June 24 - 3:00pm EDT   RIAA member Universal Music Group this past weekend was forced to settle a music file sharing lawsuit it had filed against New Hampshire resident Mavis Roy. The label dropped its case after evidence provided by anti-piracy snooping firm MediaSentry was successfully challenged by the defense's expert witness Dr. Sergey Bratus. Among other key problems with the data, the defense pointed out that Roy didn't own a computer at all at the time of the supposed infringement and that it wasn't until a letter appeared that she was aware of any possible action. [full story]

June 18 - 10:20am EDT   A rumor early on Thursday suggests that Nokia could remove copy protection from all its music services within the next year. Claimed sources for ME say the smartphone maker will switch its pay-per-download store from locking songs with Windows Media protection to unguarded MP3s by late this year. Tellingly, Comes With Music would also reportedly make the switch and would do so sometime in 2010, giving users a year of unlimited downloads they could move to any device, including iPhones and iPods. [full story]

June 15 - 3:40pm EDT   In an industry-first, Britain's cable TV, wireless and Internet provider Virgin Media will soon unveil an unlimited MP3 music download subscription service together with Universal Music, says a Monday report. Sources indicate the monthly fees for the service would range from the equivalent of about $16 to $25 and would allow subscribers to stream music like Internet radio or download tracks and albums from any Universal artist. The downloads would come in a DRM-free MP3 format, allowing users to burn discs or transfer them to most any portable music player. [full story]

June 9 - 9:30pm EDT   Universal Music has contracted Tapulous to develop iPhone apps based on the label's most popular groups or artists, according to mocoNews. The game developer, known for such titles as Tap Tap Revenge, has already produced a number of apps featuring bands such as Dave Matthews, Coldplay, Nine Inch Nails, Weezer, Rise Against and Lady Gaga. Tapulous CEO Bart Decrem claims the Universal negotiations involve roughly a half dozen new apps, including titles for Eminem and Black Eyed Peas. [full story]

April 29 - 2:20pm EDT   Nokia today defended the poor reception to its Comes With Music service in the UK by claiming that the launch failed primarily due to a weak device lineup. Music VP Rob Taylor argues that Nokia is "happy" with its performance in the country but has promptly said that the two phones available with the unlimited music service, the 5310 XpressMusic and N95 8GB, were too old and not enough to draw subscribers. Of the two, the N95 8GB is the most advanced but was roughly a year old at the time of the Comes With Music launch. [full story]

April 22 - 1:15pm EDT   Nokia's Comes With Music unlimited download service has performed well short of expectations, analysis by UK research group Music Ally says. The firm estimates that only 23,000 people have bought the special phones equipped with 1 year of music service and says the number is exceptionally low given the amount of advertising. The UK was the first country to adopt the service and is considered a potential sign of Comes With Music's performance elsewhere. [full story]

April 9 - 4:25pm EDT   Google and Universal Music have announced on Thursday that they will cooperate on the release of Vevo, a new music and video entertainment service that will launch later this year. According to a Thursday CNET interview, the YouTube owner and the largest recording company will share all ad revenue, with YouTube handling the technical operation of the website while Universal provides the content. [full story]

April 7 - 11:20pm EDT   Amazon MP3 and Walmart weren't immune to pressure for variable song pricing and today started quietly charging higher prices for popular songs. In particular, about 10 of the top 100 songs on Amazon now meet the same $1.29 prices as similar tracks on iTunes, including recent Beyonce, Britney Spears and The Fray songs. Walmart's store, in turn, is now charging $1.24 per song for some titles and has a section dedicated to tracks at the higher price, most of which have been long-term hits rather than just recent releases. [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]

March 9 - 9:55am EDT   Universal Music has defeated the production company behind rapper Eminem in a case centered around iTunes royalties, Bloomberg writes. FBT Productions has argued that Eminem is entitled to half of the royalties collected by Universal from sales of his tracks at the iTunes Store; Apple receives a small commission beforehand. At the heart of the dispute has been whether Eminem's arrangement constitutes a licensing agreement, or simply another distribution deal. Universal has argued for the latter, rejecting suggestions that the special restrictions on iTunes downloads create a licensing agreement by default. [full story]

March 5 - 12:50am EST   YouTube and the Universal Music Group are allegedly involved in discussions of a licensing agreement regarding the creation a new site for music videos and other related content. Unnamed sources told the New York Times that Google's online video service is aiming to build premium content areas to lure higher-priced advertisements, although the negotiations are ongoing and the terms have yet to be set. [full story]

March 4 - 4:40pm EST   A new device and matching service from a startup could offer serious competition in online video to larger rivals like Apple and Netflix. ZillionTV's self-titled service will give users a core networking device, known as the Z-bar, that would have no local video storage of its own and would instead stream movies and TV shows online. Rather than following the similarly network-based Roku's model of tying in existing services, however, ZillionTV will offer its own service and let users either buy or rent per title as well as download free, ad-subsidized versions. Viewers will also choose their preferences for ads to provide more relevant content. [full story]

February 26 - 3:45pm EST   A lawsuit filed by rapper Eminem's production company, FBT Productions, has achieved the unusual status of reaching trial, writes The Wrap. The company is targeting Universal Music Group, which it accuses of improperly sharing revenues earned from the sale of tracks through online services, specifically iTunes. The nexus of FBT's argument is in the difference between a distribution deal and a licensing agreement; while Universal considers iTunes just another sales venue, FBT suggests that because downloads are restricted by special licensing, it de facto constitutes a licensing agreement. [full story]

February 20 - 4:55pm EST   A recent ad deployed through the United Kingdom's Absolute Radio -- formerly known as Virgin Radio -- has generated some controversy, writes The Guardian. The ad promotes the new U2 single "Get On Your Boots," urging listeners to buy it through iTunes. The spot is only 10 seconds long though, and required approval from the UK's Ofcom regulatory body due to worries about issues such as subliminal advertising. [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]