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Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
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iTunes New Music Releases

Release Date: September 29, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: September 20, 2009
Release Date: September 15, 2009
Release Date: August 25, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: August 25, 2009

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Release Date: March 31, 2009
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Release Date: April 05, 2009
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Discover New Music

  • Never Let Me Down [ECD]

    • 4 out of 10
    • David Bowie
    • It must be a lonely place to be considered David Bowie's worst album by just about everyone, including the artist himself. As the last album before Bowie "rebooted" and formed the band Tin Machine, "N
  • The Dresden Dolls

    • 10 out of 10
    • The Dresden Dolls
    • The energetic duet of Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione that make up the Dresden Dolls have created a wonderfully haunting sound in their self-titled album. They have been able to construct an imme

  • Supermodified

    • 10 out of 10
    • Amon Tobin
    • The genius is in the beats. Amon Tobin creates fantastic, groovy beats behind beats. "Supermodified" rolls through your expectations of breakbeat music, and turns them up a bit. It's a mellow album, p
  • Rift

    • 8 out of 10
    • Phish
    • This quasi-concept album (the only of its kind) from these Vermonters finally showcased their ability to convey a message with a studio album, whereas previously they only succeeded in doing so live.
  • Live at the Magic Bag, Ferndale, MI

    • 6 out of 10
    • Supersuckers
    • Man, there's nothing like good, old fashioned, rock and roll... add a bit of industry resentment to that with a double-shot of cynicism, and you get one of the best "new" rock bands going. This album

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News

Universal Looking for Short-term iTunes Deal

Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music corporation, has decided to flex its muscles in negotiations with Apple over its annual contract to sell music through the iTunes Store. Instead of a new annual contract, Universal is looking to move to short-term contracts that allow the company to provide music to the iTunes Store "at will," according to the New York Times.

Universal’s move is an attempt to take back some of the control Apple now has over online music distribution and pricing. Apple has been firm on its US$0.99 per song, although it recently added a new $1.29 price point for higher audio quality copy protection-free tracks.

Music labels, however, want to charge more for popular songs in hopes of increasing declining revenues - a move that could push legitimate music purchasers to illegal music sharing networks.

Entertainment lawyer Ken Hertz commented "The record companies now have to figure out how to stimulate competition without alienating Steve Jobs, and they need to do that while Steve Jobs still has an incentive to keep them at the table."

Universal may find, however, that it doesn’t have as much pull as it would like. The iTunes Store is now the number 3 music retailer behind Wal-Mart and Best Buy, and other music labels like Sony have already agreed to new annual contracts.

Pulling the Universal Music library from the iTunes Store is not in either company’s interest, so the two are likely to work out some kind of deal. What that deal will entail, however, remains to be seen since neither company is publicly discussing the negotiations.

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