New Music Business Briefing – Elton John Goes Digital, Starbucks Signs McCartney, Sales Continue Fall & More

>>> Elton John finally puts his entire 400 track catalog online. iTunes gets it first.

>>> Paul McCartney officially signs with Starbucks new Hear Music label. (press release)

>>> US CD sales were down 20% in the first quarter along with digital album sales which went from 119 million 1stQ ’06 down to 99 million so far this year.  Only single tracks sales rose to 288 million from 242 million for the same quarter last year.

>>> University Of Nebraska has joined Wisconsin in saying it won’t go out of its way to help the RIAA to prosecute its students.

>>> As you might expect there was some fan chatter on the eMusic message board on our story that the company may be for sale. Main stream music news and gossip sites like Idolator are posting our story as well.

>>> Here’s the full text of the official SEC filing for the proposed Sirius XM merger.

R.I.P.  Soul Singer Luther Ingram.