itunes

 From the Billboard to The Wall Street Journal, the debate rages on. Has iTunes killed the album? Would Kid Rock have sold more or less if he'd gone on iTunes. (LESS) Was Atlantic smart to pull the Estelle single off iTunes just as it was climbing the chart?

A Norway consumer body says it wants to take Apple to court over its iTunes music store for not changing its DRM technology to make its music available on all music players.Two years ago, Consumer Ombudsman Bjørn Erik Thon criticized iTunes for the use of unfair contract terms in breach of the Norwegian Marketing Control Act.

iTunes vs. Kid Rock and The Music Industry The Wall Street Journal took a look at why some artists are keeping their music off iTunes. Because the store does not allow full album only downloads, Kid Rock, AC/DC and others have opted out. Some acts like Radiohead did it to protect the artistic integrity of their work while others are clear that their motivation is money. Single tracks don't net the same profits that albums do.

Apple is everywhere in the news this week, with its big score on the American Customer Satisfaction Index, its MobileMe problems, its iPhone 3G lawsuit, and now issues with the Chinese government. Apple's iTunes store has been blocked in China for pushing a controversial benefit album.

Sometimes comments are made at inauspicious times. Just a day after KISS bassist Gene Simmons declared that the music industry is dead and fans had killed it, Apple announced iTunes reached the 5 billion song download mark. That's 5 billion legally purchased downloads. The company is also proud to announce along with that milestone, iTunes customers are renting or purchasing around 50,000 movies per day, making the virtual media store the most popular online movie destination.

MySpace announces that they will launch MySpace Music, a service to rival Apple’s popular iTunes music player and marketplace. Like iTunes, MySpace Music will feature streaming music, paid DRM-free MP3 downloads and music-related merchandise.

The amount of music that consumers purchased in the U.S. rose by 6 percent in 2007, according to The NPD Group.An increase in digital download revenues was not able to make up for the decline in CD sales, which resulted in a net 10 percent decline in music spending (from $44 to $40 per capita among Internet users).

Fox and Apple have jointly launched an iTunes store for American Idol performances, in case you thought Fox was finished co-branding and cross-promoting (milking) the Other-Super Bowl*.