Hypebot’s New Music Industry Briefing For Friday August 18th, 2006

– Talk is circulating again of a possible XM / Sirius merger as both stock continue to trade near new lows. (Hollywood Reporter)

– Apple retains a huge lead in the US portable player market with 75.6% market share. (InfoWorld)

– UK recording industry bans 12 year old singer songwriter from charts for supporting file sharing. (Techdirt)

– South Korea is developing"smart" clothing with built-in digital music players. (AP)