New Music Industry Briefing For Wednesday July 5, 2006

– Recently ousted William Morris music agent Aaron Pinkus has landed at Monterey/Paradigm. WMA claims that his clients will stay with them, but rumors have at least Howie Day and Sound Tribe Sector 9 wanting to follow Pinkus.

– The IFPI a trade group of major music companies is set to sue Yahoo! China for encouraging illegal downloads. (Forbes) (NY Post)

– A TV concert special taking a look back at Live8 one year later is running on both the

– CD sales are down 3.4% for the first half of 2006.  Downloads growing but not making up for loss.BBC and MTV properties worldwide. (Live8)

– High gas prices are hurting touring artists. Some are finding creative solutions. (Chicago Sun Times)

R.I.P – Irving Green, the co-founder of Mercury Records.