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Did you know research shows that an incredible 45% of music lovers have not felt comfortable asking for advice in a record store while 25% have chickened out entirely asking for a particular artist or record in a record store because they didn't feel it was cool enough and might be judged?

For the past two years, the music industry has been watching a series of lawsuits centered on an obscure aspect of copyright law: whether the performers on older recordings should get royalties when their songs are played on digital radio services. One of those lawsuits was settled Friday when SiriusXM, the satellite radio provider, announced it would pay $210 million to the major record companies over its broadcasting of songs made before 1972. ...two years ago members of the 1960s band the Turtles, whose hits included “Happy Together” sued Sirius in three federal courts, saying their songs before 1972 were...

I’ve complained about the state of modern mainstream country music for a long time now. And clearly, I’m not alone. Singer-songwriter Collin Raye, one of the top country artists throughout the ’90s, recently took to Fox News to air his grievances at the state of country music today. As a platinum-selling country music artist and, more importantly, a lifelong fan of the genre, I’d like to send out this heartfelt plea to the gatekeepers of the industry:Enough already.I’d like to think that I am expressing what nearly every artist, musician and songwriter (with perhaps a few exceptions) is thinking when...

Pete Townshend, the legendary frontman behind British rock group The Who, attacked Apple's online iTunes service for bleeding artists "like a digital vampire". Townshend, speaking in Manchester in northwest England, called on the online giant to do more to help the artists from whom it was making so much money. "Is there really any good reason why, just because iTunes exists in the wild west Internet land of Facebook and Twitter, it can't provide some aspect of these services to the artists whose work it bleeds like a digital vampire... for its enormous commission?" he asked. Record labels and music...

Bon Jovi's lead singer blames Steve Jobs and iTunes for killing the music business.Musician Jon Bon Jovi has taken a personal shot at Steve Jobs, accusing the Apple co-founder of killing the music industry with the launch of iTunes. As the lead singer of one of the 80s' biggest hair bands, Jon Bon Jovi's voice brought millions to the band with "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Wanted Dead or Alive." But now his voice echoes previous comments made by other musicians, record companies and retailers who have taken a blow to the wallet thanks to the decline of...

Radiohead let its fans decide how much to pay for a digital copy of the band's latest release, "In Rainbows," and more than half of those who downloaded the album chose to pay nothing, according to a study by a consumer research firm. Some 62 percent of the people who downloaded "In Rainbows" in a four- week period last month opted not to pay the British alt-rockers a cent. But the remaining 38 percent voluntarily paid an average of $6, according to the study by comScore Inc. Radiohead broke with its past practice of releasing its music in CD format...

Post: You've done a lot of work for the USO. What do our troops tell you? Rock: These kids believe in what they're doing and they're young - like 22 years old - and when people say they don't support this war, what they hear is the public is against them. Post: What have you said to them? Rock: I've told them there's a lot of people in between New York and L.A. who support them and are behind them 100 percent. I tell them we love them. Post: Tell me something about Kid Rock that might be shocking. Rock:...