2008 – Behold, the video for AC/DC’s “Rock N’ Roll Train.” It has all the ingredients of an AC/DC video: Angus Young in a schoolboy outfit, fire, sweat and Brian Johnson wearing a vest, with footage of train crashes added for thematic continuity. “Rock N’ Roll Train” is the first single from the band’s upcoming Black Ice, due out in Wal-Marts on October 21st. The album will be followed by a tour, with AC/DC implementing the new paperless ticketing technology for select seats. The paperless tickets will “help ensure fan club members and fans purchasing designated seats will be able to secure tickets at face value,” Ticketmaster said in a statement. Both Tom Waits and Metallica have embraced the new ticketing program, which requires buyers to show identification when arriving at the venue.
2008 - iTunes Sells 4 Billionth Song
idolator reports: The record industry has 4 billion reasons to kiss Steve Jobs in the public square. That is the amount of songs that iTunes has sold, which has made it the second largest music retailer in the US. They are second only to the brick and mortar powerhouse of Wal-Mart. Of course the major labels continue to look at alternatives to iTunes that will allow them to make more on music downloads. (4 billion dollars isn’t enough? 2.8 billion going to record companies under the standard iTunes 30% / label 70% split) And they continue to blame their problems on downloads.
Idolator has more on iTunes rise: According to research by the NPD Group, the iTunes Store was the second-largest music retailer in the United States last year, behind only Wal-Mart. iTunes leapfrogged over Best Buy and Target–which came in second and third, respectively, to iTunes’ fourth place the last time the NPD Group conducted their music-buying survey–as paid downloading experienced an overall spike of 50% between 2006 and 2007.
Those downloads now make up 10% of all music sales, although unsurprisingly the rise in downloads didn’t make up for the plunge experienced by CD tallies throughout the course of the year.
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