested the record industry’s interest in a site that would offer music in several different ways, including ad-supported downloads and streaming to PCs, according to a source with knowledge of the talks.” (via CNET)
Digital Music Sales Will Lead In Five Years: “Digital music sales will surpass CD sales in five years, according to a new report from Forrester Research ominously titled The End of Music As We Know It. Forrester predicts digital sales will grow by 23% a year through 2012, when they will reach $4.8 billion in annual sales. CD sales will slide to $3.8 billion in 2012, according to the report. However, digital growth won’t make up for CD declines over the next five years.” (via Billboard)
IDJ goes
UMRG has named George Marolda CFO: “Universal Motown Republic Group (UMRG) has named George Marolda CFO. Based in New York, Marolda will report to UMRG chairman Mel Lewinter. In his new role, Marolda will oversee all financial functions of the label group, including planning, forecasting, reporting and deal analysis. In addition, he’ll be responsible for human resources, information technology, marketing administration, recording administration and office services for the company.” (via Billboard)
UK download sales on the rise: “The new offshoot of the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) cites Official UK Charts Company (OCC) data showing album download sales increased 76% year on year by volume in January. Singles download sales were up 45%. ERA Digital, which hopes to provide industry-standard value estimates for digital entertainment, said January album download sales were worth an estimated £4.5m and singles sales were £6.3m. Its projections for coming months suggest the UK digital market as a whole could rise by about 50% this year. Album download sales will reach £69.4m, while single-track downloads will be worth £96.4m, it said.” (via Guardian)
Canadian ISP Tax? “The Songwriters Association of Canada proposes a $5 monthly fee on subscribers’ Internet bills that would make it legal to download music and hopefully save the failing music industry” (via TheStar)
NY Times on the TVT Fiasco: “Until recently, TVT, based in New York, had been able to weather the industry’s sales falloff with hits from artists like the rapper Lil Jon. But the company was hit last year with a $9.1 million court judgment after a federal jury in Miami decided that it had interfered with another company’s plan to release old recordings of the rapper Pitbull, who is now on TVT’s roster.” (via NY Times)
