• Album sales climbed 11% last week, buoyed by the inclusion of first week sales of The Eagles' Long Road Out Of Eden of 710,000 units.. Sales were 13% lower year-over-year. For the year, album sales are down 14%. Digital track sales rose 4% last week and were 49% higher than the same week last year. For the year, sales of digital tracks are up 46%.

• The Eagles' Long Road Out Of Eden was included in Billboard's Top 200 album chart after the magazine changed its policy which now considers an album that is sold exclusively by one retailer. That policy change came after Wal-Mart, the exclusive distributor of the album, agreed to release its sale numbers. Good move. There are going to be more album exclusives in the future. They should get the same billing as other albums. Too bad this policy wasn't in effect when Garth Brooks' Wal-Mart exclusives were released. (AP)

• Even though Wal-Mart gave Long Road Out Of Eden a good online push, digital downloads accounted for about 0.5% of total sales. The rest came from sales at physical Wal-Mart stores.

• Universal Music Classics & Jazz is selling unprotected MP3 downloads at its official site, www.classicsandjazz.co.uk. (Billboard.biz)

• Sony Erikson is planning an Internet music portal and has all four majors on board. The updated PlayNow service is set to launch in the Spring. According to the WSJ article, some (I assume not all, though it is unclear) tracks will be available in MP3 format. (Wall Street Journal)

• Red Bull, the energy drink company, is "pushing a serious music initiative" and has hired executives and built a studio at the company's Santa Monica headquarters. (Digital Music News)