DIGITAL MUSIC NEWS – WEEK IN REVIEW

• It was an absolutely huge week in digital music, with the Supreme Court dropping a heavy gavel on MGM v. Grokster. The court unanimously ruled against both Grokster and StreamCast Networks, ruling that the pair had knowingly encouraged and profited from copyright infringement. But the court stopped short of condemning P2P technology, limiting liability to those that show a clear intent to encourage and benefit from piracy.
• While file-sharing levels remained largely level this week despite the ruling, the RIAA continued to deliver individual lawsuits. And the Department of Justice coordinated an international offensive against several operators of servers distributing pirated content. Meanwhile, US album sales continued to slide.
• Apple also made a fairly momentous announcement this week, unwrapping its podcast-enabled iTunes v4.9. After just two days, the service received over one million subscriptions. The company also realigned their iPod lineup somewhat, announcing a new batch of podcast-friendly devices that will all carry color screens.
• In the mobile music arena, Verizon reiterated plans to deliver a music store within six to eight months. And more rumors bubbled on a possible deal involving Cingular and the iTunes phone. Meanwhile, the ringtone space continued to balloon, with a recent report showing a $4 billion global market, with a growing $300 million market reported in the US.
• In the satellite radio sector, XM inked a deal with Hyatt, while Sirius announced plans to expand into Asian-language content. Meanwhile, global satellite radio provider WorldSpace unveiled plans for an IPO.