• Nielsen Soundscan announced a slew of top tens lists for 2006 (through December 10). The top album of 2006 was the High School Musical soundtrack with 3,480,000 units sold, followed by Rascal Flatts' Me and My Gang (3,060,000) and Carrie Underwood's Some Hearts (2,460,000). The top digital download of the year is Daniel Powter's "Bad Day," which sold 1,880,000 units. Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" was second with 1,525,000 and Sean Paul's "Temperature" was third with 1,460,000. (Read press release)

• French musician Johnny Hallyday lost his final legal battle against Universal Music Group over control of his catalog. France's highest court denied Hallyday ownership of his master tapes recorded between 1961 and 2004. The music industry looked to the case as possibly setting a precedent that would allow artists more rights. (Read article at Reuters)

• A group of record labels have filed suit in New York against Russian music download site AllOfMP3.com. The move comes after Mastercard and Visa have refused to accept transactions from the controversial site. Earlier this year, the IFPI filed suit against AllOfMP3.com in Britain. Among the labels filing suit are Arista Records, Capitol Records and UMG Recordings. (Read AP article)

• The Dutch government will exclude digital music players from copyright levys. Such levys are imposed to compensate artists and labels for personal copying of music. Electronics manufacturers oppose such levys, saying consumers who buy music should not have to pay again to transfer it to a device. Music industry executives tend to challenge the idea that all consumers have actually paid the first levy -- by purchasing the music -- in the first place. (Read AP article)

[music jobs] Director of Content at Dada Entertainment; New York, NY.