• Terra Firm again extended its bid for EMI. It has just over a quarter of shareholders on board. (Wall Street Journal)

• The Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) released sales figures for the first half of 2007. CD sales were down 15% and the value of the sales were down only 7%. No data was released for digital download or mobile sales. (RIAJ, via Digital Music News)

• This week, Apple will start selling Spanish language iTunes gift cards. The prepaid download cards will first be sold in Best Buy and Target, then Wal-Mart and Safeway. (Brandweek)

• The U.K. Office of Fair Trading has cleared Universal Music Group's purchase of Sanctuary Group. (Billboard.biz)

• Jim DeRogatis on the demise of the print magazine Punk Planet. (Chicago Sun-Times)

• Newsweek interviewed Alexandra A. Seno, chairman of Decca Label Group, the classical division of Universal Music Group. The talk centered around how Decca has found success in the digital arena. Said Seno, "Universal Music’s classical labels have had a great deal of success using digital because it presents a new way for us to present classical music and the younger generation of artists." (Newsweek)