• Is the slowdown of digital sales growth in Japan a worry for countries like the U.S. that are years behind in technological adoption? Internet downloads were barely higher than in the preceding quarter, and mobile downloads increased by about 3% over the previous quarter (but was about 50% higher than the previous year.) (Billboard.biz)

• Tower's woes in the Bay Area contrast with the success of Amoeba Music and smaller indie retailers. Seems the two strategies for survival in music retail in the '00s are (1) sell at a loss or (2) sell used CDs. (SF Chronicle)

• For you jazz fans: A nice post on Jan Johansson, a jazz musician from Sweden who is "virtually unknown outside Scandinavia," with a few MPU streaming audio links to song clips. Somebody should really get to work on his Wikipedia page. (The Overgrown Path)

[music jobs] Wanted: A Software Engineering Manager who Loves Music;Boston, MA. more music jobs.