• Album sales dropped 2% last week and were 15% lower than the same week last year. Bruce Springsteen's Magic debuted at #1 with sales of 335,000 (16% digital). Year-to-date album sales are 14% last year. Digital track sales dropped 1% last week and were 48% higher than the same week last year. In 2007, digital track sales are up 46%.

• Handelman's president and CEO, Robert Kirby, has resigned. (Detroit News)

• Catalyst Mobile, which has a joint venture in Japan with Warner Music Group, has landed $10 million in second-round funding. (Digital Media Wire)

• Fort Worth-based Green River Ordinance has signed a five-album deal with Capitol Music Group. A side note: quick, somebody tell the journalist who wrote the article that Radiohead is no longer with Capitol Records. (Daily Skiff)

• Hip hop, much more so than rock, continues to be about brand management. Steve Rifkind, founder of Loud Records, has launched Loud Beverage Corp. and already has energy drinks on the market. "In addition to traditional beverage marketing, we utilize radio, DJs, mix tapes, club nights and promotions with non-traditional entertainment and lifestyle accounts," said Rifkind. "This company's rich musical history has its roots in marketing, and that's the same approach we are taking with Loud Energy Drinks." Loud Beverage Corp. plans promotions with Universal Music Group at indie retailers around the country, and the drinks will be at f.y.e. stores this Christmas. (Thug Life Army)

• The 2008 Langerado Music Festival will be moved to Florida's Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation. Last year, 15,000 concertgoers attended the festival at Markham Park. Artists will be announced November 8. (Ticket News)

• Why do companies try to capture some of the iPod's market share? According to Solutions Research Group, Apple will ship 120 million iPods by the end of 2007. About 60 million consumers have at least one iPod. Given the population of the U.S. -- 300 million -- there are a lot of consumers yet to be captured. (Fortune)

• Hometown plug: A journalist from the The Independent (in Ireland) was in Nashville and caught the Next Big Nashville festival a few weeks back. It's a good look at a city that is becoming better known for things other than country music. Nashville Cream has PDF scans of the article -- pages one and two -- and a link to an arts review of Next Big Nashville in the same paper. (Nashville Cream)