In an unprecedented move, Interscope Records allowed record stores to start selling "The Eminem Show" days before its already hurried release date because of rampant CD piracy. The difference with this record vs. RIAA claims of MP3 piracy is that "The Eminem Show" was actually being sold on street corners in New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere in significant numbers. Record stores complained to the label – demanding an early release – which resulted in over 250,000 units being sold in the first few days – a very welcomed commercial success much needed by an ailing record industry.

ABKCO Records will release 22 early Rolling Stones titles in high resolution stereo on the SACD format over the next few months. This marks the first significant offering from a major artist in the on-going format war between Sony and Philip’s SACD media vs. DVD-Audio which is supported by AOL Time-Warner, Matsutista and many other music and equipment companies.

Despite the fact that both DVA-Audio and SACD are still very much in their infancy, more titles are hitting the street. Warner Music Group is currently the biggest major label supporter of DVD-Audio with over 60 titles available from artists such as Metallica, Hootie and the Blowfish and Eric Clapton. More star power is on the way with upcoming DVD-Audio releases from Madonna, Alanis Morissette, R.E.M. and Neil Young. DTS Entertainment has made a major move with the highly anticipated release of Queen's A Night at the Opera.

Despite being reviewed by several people including AudioRevolution.com read the original review here..., what may be the "killer DVD-A," Queen's "A Night at the Opera" on DTS Entertainment, is still not available, its release date having been put back now several times - but this is about to change. DTS' distributor went bankrupt at the end of last year, and as a result, according to project manager Jeff Levison, they were able to use the time to do something that had not originally been possible, namely to let former Queen guitar genius Brian May loose on the masters. May had been unable to participate in the original 5.1 mix due to prior commitments at the Munich Planetarium and involvement in his play in London, but having accidentally ended up with some additional time, May flew out to Capitol Studios in Hollywood ...

Latin music sales were one of the only bright spots for the recording industry in 2001 with shipments of compact discs (CDs) in Latin music up by nine percent at year end, according to statistics released by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The pace of growth however in Latin music during the past three years has not increased as quickly as the RIAA expected. The RIAA blames the slower than expected growth of Latin music on piracy which isn’t surprising considering the RIAA is blaming all of their current woes on piracy – not over priced CDs or bad music.