New York - Major record label EMI has held discussions with online retailers on potentially opening its entire catalog for sale in the unprotected MP3 format, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Citing "numerous people familiar with the matter," The Journal said EMI asked retailers to submit proposals by Thursday, detailing what kind of advance payments they'd make for the rights to sell EMI songs as MP3s.

Witham, England - An unsigned band from Essex, England has become the first to break into that country's top 40 singles chart, following a rule change that for the first time allows songs available only as Internet downloads. Koopa's "Blag, Steal & Borrow" reached No. 31 on the U.K. singles chart last week. "It's almost like the boot's on the other foot and we're saying to the record labels: 'Well, you've got to come to us and impress us and make us want to sign to your label', rather than us going to them," 26-year-old Koopa singer and guitarist Joe Murphy told Reuters.

New York - U.S. music sales topped $1 billion again in 2006, while digital track sales totaled 581.9 million, up 65% from 2005, according to sales data from Nielsen SoundScan.