jGerson
You have to give it up for Tech N9ne. Continuing his reign as one of the most successful independent artists in history, Tech moved nearly 56,000 of his latest album All 6’s & 7’s. Tech’s twelfth studio album contains features from Lil Wayne, T-Pain, B.o.B, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, and more.
Tech N9ne “All 6’s & 7’s” – 55,715 (24% digital) [read review]
Hail Mary Mallon (Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic & DJ Big Wiz) “Are You Gonna Eat That” – 1,197 week of 6/7; 3,648 total (57% digital)
Big K.R.I.T. “R4: The Prequel EP” – 552 (100% digital)
One of the most popular internet radio services, Pandora, went public today. The stock began trading at $20.00. The company originally valued the stock between $7 and $9. Based on the current price of $20.03, Pandora is valued at $3 billion. Some analysts warn that there are concerns with the company’s current business model, as it had to pay out roughly 49% of its revenue last year in order to license music. If you really want to invest in a tech stock, you may want to hold out until Facebook goes public in 2012 with a $100 billion IPO.
A new report claims that Apple spends $1.3 billion a year to run iTunes. The report states, Apple’s maintenance is around $113 million per month from a total income of $313 million per month, which “implies over $1.3 billion per year.” For an even greater breakdown of Apple’s expenditures, check out Asymco’s report.
In related news, it looks like Spotify snagged a licensing deal with Universal Music Group. The streaming music service has been rumored to launch in the U.S. this Summer and already has licensing deals with EMI and Sony. According to Hypebot, “that leaves only Warner Music Group standing in the way of a U.S. launch, with multiple sources suggesting that a deal is close there as well.” As I reported a few weeks ago, Spotify may also be close to inking a deal with Facebook to create a built-in streaming radio service for the social network.
