AP - Mindy McCready, who was sentenced in September for violating probation from a 2004 drug arrest, has been released from jail.

AP - A reworked version of “Amistad,” an opera about an 1839 slave ship rebellion, will be performed at the 2008 Spoleto Festival USA.

AP - “Weepin’” Willie Robinson, a blues singer who performed with Steven Tyler and Bonnie Raitt but also spent time homeless, has died at age 81.

Reuters - There is a reason people still buy CDs
more than they do digital albums. Actually there are several,
but viruses that come along with music via peer-to-peer sites
(P2P) and a concern over digital rights management (DRM) aren’t
the only culprits.

E! Online - It may be a new year, but time will tell if it’s also a new Mindy McCready.

Reuters - What’s the biz to do when the
top-selling album of 2007 was a Christmas project released in
November, Josh Groban’s “Noel,” and the second-best was a
soundtrack to Disney’s “High School Musical” movie sequel?

Reuters - There is a reason people still buy CDs
more than they do digital albums. Actually there are several,
but viruses that come along with music via peer-to-peer sites
(P2P) and a concern over digital rights management (DRM) aren’t
the only culprits.

Reuters - In a strong year for Canadian talent,
acts ranging from alt-rock band Arcade Fire to polka king
Walter Ostanek have tallied up no fewer than 20 Grammy Award
nominations among them.

Reuters - Rock band Radiohead’s decision to
release its new album “In Rainbows” by itself — online,
without a record label’s help and at any price the user chose
– rocked the industry last fall.

Reuters - Singer/songwriter Joan Armatrading
scored a couple of firsts in the U.S. music business in 2007.