Topic: Music Sales

$3.7B in Digital Sales? That's Entertainment!

Shawn Baldwin from CMG discusses how private equity is investing in the media and entertainment industry.READ»

Indie Bands Reach New Sales Heights Through iTunes

Fans of indie rock bands like the Shins and Arcade Fire are doing something peculiar: they're buying downloadable albums online. Amidst a dismal first quarter in which album sales in all configurations are down nearly 17%, the ...READ»

Warner, 7digital Spread the Music

In a sign that the major labels are finally beginning to embrace digital music worldwide, U.K.-based digital music provider 7digital announced a pan-European licensing agreement with Warner Music to sell their MP3s, nearly completing ...READ»

I Download Illegally -- and Harmlessly

Good news for music downloaders: A recent study shows that Internet music piracy not only does NOT hurt legitimate CD sales, it may even boost sales of some types of music. That's good news for file swappers of all stripes. In a ...READ»

Why the Music Industry Needs A Makeover

A recent article in Crain's New York Business (subscription required), titled "Music Labels' New Leaders," explores the music industry's shift to hiring the hippest hitmakers to man the helm of many top -level positions in the ...READ»

Did the Web Help Kanye Outsell 50 Cent?

No one really believed that 50 Cent would stop recording if Kanye West outsold him, did they? Some wanted it to be true though, as was witnessed when this latest hip-hop rivalry played out heavily on blogs, as well as community and social networking sites.READ»

Coffee with Peter Fader

Early this afternoon, Peter Fader, a marketing professor at Wharton, stopped by Fast Company's offices to visit. We sat down for coffee and conversation, exploring Fader's work in predictive and explanatory models for electronic ...READ»

Eminem's Lawsuit Against Apple Headed to Federal Court?

Eminem's lawsuit against Apple may go to trial in a Michigan Federal court if the two parties don't come to an agreement by tonight.READ»

Survey Shows MP3 Pirates Also Buy the Most MP3s, So Why All the Fuss?

A survey conducted in Norway found that music consumers who regularly download illegally pirated music tracks are also the largest purchasers of legitimate digital music files, by a factor of 10 over non-pirates. So, you have to ...READ»

Coldplay Sells a Million Digital Albums, Confirms Downloads Are King

Coldplay is the king of downloads. According to Neilsen, the band has become the first to sell over one million digital albums in the U.S., and over two million worldwide. It may be surprising that this hasn't happened before, but it ...READ»

SpiralFrog: Is it Over Before it Begins?

SpiralFrog, set to launch in Q1 2007, was supposed to be a new model of digital music distribution. The plan is an advertiser supported model, where users get to download music for free -- as long as they watch advertising. It ...READ»

Digital Music Sales top $2B in 2006

Today the IFPI released 2006 figures for the global music industry, demonstrating the continued growth of downloadable songs, ringtones, and other digital music services. Here are a few numbers from the report: Worldwide Digital ...READ»

Viva la Freedom of Music

If the music industry can't figure out how to make a profit, they might as well just give their music away for free. The major labels have done little to innovate the industry. One innovation, however, that just might work (and one ...READ»

Is the Music Industry Blackmailing Microsoft?

Microsoft plans to pay Universal Music a percentage of its revenue from sales of its new portable media player, the Zune, the New York Times reported yesterday. Microsoft is trying to position the Zune as an iPod killer and plans to ...READ»

Rocking the Jolly Roger

Oh, whatever will the music business do for pirates now that it has enticed Sean Fanning to walk its plank? Maybe it will come to understand piracy as a driver of sales and marketing strategy, instead of as a reason to hire lawyers ...READ»

Can Sony's Lia Vollack Save the Music Industry?

Lia Vollack, Sony's soundtrack guru, is the shrewdest music executive in Hollywood. In the past five years, in the face of a little glitch called the Failure of the Music Industry -- the 40% drop in CD sales since 2000 -- Vollack's power has grown immensely. Why? Because soundtracks -- often purchased as a keepsake of a movie -- reliably sell CDs. Can the record labels keep her happy long enough to hold onto their last cash cow?READ»

• Music Goes Green
• Six Soundtracks that Topped the Charts
• Music's Invisible Money Machine

Can Apple Disrupt the Mobile Phone Industry?

It's official: Apple has announced the iPhone handset, featuring a gorgeous design and a sparkling, innovative user interface. Will Apple function as a mere handset vendor, or a disruptor/transformer of the mobile phone ...READ»

Fixing the Music Model: Virgin Media, Universal to Launch Subscription Service in U.K.

In another ambitious scheme to repair the music industry and discourage illegal downloading, Virgin Media inked a deal with Universal Music to offer an unlimited-download subscription service to customers in the U.K. by year's end. ...READ»

Grasping at Straw Dogs

The music industry blames poor CD sales on file sharing online. Now the film industry is blaming poor ticket sales on text messaging. It seems that teenagers send their friends telephone messages giving their verdict of a movie while ...READ»

$4.99 Music? Yahoo!

Yahoo is getting into the music business. They are offering access to over a million songs for a subscription fee, not unlike Napster or Rhapsody. They seem to have the competitive pricing to succeed. Their low prices will ...READ»

Coin-Op Karaoke?

The days of video game soundtracks in which the background music consisted of anonymous bleeps and blorks are over. Not only are composers scoring video game-specific pieces -- think Lucas Arts' Grim Fandango -- but pop stars such as ...READ»