Jay Z album deal irks retailers

29 July 2011 Last updated at 09:05 GMT Watch the Throne is due for release on iTunes on 8 August Scores of independent US music stores have written an open letter to Jay-Z and Kanye West over exclusive release deals for their upcoming album.

Watch The Throne will be released first on iTunes before the Best Buy chain's exclusive deal to sell the album nearly two weeks ahead of other music retailers.

The letter says the deal will do "great damage" to more than 1,700 record stores and calls for equal access.

Jay-Z's spokesman had no comment.

Posted by the organisers of Record Store Day, the letter has been signed by shops across the US and calls the release plan a "short-sighted strategy".

"We know that you are busy, and that you put most of your energies into creating great music, but we are writing to you in the hope that you will hear us and take the time to rectify this matter," the letter states.

"As representatives of the independent record store music community, we are asking you to allow record stores and music fans equal access to your new album."

'Disastrous'

Some of the letter's signatories have also threatened to pull current and previous releases by the two artists from their shelves.

Others in the music retail industry have also criticised the move.

"A two-week window will be disastrous for music retailers," said Eric Levin, owner of Criminal Records and the head of the Alliance of Independent Media Stores.

According to Billboard, between the two exclusive iTunes and Best Buy release windows, 75% of the demand for the album is expected to be satisfied within 10 days.

Exclusive release deals are now common for top acts.

Recent examples include AC/DC's Black Ice given to Wal-Mart, while Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy and the Rolling Stones Biggest Bang DVD package, were also sold through Best Buy.

Record Store Day was created in 2007 to celebrate independently owned record stores in response to counter media coverage about the demise of record shops.

However, independent stores have suffered a decline over the last decade due to digital music sales.

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Beyonce conquers UK album chart

3 July 2011 Last updated at 18:15 GMT Beyonce headlined Glastonbury's main stage last Sunday night US star Beyonce has claimed pole position in the UK album chart with her new record 4.

The singer, who displaced Lady Gaga from number one, saw previous albums return to the chart in the wake of her performance at Glastonbury last Sunday.

I Am Sasha Fierce, Dangerously In Love and No 1s by Destiny's Child all marched back into the Top 50.

Beyonce's single Best Thing I Never Had entered at three, although Jason Derulo held onto the top spot.

Coldplay, who took to Glastonbury's main stage on Saturday night, saw their 2002 single In My Place creep back into the top 40.

And most recent single Every Tear Drop Is A Waterfall, which clambered back to number 10 from last week's 42.

Their previous album releases also surged into the top 50 on the back of their festival performance, according to the Official Charts Company.

Other acts who benefitted from the "Glastonbury effect" in the week following the festival were Plan B, Noah and the Whale and Mumford and Sons.

U2, who played there for the first time in their career, saw their singles collection U218 rise up the ranks to number 61.

Beyonce has scored the second UK chart-topping album of her career with 4. Her solo debut, Dangerously In Love, hit the pinnacle in 2003.

She also had a 2001 number one album with Destiny's Child and performed a number of their hit singles during her Glastonbury set.

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US album sales show improvement

Adele has taken the UK and US by storm with her album 21 The decline in album sales in the US has slowed with sales up for the first time since 2004.

Although marginal, figures for the first six months of the year show total album sales were up 1% on the same period in 2010.

Adele has led the fight with the biggest-selling album of the year there so far. Her album 21 has sold more than 2,517,000 copies Stateside.

The London singer has also sold 314,000 copies of her debut album 19 in the US.

Joining Adele in the top five are albums by Lady Gaga, Mumford & Sons, Jason Aldean and Bruno Mars, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

However, on two separate occasions during the first week of its release Lady Gaga's second album Born This Way was priced at 99c (approximately 60p) by digital retailer Amazon.

More physical CDs were sold than downloads but digital sales were up by 19% compared to the same time last year.

In the US, download album sales still only account for one out of every three albums sold.

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Take That top album chart again

19 June 2011 Last updated at 18:05 GMT Take That are on a 29-stadium tour, with 1.8 million tickets sold Take That have topped the album chart once more with their reunion hit Progress, which was the biggest-selling album of last year.

The album, which has been re-released with an extra eight tracks, jumped 10 places to take the number one position.

Take That are currently on an extensive sell-out tour of the UK and parts of Europe.

Dance act Example remained at number one in the singles chart.

Example, whose real name is Elliot Gleave, held on to number one for a second week with his single Change The Way You Kiss Me, despite competition from other dance acts Calvin Harris and Ed Sheeran.

Harris's single Bounce entered the chart at number two and Sheeran was at number three with The A Team.

Other new tracks in the top 40 were Spaceship from Tinchy Stryder and Dappy, in at number five, and Katie Perry's Last Friday Night (TGIF), which entered at number 24.

In the album chart, other new entries were So Beautiful Or So What by Paul Simon, who came in at number six, and Hell - The Sequel by Bad Meets Evil, in at number seven.

Nerina Pallot's Year Of The Wolf came in at number 31 and Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Make A Scene was at number 38.

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Arctic Monkeys top UK album chart

12 June 2011 Last updated at 17:59 GMT The band's three previous albums topped the UK chart Arctic Monkeys have topped the UK chart with their fourth album Suck It And See, on its first week of release.

The Sheffield band knocked Lady Gaga's Born This Way down to number three with Adele's 21 continuing its top five chart run at number two.

Example has topped the singles charts with Changed The Way You Kiss Me.

Last week's number one - Pitbull's Give Me Everything dropped to number two. Meanwhile Right There by Nicole Scherzinger moved up from 14 to three.

Coldplay's Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall failed to enter the top five, landing at number six.

The Arctic's previous three albums all charted at number one and the band are due to headline this year's V and T in the Park festivals.

They are only the second band in chart history, following Keane, to have had four successive studio albums debut at number one.

Official Charts Company managing director Martin Talbot said: "British talent is clearly in very good health indeed."

Jacki Evancho, an 11-year-old runner-up on America's Got Talent - entered the album chart at number four with her debut album, which features collaborations with Susan Boyle and Barbra Streisand.

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