News
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Commercial Radio Hit40UK To Use Digital Sales Only To compile its chart...
By Jason Gregory on 8 January 2009
The Hit40UK, which airs on commercial radio, will no longer use CD sales to collate its weekly chart.
From this weekend, the countdown, which broadcasts across 130 stations, will use digital sales only.
Owner Global Radio said digital download sales now account for 96% of all chart data.
"Downloads have now become the driving force for record sales, as the statistics clearly show,” said programme director Paul Jackson.
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UK Singles Sales Posted Impressive Growth in 2008 While album sales fell...
By Jason Gregory on 7 January 2009
Sales of music singles in the UK grew by 33% last year despite the tough economic climate.
More than 115million singles were sold on both digital and physical formats, the BPI said.
The organisation said the growing popularity of legal downloading had helped singles, while the majority of physical sales were through supermarkets.
"During a recession, people look for purchases that are excellent value for money and bring a lot of enjoyment, and music does just this," BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor said.
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Apple To Unveil Expansive DRM-Free iTunes Store At Macworld? As well as new price structure...
By Jason Gregory on 6 January 2009
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Apple is said to have agreed a deal with three major record labels that will see its iTunes music store offer more music free of copyright protection.
At present iTunes only offers DRM-free music by artists signed to EMI, as well as a handful of independent record labels.
However, sources close to negotiations have said that Apple has finally signed an agreement with the three remaining major labels – Sony BMG, Warner Music and Universal.
Apple is one of the few remaining companies which doesn't offer an extensive range of DRM-free music.
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Apple CEO Steve Jobs Being Treated For 'Hormone Imbalance' He speaks out...
By Jason Gregory on 5 January 2009
Apple's CEO Steve Jobs has revealed that he is being treated for a “hormone imbalance” and has been told to rest by doctors.
Jobs sparked fresh health fears last month after it was announced that he would no longer give the keynote speech at Apple's Macworld conference.
In a letter sent to the Apple Community, Jobs said he had decided to “share something very personal” in order to quash speculation that he was on his “death bed”.
He wrote: “As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.
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Woolworths Begin Store Closures Ahead Of New Year 200 to shut today...
By Jason Gregory on 27 December 2008
High street retailer Woolworths will shut the doors on more than 200 of its stores later as it prepares to close for the final time.
The store, which has been a fixture in Britain’s towns for 99 years, entered into administration last month.
A total of 27,000 permanent and temporary staff will lose jobs by the time Woolworths’ remaining closures come into effect on January 5th.
All of the company’s 800 stores slashed prices further yesterday (December 26th) in a bid to make the chain more attractive to any potential last minute buyer.
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Stricken Zavvi To Continue With Boxing Day Sale Despite administration...
By Jason Gregory on 24 December 2008
High Street music and DVD retailer Zavvi will open as normal for its Boxing Day sale despite falling into administration.
The announcement about the company's immediate future comes just hours after bosses were forced to call in administrators Ernst & Young.
The administrator has vowed to try and keep the chain’s 125 stores open and prevent the loss of more than 2,500 jobs.
Zavvi will hope the traditional Boxing Day sales rush will make it more attractive to potential buyers.
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EMI Turnaround 'Will Take Longer Than Expected' Guy Hands says...
By Jason Gregory on 15 December 2008
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Guys Hands has conceded that the restructuring of EMI Records will take longer than expected.
But the owner of Terra Firma, who took over at the record label in 2007, insisted that EMI could once again become successful.
“I passionately believe that we can,” Hands told BBC Radio 4.
“I think it will take us longer than we expected and clearly our commitment to it in terms of money is bigger than we expected it to be, but we’ve been totally determined all the way through to do the best for the company, and in our belief that will succeed.”
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Indie Record Label Distributor Goes Into Administration As credit crunch bites...
By Jason Gregory on 4 December 2008
Pinnacle Entertainment, one of the key distribution companies for independent record labels, has gone into administration.
The company's 94 staff are understood to have been been made redundant yesterday (December 3rd).
Pinnacle's clients include One Little Indian and Rough Trade records, as well as DVD and other software companies.
BDO Stoy Hayward has been brought in to handle the administration.
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Amazon Launches iTunes Download Rival In The UK Digital market set to expand...
By Jason Gregory on 4 December 2008
Amazon has launched its much heralded digital-download service, Amazon MP3, in the UK.
The store, previously restricted to the US, charges 59p for each individual track download and £3 for albums.
Music fans will be able to select from over 3 million songs that are DRM-free, which means they will be compatible on all MP3 players, including Apple's iPod.
The UK launch is further evidence of Amazon's desire to cut Apple's iTunes music store's current dominance of the lucrative digital download market.
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Zavvi Halt Online Music Sales As Christmas Approaches Following the collapse of Woolworths...
By Jason Gregory on 3 December 2008
High street retailer Zavvi has been forced to suspended trading on its website and cancel existing customer orders following the collapse of Woolworths.
The store relied on Woolworths' distribution branch Entertainment UK (EUK) to deliver its CDs, DVDs and video games.
The company stopped deliveries last week after the high street store was put into administration.
In a statement on its website, Zavvi said: "In addition, to avoid any uncertainty, we will be cancelling existing customer orders where delivery cannot be guaranteed.
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