iTaxes: Good ol’ New York City never disappoints with taxes. New Yorkers people pay the highest taxes in the nation and governor David Paterson just took another swing at the citizens. New Yorkers who download music to their iPods are to see the cost rise by 4%.

“The charge, which has been nicknamed the iTax, will also cover ebooks and other “digitally delivered entertainment services”. (Guardian)

This isn’t good news for the music biz, adding an iTax will increase piracy.  Where is Eliot Spitzer when we need him?

Satellite Radio Slashes Employees: Sirius XM Radio will have axed 22 percent of the work force by year-end, meaning they will have cut 458 people from its staff. I remember when CEO of Sirus Mel Karmazin, was speaking at a conference where he was saying Satellite Radio is a better investment than traditional AM or FM. I’m not quite sure about that, I think Sirius XM is falling apart.

The Christmas Blues: “Album sales were down 21.7 percent during the first week of December compared with the same period last year, accelerating from the 17.4 percent decline recorded during the last two weeks of November, according to Nielsen SoundScan.”

Signings: Lost Highway who is the home to Van Morrison and Elvis Costello has recently inked a deal with Morrissey and will release his new album ‘Years of Refusal’.

Digital Sales Surpass A Billion: Individual digital song downloads will reach about 1,040,000 for the year according to the Los Angeles Times. The best digital selling song this year is is Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love,” which sold 3.3 million downloads. Of course this won’t offset the decline of CD sales.