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Sony’s Money-Losing Music Bet: Sales Down 11 Percent, Losses Increase

Peter Kafka in Media on October 29, 2008 at 4:38 am PT

Sony just made a big investment in the music business. But with results like these, it’s hard to understand why. The silver lining: The kids seem to like the new Kings of Leon album.

1982 Called. It Wants Its Digital Music Distribution Model Back

John Paczkowski in News on September 22, 2008 at 8:29 am PT

Overall CD sales are plummeting after eight years of unflagging erosion. Digital music sales now account for 15 percent of recording industry’s revenues worldwide and 30 percent in the United States, according to recent data from The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. And those numbers are climbing faster than ever. Consider: This past June, Apple said it has sold some five billion songs on its iTunes Store. Clearly, physical media are giving way to the Internet as a means of music distribution. What better time, then, to reinvent the music industry’s business model for physical media, as SanDisk hopes to do with its new microSD memory card album format?

For Those About to Shop (We Salute You)

John Paczkowski in News on August 18, 2008 at 8:50 am PT

Guess AC/DC and Garth Brooks have something in common after all. They’re both Wal-Mart-only artists. When AC/DC’s new album, “Black Ice,” arrives at market on Oct. 20, it will be sold exclusively in the U.S. at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club.