Now trailing only Wal-Mart, iTunes is the number two (legal) source of music distribution with 50 Million customers and 4 billion songs sold. They pushed past Best Buy and Target, who trail 3rd and 4th respectively.

From the Associated press:

About 10 percent of music acquired in the U.S. was through legal downloads in 2007, and consumers who bought digital music legally through pay-to-download Web sites grew by 5 million to 29 million in 2007, NPD said Tuesday.

With iTunes’ position as #1 internet retailer of music, I guess that most people figured out that those other digital music servicing sites (where you pay by the month and once you stop your membership your songs go bye-bye) are totally garbage. And more and more youngsters aren’t even buying hard-copies of the music either:

From MacWorld:

NPD says that 48 percent of US teens did not purchase a single CD in 2007, compared to 38 percent in 2006. The report estimates that one million consumers dropped out of the CD buyer market in 2007.

I guess that’s also because owing an iPod is SO COOL!!!!!!!!

…uh…

We’re coming up on the 27th anniversary of John Lennon’s assassination (December 8th, 1980)…
(aside: Isn’t it a bit weird to have an anniversary for an assassination? I mean, we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, not the day he was murdered. Same with Lincoln for Presidents Day. Emo.)

To commemorate this dark day in music history, our buddies at The Orchard are releasing the audio from John Lennon’s last official interview, which took place 12 hours before crazed fan Mark David Chapmanpulled a gun and murdered the former Beatle.

You can listen to the first part of the interview here: Testimony

During the conversation, Lennon and wife Yoko Ono talk with Bob Miles about what would be Lennon’s last album, Double Fantasy, their family, how Lennon met McCartney, and much more I’m sure.

If you would like to purchase the whole interview on mp3 you can do so here. Or here.

War is Over (if you want it).

Tis the season…well, almost. As usual, we can expect to be inundated with entertainment industry professionals looking to pretty up their tax forms with some end-of-the-year charity work, but at least it’s all for a good cause, right? Hard Rock is getting a jump on the impending holiday season with their Serve2 compilation, available for download on iTunes. The net proceeds of which will go to Artists Against Hunger and Poverty, an artist-directed special program of World Hunger Year.

Not only is it for a good cause, but the compilation is pretty solid (and at 25 tracks, pretty damn hefty), featuring previously unreleased and live cuts from old school heavyweights like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, but also newer and more vital acts like The Hold Steady. Even New Found Glory and Andrew W.K. managed to sneak on there. You can sample a live rendition of “Baby It’s a Fact” by Hellogoodbye (available on Serve2) here mp3 (or download it at Synthesis.net). Full track listing after the jump.

(more…)

A couple listens in to Rogue Wave’s new album Asleep at Heaven’s Gate and so far so good. The CD is due in stores Sept. 18th, but if you don’t want to wait, or you don’t have any more room in your house for scraps of plastic, you can get the whole thing digitally with one bonus track (”I Can Die”) via iTunes, available now. While you’re at it, check out the video to the first single off Asleep at Heaven’s Gate, Lake Michigan:

Real Quicktime

Aesop Rock has never struck me as a poster boy for good health or exercise, but all that is all null and void. A question for the all the die hard underground ‘real hip hoppers’: does this constitute a sell out???

All Day: Nike + Original Run available February 13th, 2007!

Joining the ranks of renowned artists The Crystal Method and LCD Soundsystem, MC/Producer Aesop Rock has joined forces with Nike to release an original composition in the third installment of the “Nike + Orignal Run” series, available exclusively in the Nike Sport Music store on iTunes. All Day: Nike + Original Run, a 45-minute continuous mix, was created specifically with runners in mind and reflects Aesop Rock’s distinct and unique style. “I wanted to create something that evolved enough that the sound was constantly fresh and attractive, as if the runner were moving through a set of differing cities or landscapes.”

Aesop Rock’s All Day: Nike + Original Run will be available on February 13th at the Apple iTunes Music Store for $9.99.

The nano replaces the mini, and itunes now has a phone. The ease of getting music to your ears is increasing. And the ease in sharing your music with others is not far behind. Also check out the latest itunes it is now 5. Check out the phone and the nano at: Apple