• Album sales sank 5% last week and were 11% lower than the same week last year. For the year, album sales are down 15%. Digital track sales dropped 6% last week and were 44% higher than the same week last year. For the year, digital track sales are up 48%.

• According to research by Informa Telecoms & Media, Universal Music Group was tops in both physical and digital music in 2006. The company had 25.7% of the global market, up from 25.6% in 2005. Independents amounted to 27.5% of the total market. (Reuters)

• EMI Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing have entered into a joint venture with music search engine One Llama and APM Music, which has "the world’s leading production music library." Try to get through the long-winded and wordy press release if you're feeling spry, but the bottom line here is that all parties are trying to facilitate and improve the process of finding the right music for a project. One Llamas is backed by illinoisVENTURES. (Press release)

• It's the year of the widget. ReverbNation has launched a Facebook widget called My Band that has a band's profile, picture, play statistics, songs (that can be shared) and tour schedule.

• The Independent previews James Blunt's upcoming court battle over the authorship of six tracks from his hit album. (The Independent)

• Yesterday's Soundcheck program on WNYC found guests Timothy English, author of "Sounds Like Teen Spirit," and Robert Clarida, an attorney who specializes in copyright issues, talking about the lawsuit against Avril Lavigne and other moments in music copyright history. In my opinion, Lavigne's song "Boyfriend" bears little resemblance to The Rubinoos' "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend." There's an obvious Stones riff ("Hey! You!") in the Rubinoos' song, though. Check out this YouTube video that lays "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" over the video for "Girlfriend." (Soundcheck)

• SESAC, the performance rights organization, and MySpace have reached a deal that will pay SESAC members for streams at the popular social networking site. The deal does not cover songs uploaded to an artist's MySpace page. (Press release)

• A Bear Stearns analyst predicts the FCC will approve a merger of XM and Sirius. "We believe the merger likely will be approved on merits. ... We underscore though, if political forces are more powerful than the merits of the deal, the outcome may be different. However, our sense is that the deal will be judged on merits and is therefore likely to pass." (Radio Ink)