• Rapper Young Jeezy debuted atop the Billboard album chart with sales of The Recession of 260,000 units. Sales for the week were down 5.6% versus the prior week and down 8.2% versus the same week last week. (Billboard.biz)

• After a number of retailers broke street date, Vertigo, Metallica's UK label, has moved up the release date of the band's new album. (Music Week)

• The French recorded music market dropped 12.2% in wholesale value and 17.1% in retail value in the first half of 2008. The whole drop was 17% in the first half of 2007. Digital sales were up 56.9% in wholesale value. (Billboard.biz)

• Germany-based digital media company Finetunes is suing CBS-owned last.fm and claims the music service is using unlicensed songs. Update: According to last.fm, the company has been contacted by Finetunes' lawyers and is cooperating but is not being sued. (PSFK)

• A list of the 2008 CMA nominations. (Variety)

• Passionato launched a new classical download store today. The site sells 320kbps MP3 files and has a catalog of 18,000 tracks. (This Is London)

• San Francisco's Warfield Theater reopens this weekend with AEG-owned, Southern California-based Goldenvoice as the promoter. "It was Anschutz's purchase of the San Francisco Examiner in 2004 that enabled Goldenvoice to get a toehold in the market. The Examiner deal included the Warfield property, so when the lease came up, Live Nation was out and Goldenvoice was in." (Mercury News)

• Although his band has come to grips with the Internet's uncontrollable nature, Metallica's James Hetfield said people who download a pirated album and are not even fans have a "personality defect." (USA Today)