Fortune reports that Apple is threatening to kill the iTunes Store over music royalties. 
The Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, D.C. is expected to rule Thursday on a request by the National Music Publishers’ Association to raise royalty rates on songs purchased from online music stores, like iTunes, from 9 cents to 15 cents per track. 
“If [...]

“Niche songwriter” Ben Walker has released his wry take on the state of the Internet, You’re no one if you’re not on Twitte:

It’s released with a Creative Commons license, so you can download it freely and share it or put it in your podcast.
Here are the lyrics so you can sing along, too:

Ashley Payne is a design student at College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. The Zune Bug is her design concept for a Zune-branded nightlight that reacts to your room’s ambient light level. 
It’s also designed to be a wireless remote speaker for your Zune and responds to the frequency and volume of your music with variations to [...]

The University of Utah’s Classical Guitar Podcast (iTunes link) features classical guitar audio and video podcasts.
The podcasts feature performances of works by Tárrega, Torroba, Berkeley and others, as well as original compositions by Tully Cathey, a classical and jazz guitarist who teaches at the College of Fine Arts.
Image: ycguitar814

According to the latest MusicWatch consumer surveys from The NPD Group, Apple is again the top music retailer in the US.
The five leading music retailers in the U.S. for the first half of 2008 (January through June, based on purchases of CDs and a-la-carte digital music downloads) are:

iTunes
Wal-Mart (Walmart, Walmart.com, Walmart Music Downloads)
Best [...]

People are leaving traditional radio behind for on Internet radio and podcasting, but a new UK study suggests that radio stations that embrace podcasting can actually grow their audiences.
Research firm Ipsos Mori has found that 10% of those surveyed said they listened to less live radio after starting to download podcasts. However, 15% said they [...]

The Free Music Archive is a new online digital library of music that will allow music fans, webcasters and podcasters to listen, download, and stream for free, with no restrictions, registration or fees. And it will all be legal.
The site’s still a work in progress, but you can download a free selection of music from [...]

TinySong.com is a unique service for social media users that combines streaming audio, music search and URL-shortening to let you send music via Twitter, text messages and other services.
Here’s how it works:
Do a search at TinySong.com:

View the search results and select the song that you want to send:

Rhapsody is offering 100,000 free album downloads through July 4th to promote its DRM-free digital music service:
If you’re one of the first 100,000 to create an account by Independence Day, we’ll automatically apply a $10 credit to your first album purchase. The credit must be used by midnight Pacific time, July 4, 2008. Limit one [...]

Cynical Peak’s Rivet is a Mac OS X app that lets you access your iTunes media on your Xbox 360.
In a nutshell, it turns your XBox 360 into Apple TV Jr. You can browse, play, and view your pictures, movies, and video through the Xbox 360’s media blade. Rivet will automatically load and give you [...]