May 8 - 2:05pm EDT   Seeqpod has been providing clues that suggest it may have been acquired by Microsoft. After entering bankruptcy and suffering repeated site shutdowns, the music-playing search site has come back with a notice that it's undergoing a "metamorphosis" and links to Microsoft's Live Search site instead. Seeqpod chief Kasian Franks has previously acknowledged that his company was in later-stage talks with a major media firm and, when combined with the new front end change, may have acknowledged a completed deal. [full story]

April 21 - 2:30pm EDT   Despite a common perception that pirating music decreases sales, a new study published by Norway's Aftenposten this week suggests an opposite effect. Conducted by the BI Norwegian School of Management, the research finds that those between who frequently download music through file sharing services are 10 times more likely to buy music than those that cling only to legal purchases. It also notes that those between the ages of 15 and 20 are more likely to buy songs through download stores like iTunes than CDs. [full story]

April 7 - 11:45am EDT   The Beatles on Tuesday confirmed plans to launch remastered CD versions of their catalog in time with their first digital-only video game release through the Rock Band series. The reworkings are claimed to be the best quality since the originals and each include a QuickTime video documentary about the making of their given albums. A separate collection will include the original mono mixes where they existed. [full story]

March 30 - 11:35am EDT   report maintains that compared to Baidu, Google has not offered high quality legal music downloads, which hurt its popularity. Google will share its advertising revenue with the music labels to make downloads legal and keep artists happy. The brand-new service so far offers 350,000 tracks from Chinese and foreign artists, although this is expected to jump to 1.1 million songs over the next few months. [full story]

January 2 - 1:25pm EST   By Jeff Valvano Media tracking agency Nielsen SoundScan this week noted that physical album sales in the US have dropped a significant 20 percent between 2007 and 2008 to just 360.6 million copies. The drop marks the seventh decline in eight years and is credited partly to both a shift towards online-only music sales as well as illegal file trading. Nielsen warns in particular that the steepest drop came in the fall, when music labels normally depend on an increase due to holiday gifts. [full story]

December 29 - 3:05pm EST   A new video-sharing website may be in the works, as the four major music labels -- Universal, Warner, EMI and Sony BMG -- are in preliminary talks for creating their own web portal, according to a weekend Financial Times report. Early last week, news came of the four labels planning to band together to create a site devoted to music videos and related content. More recently word has leaked of the three options the labels are considering, due to unhappiness with the ad revenue derived from the Google-owned YouTube. Under consideration is a premium service on YouTube, a totally new site, or a partnership with Hulu, the film and TV site jointly owned by News Corp. and ... [full story]

December 22 - 2:45pm EST   The four major music labels are in the midst of negotiations that could result in a new, company-indendent service for music videos, an alleged source tipping Alley Insider says. EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner are said considering a joint venture that would put all their music videos in a central location. The effort would let them tighten their control over ads and potentially generate more revenue than YouTube as well as separate its content from amateur videos that happen to share similar music. [full story]

November 26 - 3:45pm EST   Warner Music sub-label Atlantic Records today said it became the first major music company whose digital sales outpaced its conventional CDs. The group's sales of full songs, ringtones, and other content online now accounts for 51 percent of Atlantic's revenue. The label, which represents artists like Kid Rock and T.I., credits the change to spreading out where and how users can get music rather than depending heavily on a single source. [full story]

November 19 - 3:40pm EST   Apple is discussing deals with the three major music labels yet to sign on to iTunes Plus to remove the locks on their music as well, alleged sources tell CNET. Two reported contacts describe "preliminary" negotiations that would expand Apple's deal for music without copy protection beyond EMI and independents to include Sony, Warner and Universal. The talks are said to have been spread over the past several months for at least two labels and aren't certain to result in a favorable income. [full story]

October 21 - 3:20pm EDT   Lala today introduced a music service it claims will escape some of the limitations of conventional music stores. The self-titled service functions as a regular online service with unprotected MP3 songs downloadable at a minimum 89 cents per track but also grants customers immediate access to their collections over the web by scanning users' existing music collections in iTunes or other apps, including FairPlay-protected iTunes Store purchases. [full story]

October 8 - 2:05pm EDT   EMI is planning to launch an online music store of its own rather than just depend on outside stores, a claim from the Financial Times says [registration required]. The record label began developing the store earlier this year and will let users buy music and videos directly from EMI's site. Formats, pricing and a launch date are still unknown, though at least a small amount of content will be free. EMI was also one of the first major labels to accept unprotected formats. [full story]

October 2 - 4:30pm EDT   MP3Tunes announced on Thursday that the Recording Industry Association of America’s copyright infringement lawsuit against its CEO, Michael Robertson, was dismissed by New York District Judge William H. Pauley III. The lawsuit against MP3Tunes will proceed as planned, however. The lawsuit, headed up by EMI Music and 14 other music RIAA-supporting labels alleges that MP3Tunes infringed on copyrights as it offers an online music storage service, allowing users to upload their music collections and access them from virtually anywhere. [full story]

October 2 - 2:10pm EDT   As a companion to news of the 5800 XpressMusic touchscreen phone, Nokia today also kicked off the formal launch details of its Comes With Music service. The company now plans to ship the inaugural, modified 5310 XpressMusic on October 16th and will sell it exclusively through Carphone Warehouse for 130 pounds ($230). As promised, the handset will come with one year of unlimited access to music and will let owners keep any downloaded tracks if they choose not to renew the subscription. Pricing for a renewal still isn't available. [full story]

September 22 - 7:45am EDT   The major music labels and SanDisk today tried to revive physical music with slotMusic. The concept is aimed at music phone users who want quick access to music as though it were a CD, but also to users who prefer to have a physical backup of digital music: each 1GB microSD card comes with an album's worth of music in 320Kbps MP3 files, enabling the music to be played right away or transferred to any computer through a bundled USB adapter. The extra space allows special features such as videos and can be used as storage space of its own. [full story]

September 9 - 12:30pm EDT   Sony Ericsson may follow in the steps of Nokia's Comes With Music and run its own unlimited music service, the Financial Times claims. Without referring to sources, the newspaper asserts that Sony Ericsson is negotiating with multiple major labels to offer music downloads for its own phones. It's unknown whether the cellphone designer would follow a similar pattern of tying a subscription to the price of certain phones or if it would be strictly optional for phone owners. [full story]