Forty years ago Jac Holzman left a deep mark on popular music with the release of The Doors’ first album on his independent Elektra music label. Today he wants to do the same with Cordless Recordings. Holzman’s Cordless label is the first all-digital music label operated by a major record company, the Warner Music Group, …

For several years, most companies selling music online have had an overriding strategy: Follow Apple Computer’s iTunes in as many respects as possible. That now seems to be changing in at least one important way. In the past few weeks, several of the biggest digital music providers said they are moving portions or all of their services onto the Web, …

The new iMesh, launched last week as the first record label-approved file-swapping service, has a Led Zeppelin problem. Like its peers in the digital music business, from Napster to Apple Computer’s iTunes, iMesh does not have the legal rights to distribute recordings from the popular 1970s rockers. But using the company’s new service, it requires only a quick point and …

Yahoo is boosting the cost of a key part of its digital music subscription service, after launching it six months ago with a price tag startlingly lower than rival offerings. The company sent an e-mail message to subscribers late Thursday night saying the cost of its portable subscription service–the plan that lets listeners download an unlimited amount of music per …

Students at Stanford University will get a year of free digital music, thanks to a gift from an anonymous donor to the college. Beginning next week, Stanford will join a growing number of other colleges around the country in promoting or providing free access to online music subscription services, aiming to draw students away from legally risky file-swapping networks. Unlike …

For years, RealNetworks Chief Executive Rob Glaser has led his company through a process of constant reinvention, struggling to keep ahead of Microsoft’s competitive steamroller. On Tuesday, he and Bill Gates finally shared a stage, jointly announcing an end to RealNetworks’ $1 billion antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft, and an ambitious joint marketing and development program that will see substantial integration …

One of the most important turning points in the relationship between RealNetworks and Microsoft may initially have had little to do with Microsoft at all. In early 2004, RealNetworks Chief Executive Officer Rob Glaser made several appeals to Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs, asking him to make the popular iPod compatible with other companies’ music services. In a private e-mail …

Ten years after the release of its first RealAudio multimedia software, RealNetworks is hoping to kick-start its second decade with a new push into digital music. In New York on Tuesday morning, during a fete complete with a free concert in Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall, the company is slated to make what it has called a “groundbreaking” announcement for …

Portland, Ore., singer-songwriter Geoff Byrd may be the first artist to break into the mainstream music world from the Internet, but he’s learning that there’s still no free ride. Byrd’s Internet fame has been growing slowly over the past year. As an unsigned artist on the GarageBand.com Web site, his music was consistently rated high, and ultimately drew strong support …

A Finnish company called Viralg is emerging with claims to have a high-powered new way of stopping unauthorized file trading on peer-to-peer networks. The company, which took the top prize at a recent Finnish emerging-technology competition, says it has been working with BMG Finland to protect local music releases on file-swapping networks for more than a year. The company’s method …