Telegraph Blogs: Apple announces App Store subscription service

Shane Richmond: "To put [Apple's subscriptions policy] into perspective, here’s what a newspaper pays to a newsagent to sell its papers: about 28 per cent. You can argue all you like about whether or not it’s fair that Apple takes a similar cut – and American papers, who traditionally rely a lot more on subscriptions might be more concerned. What does it mean for a service like Spotify, however? They will now have to offer the ability to subscribe within the app at the same price as – or less than – the £9.99 that its subscribers currently pay. Will they raise prices or take the hit themselves?"

FT.com: Digital downloads fail to counter CD decline

"Sales of music albums in the UK continued to fall in 2010, as a surge in digital album sales failed to offset the decline in CD sales. The data from the Official Charts Company highlights the continuing transformation of the music market, as consumers migrate from CDs to digital downloads and free music streaming services."

Mirror: Prince – world exclusive interview: Peter Willis goes inside the star’s secret world

"[Prince] explains that he decided the album will be released in CD format only in the Mirror. There'll be no downloads anywhere in the world because of his ongoing battles against internet abuses. Unlike most other rock stars, he has banned YouTube and iTunes from using any of his music and has even closed down his own official website. He says: "The internet's completely over. I don't see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else. They won't pay me an advance for it and then they get angry when they can't get it."

BusinessWeek: Spotify: Why Europe’s Hit Music Site Isn’t Playing the U.S.

"For more than a year, Spotify's co-founder, Daniel Ek, has been trying to bring the service to the U.S. What's stopping him are the industry's four major record labels ... The four big labels want Spotify, now based in London, to junk its free model and find a guaranteed revenue stream it could share with them, say music executives with knowledge of the discussions."

Wired: Listening Post: Amazon Takes On Wikipedia With Editable Music Data

Amazon launches user-editable music database: "To get the ball rolling, Amazon has included music information from its retail site as well as data from the Internet Movie Database and Musicbrainz ... As with Wikipedia, users can edit this information, but not directly. All changes must be vetted by Amazon staff before appearing on the site."