• Album sales rose 8% last week, though the total was 17% lower than the same week last year. Jay-Z's American Gangster tops the chart with first-week sales of 424,000 (a meager 2% digital because the album was not licensed to iTunes in order to protect the album format). The Eagles' Wal-Mart exclusive, Long Road Out of Eden, is at #2 after a 49% drop in its second week. There were four other albums above the 100,000-unit mark. Year-to-date, sales are down 14%. Digital track sales also rose 8% last week. Last week's total was 44% higher than the same week last year. The year-to-date sales number is up 46%.

• First-week rubberneckers pushed Britney Spears' new album, Blackout, all the way to #2. With little support from radio, the album sank 70% in its second week.

• The CMAs Effect: Taylor Swift rose 156% last week, Sugarland's Enjoy The Ride rose 112% and Brad Paisley's 5th Gear increased 44%.

• Digital Music Group shareholders have approved the company's merger with The Orchard. The combination of the two digital distributors will enable the combined company to reduce overhead and duplicative costs and realize economies of scale. Since the deal is really a reverse-merger, shareholders of The Orchard will own about 60% of the combined company's stock. (Sacramento Business Journal)

• Highlights of yesterday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that pitted artists against broadcasters. Chairman Patrick Leahy outlined the five issues of fairness the committee will consider. My take: If the Senators are going to make a decision on a sense of fairness rather than a dollars-and-cents determination, the broadcast royalty is practically in the bag. If relatively poorer Internet broadcasters pay a performance royalty, I think their interpretation of "fair" would dictate that terrestrial broadcasters must pay as well. (Billboard.biz)

• One of the next big trends in music could be environmentally friendly CD packaging. Warner Music Group has incorporated recycled paper in its CD packaging. Now Compadre is rolling out CDs with the new Farm2Ranch CD packaging for its upcoming release by Trent Willmon. (GAC)

• Speaking of...Slate has an article on a rare intersection of black metal and hardcare environmentalism. "Wolves in the Throne Room are hard-core tree-huggers, with a Manichaean view of the environmental crisis and a pagan faith in the transformative powers of nature." (Slate)

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