Apples iTunes is still the #1 go to place for music buyers according to NPD. Below are the five leading music retailers in the U.S. for the first half of 2008.

1. iTunes
2. Wal-Mart
3. Best Buy
4. Amazon
5. Target

New Music/ Artist Happenings: KOAR favorite’s Lovers and Liars will be performing at Buzzfest 08 and will be preparing an announcement for release of a dual EP. Unsigned band Emphatic has been charting in the top 10 for the last 4 weeks on the Billboard West North Central Heatseekers chart.
The Arrival has new music on their myspace and will be heading out with Millionares, Brokencyde, and Hypercrush, check out the tracks Locked and Loaded and Is This What You Call Love.

Promotion Better Than Prevention? The debate of online piracy still continues to fuel music critics. Mark Cuban has an interesting piece called ‘Promotion works better than prevention‘. Cuban says the RIAA actually encouraged illegal downloading by explaining to everyone exactly where and how to steal music. He also says, “People with more time than money will steal content. They weren’t going to pay for it otherwise. People with a conscious will pay for the content. Fortunately that is most people.”

Disc Makers Buys CD Baby: Disc Makers buys CD Baby for $900 million. CD Baby will continue to operate as a separate company and founder Derek Sivers will act as a consultant.

A Message To Producers: Why are you producing new rock artists as if you were recording Neil Diamond? Soul and passion is missing in a lot of today’s music because of the homogenized sounds that are being recorded. Don’t believe me? Scroll down the pages on Smartpunk and Purevolume and you will experience wimpy guitars tones along with a whiny emo voice. Matchbox 20 and Jason Mraz offers a stronger sucker punch and that’s ashame.