• iTunes is now the third largest music retailer in the U.S. With 9.8% of the market, the leading music download store passed Amazon.com and ranked behind Wal-Mart (15.8%) and Best Buy (13.8%). Showing that not even market research experts have moved beyond the album format, NPD counted units sold, not total value of sales. To account for iTunes' single sales, NPD counts every 12 tracks as one album on CD. (AP)

• In order to reduce its exposure to the declining recorded music business, the German division of Sony BMG has created a joint venture with Microsoft, called Comedy.de, and has a long-term, exclusive contract with a television product to sell its comedy series on DVD. (Thomson Financial)

• BurnLounge, under fire from the FTC for its business model, announced it will simplify its business model and eliminate the network marketing element -- called a pyramid scheme by some critics -- and will provide greater benefits for its users. (Press release)

• Some orchestras are using younger, hipper musicians like Ben Folds and The Decemberists to lower the average age of their audience members. (New York Times)

• Rock band The Donnas have formed their own label and have a joint venture with Sony BMG's Redeye Distribution. (Update: I corrected myself after I saw that I typed RED Distribution. After I replaced it with Redeye, the correct distributor, I accidentally left in Sony BMG. My apologies.) In what looks like a fairly weak deal for a band with its own label, The Donnas' label will get a 50/50 split and co-ownership of the masters. A deal that gives Redeye that much of the revenue and some ownership of the recordings indicates the band is not assuming a great deal of the financial risk. Still, it's as artist-friendly as deals get these days and may be a model for others. (Billboard.biz)

[music jobs] Brand and Online Marketing Manager at The Ascot Club/Am Only; Brooklyn, NY.