– Various creative unions demanded discussions over royalty allocations following an agreement between Apple and ABC/Disney. The agreement, which coincided with the release of iTunes 6 and a new video-enabled iPod, authorized several shows for download one day after broadcast. Meanwhile, Apple and Samsung dropped plans to partner on flash memory design and production following scrutiny from local regulators.
– EMI pointed to an earnings improvement, powered by some heavy-selling superstar releases and a growing digital picture.
– Motorola was quite active this week. The company dipped into mobile-based podcasting,
teamed with MTV to offer a "mobisode," and opened its iRadio platform to independent artist content.
– Both iTunes and MTV delivered a series of digital exclusives this week for Madonna, part of a major pre-release blitz by the superstar.
And Sirius Satellite Radio unveiled two devices that broke the $50 price barrier, while XM announced a receiver giveaway promotion to attendees of the upcoming World Series.
– Meanwhile, Australian record labels won a favorable settlement against local ISP Swiftel this week. Various employees of the ISP were accused of operating a BitTorrent file-sharing hub.
Album sales in the US continued to drop.
– From Digital Music News
