The future of online music sales

A new report from the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) concludes that music CD sales fell a whopping 35% in the first quarter of 2007. That is a staggering decline. But what should be more alarming to CRIA is that online sales of digital music, which account for just 7% of the Canadian market, are not increasing at a rate that would make up for falling CD sales.

Trent Reznor: ‘I steal music too’

The most interesting response he gave was to the question of illegally downloading music, to which he answered “…I steal music too, I’m not gonna say I don’t.” Is Trent hardcore or what?

Why Apple CEO Steve Jobs will get whatever he wants in iTunes negotiations with music labels

With Apple now the fourth largest retailer in music in the US, and the largest digital music distributor, if a label wants to earn the most money for their music, they need an Apple deal, pure and simple.

DRM Going Away? Don’t Hold Your Breath

Should sales of DRM-free music prove wildly popular at iTunes and Amazon, the pressure would mount on other record companies and studios to follow EMI’s lead. But I’m not betting on it. Don’t look for DRM to go gently.

Could this be the end of DRM music?”

There’s the additional problem of what happens a few years down the line and the device that holds all your precious tracks packs up and dies. If the company you bought them from is still in business, then they might let you download them all again – but then they might not.