In brief: Digital music revenue now matches that from physical albums, discs
LONDON – Revenue from digital music matched that from physical albums and discs for the first time in 2014, a global industry body said Tuesday.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s annual report said digital and physical sales each accounted for 46 percent of the $14.97 billion in global music revenues. Income from performance rights and synchronization revenue made up the rest.
The old-fashioned vinyl format has had a renaissance and now accounts for 2 percent of revenues.
Total revenue was down 0.4 percent from 2013, but the group said the overall picture for the industry was positive.
U.S. retail sales rise in March
WASHINGTON – Americans increased their spending on autos, furniture, clothing and building materials in March, lifting retail sales for the first time in four months.
Retail sales jumped 0.9 percent last month, after declining 0.5 percent in February, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. The rebound suggests that shoppers are returning after an unseasonably cold winter froze sales.
Warmer weather fueled a 2.7 percent increase in auto sales and a 2.1 percent boost in building materials, possible signs that the lagging manufacturing and construction sectors might also recover from a winter slump.
New rules for brokers proposed
WASHINGTON – Brokers who manage Americans’ retirement accounts may soon be required to put investors’ interests first under new restrictions proposed by the U.S. government.
The Labor Department on Tuesday opened the rules to public comment for 75 days. The Obama administration has put its weight behind the move. Against a backdrop of intense opposition from the financial industry on an earlier proposal, administration officials took pains to reassure the industry that the new framework wouldn’t end the way brokers do business or prohibit them from receiving commissions or other fees.
Next sardine season called off
Fisheries managers have decided to call off the West Coast sardine fishing season that starts in July because of rapidly dwindling numbers, hoping to save an iconic industry from the kind of collapse that hit in the 1940s and lasted 50 years.
Meeting outside Santa Rosa, California, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted Sunday to close the season starting July 1.
It had little choice. Estimates of sardine abundance have fallen below the level for a mandatory fishing shutdown.
“We know boats will be tied up, but the goal here is to return this to a productive fishery,” David Crabbe, a council member and commercial fishing boat owner, said in a statement.
The council next will decide whether overfishing has been a factor in the latest collapse, which could trigger an emergency shutdown of the current season, which runs through June. It votes today.
Feds fine for-profit college
WASHINGTON – The Education Department said it will fine Heald College $30 million, alleging the Corinthian Colleges subsidiary engaged in egregious misconduct and misled students.
Corinthian, a massive, for-profit educational institution, collapsed last summer amid a cash shortage and fraud allegations.
The department alleged that Heald, based in San Francisco, had shown a pattern of falsifying post-graduation employment data. Corinthian spokesman Joe Hixson said in an emailed statement that the government’s proposed penalty was a travesty that “further threatens Heald’s future by potentially imposing added financial and operational hurdles to prospective buyers.”