• Album sales sank 4% last week and were 23% lower than the same week last year. For the year, sales are down 14%. Due to Labor Day, labels planned a light new release schedule for last Tuesday. The top debut was Bone Palace Ballet by Chidos, which sold just under 39,000. Digital track sales rose 5% last week and were 43% higher than the same week last year. Digital tracks are up 47% in 2007. Soulja Boy had the top track last week. "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" sold 170,000 units.

• EMI has appointed John Brit, a former BBC director-general, to its supervisory board. Brit will help with a strategic plan and will lead a review of how EMI artists are handled. (Reuters)

• Edgar Bronfman, Jr., Warner Music Group CEO and chairman, will be interviewed at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference on September 18. WMG's website will have a live webcast and will archive the interview for 180 days. I'll post again about this after the interview. (CNNMoney)

• Microsoft has won a patent for watermark that "may" protect DRM-free music. The watermark is embedded into the track's audio signals. The embedded watermark would not stop unauthorized use but could be used to either identify illegal file-sharers or track the file for royalty purposes. The $64,000 question is if the former use would act as a deterrent. (PCWorld)

• iLike vs. MySpace: The battle for music fans. VentureBeat looks at 11 popular artists and their respective iLike fans and MySpace friends. (VentureBlog)

• Post-Vancouver Sun's free Nettwerk compilation download, News.com's Don Reisinger asks, "Can free downloads save newspapers." Short answer: no. Longer answer: Newspapers need to evolve, not entice subscribers with our generation's equivalent of the free toaster. (News.com)

• FanBridge estimates that its paper-less merch table signup software will allow bands to collectively save 300 million pieces of paper a year, or "roughly 30,000 trees" (their estimate, not mine). As eco-friendly as that may be, there could be trouble in bringing a computer keyboard in close proximity of fans and their alcoholic beverages. (Press release)

• Usually I wouldn't mention something like Britney Spear's horrid performance at the MTV Music Video Awards, but FoxNews' Roger Friedman connects the dots and his article is worth pointing out. He wrote, "There will be a lot of finger-pointing Monday as Spears’ flabby, bloated, incoherent showing is dissected over and over. But the real person to blame has to be Spears’ newish manager, Jeff Kwatinetz of The Firm. Kwatinetz has already had a very bad year, nearly killing the career of original 'American Idol' star Kelly Clarkson by letting her — or rather encouraging her — to buck the advice of Clive Davis and release a terrible album against his wishes. ... Now with Spears’ tanking live on international television, insiders will no doubt question Kwatinetz’s ability to manage anything." Kwatinetz partner, Rick Yorn, has been negotiating to leave The Firm, wrote Friedman. His exit would be disastrous to the management company. (FoxNews.com, via The Daily Swarm)