Blogs
Harmonix and MTV Games have announced "Green Day: Rock Band," the follow-up to the Sept. 9 release of "The Beatles: Rock Band," will be released June 8 and compatible with Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.
EMI Music announced CEO Elio Leoni-Sceti will leave the company on March 31.
The Jamaica Music Museum will open in Kingston in 2010 featuring rare pieces from the island's music history including Martha Velez's Escape From Babylon, produced by GRAMMY Hall Of Fame inductee Bob Marley.
"The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)," co-written by Ryan Bingham and 10-time GRAMMY winner T Bone Burnett, won the Oscar for Music (Original Song) at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.
Napster Japan has reported that it will end its service May 31, closing what was the country's first digital music subscription service.
Gaming developer Harmonix and MTV Games have launched the Rock Band Network Music Store, which allows independent artists to submit their music as downloadable, add-on content to the game without a formal licensing process.
The Austrian recorded music market generated revenue of $248 million in 2009, a 1.6 percent decline from the year prior, and unit sales of physical albums, digital downloads and bundles increased 3 percent to 22.1 million units.
Universal Music Group reported a profit of $786.7 million in 2009, down 15.5 percent from the prior year, and a 6.2 percent drop in revenue to $5.92 billion.
U2 topped Billboard's 2010 Money Makers list with revenue of $108.6 million from physical and download sales, publishing royalties and touring during the past calendar year.
Johnny Cash's "Guess Things Happen That Way" became the 10 billionth song downloaded at Apple's iTunes store on Feb. 25.
