Wednesday Business Links
Album sales dropped 5% last week and were 16% lower than the same week last year. For the year, album sales are down 14%. It was a slow week for new releases as Talib Kweli debuted at #2 with sales of only 60,000. High School Musical dropped 40% from its debut tally but still retained #1 with 367,000 scans. Digital track sales dropped 2% last week and were 40% higher than the same week last year. For the year, sales of digital tracks are up 48%.
Nokia announced its new mobile music store, Ovi. The service, to go live later this year, will sell WMA files over the air and downloaded to PCs. Ovi will have access to existing third-party services like social networks. (paidContent)
Luaka Bop has found a new, post-V2 home at Red Eye Distribution. (Pitchfork)
eMusic has renewed agreements with some of its most popular labels: Beggars Group (4AD, XL and Rough Trade), Matador Records, Concord Music Group and ATO Records. (Playlist)
Sony BMG's "Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds: Live at Radio City," out September 4th, will be its first music Blu-ray release with support for Dolby TrueHD. (Afterdawn)
Market research company iSuppli sees a slowing in digital (both downloads and subscriptions) growth through 2008, but expects a "small resurgence" due to greater broadband penetration. (iSuppli)
Satellite news: XM is moving its Nashville studio to the Sommet Center (home of the Nashville Predators, owned by the City of Nashville and just around the corner from the current studio at the Country Music Hall of Fame), and Sirius is adding a Grateful Dead channel. (The Tennessean and Variety, respectively)
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