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Spotify has teamed up with Klout and officially launched in the United States. With a variety of services now available; including Rdio, Mog, Rhapsody, and now Spotify. This space looks very interesting for the next few years. I think in the end, music fans are going to win. We’re going to have even greater tools for music discovery and sharing new bands with other people. I look forward to all the ways we can integrate this into AP.net to bring you a better experience.

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Thursday’s website has been nominated for a prestigious CSS Design Award. You can help them out by voting for their site here.

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If one of the music industry’s New Year’s Resolutions was to sell more albums in 2011, it’s perhaps fortunate that the bar is now lower than ever. For the fourth straight year, CD sales in the U.S. dropped by 20 percent, and music sales in general fell 12.8 percent compared to the already-not-good 2009 totals. That’s according to Nielsen SoundScan’s year-end sales roundup, which has become an almost annual buzz kill/reminder of just how bad things are in the music biz.

How bad is it? To begin with, the 326.2 million albums sold in 2010 was the lowest total since Nielsen SoundScan began keeping tabs on sales in 1991. Only 13 albums managed to attain million-selling platinum distinction, compared to the 22 platinum albums that earned it in 2009, which in itself was a paltry total compared to the glory days of compact disc megasales — remember when ‘N Sync debuted with 2.42 million sold in a single week? (The year was 2000.) Eminem’s “Recovery” was the past year’s top-selling album with 3.4 million copies, also not impressive, especially when matched up against the 10 million copies “The Marshall Mathers LP” sold a decade ago. Of those 13 platinum albums in 2010, only four sold over 2 million copies.

[Related: Music stars that can (and can't) sell magazines]

But it gets worse: Even catalog album sales, comprised of 18-months-or-older releases that have perennially been a magnet for classic rock fans who still purchase their music legally, plummeted 15.3 percent in 2010. Billboard finds the dark silver lining in those numbers by saying that it wasn’t that 2010 was poor-selling, it’s just that 2009 unfairly raised expectations by being the recipient of the sales surge following Michael Jackson’s death and the Beatles remasters.

The lone good news seems to come on the digital front, where single track downloads were actually up one percent compared to last year’s totals. That’s what we call “growth.” (However, total overall music sales — digital and physical albums, music videos, singles, everything — were down 2.4 percent, the first time ever in the SoundScan era that the number decreased from the previous year, so ignore that growth thing.) A recent Pew study involving Internet users revealed that a third of respondents said they purchased digital music legally, but doesn’t mention how the other two-thirds are getting their music, but given this year’s SoundScan numbers we can assume they aren’t paying for it.

[Rewind: Did rap stars' album leaks destroy their sales?]

She can’t sell magazines, but Taylor Swift was 2010’s best-selling artist as her discography combined sold 4,470,000 copies last year. While acts like the “Glee” cast, Eminem and Gaga were no surprise to make the Top 10, both Michael Jackson (Number Eight) and the Beatles (Number 10) infiltrated this list.

• Your Top Five Music Purchasing Cities: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. Hang your head in shame, Atlanta.

• Universal Music once again led all major labels with 30.8 percent market share of the 2010 sales. And despite all their troubles, EMI’s market share was up nearly one percent from its harsh 2009.

Props Yahoo

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Known largely for his 2006 hit “It’s Goin’ Down,” Atlanta rapper Yung Joc announced today that he signed a joint venture today with RCA/Jive Records for his Swagg Team imprint. The imprint will be distributed through RCA/Polo Grounds Music, while Joc’s Swagg Team will remain with Battery/Jive.

Besides a platinum single, and featured roles on hits from T-Pain, Chris Brown and Slim, Yung Joc’s imprint developed “Stanky Leg” creators, the GS Boyz and “Lookin’ Boy” by Hotstylz.

“It is my pleasure and honor to announce my affiliation and new partnership with Polo Grounds Music/RCA Music Group

and Battery/Jive Records,” states Yung Joc. “Now I can actually work and not wonder if I’m going to be held back from building my own brand as well as the Swagg Team brand. I’m very excited to work with this team.”

“Joc is a triple threat. As an artist, executive and personality, he is now entering a higher phase of his career and I’m happy to play a part in it,” affirms Bryan Leach, President, Polo Grounds Music.  “I feel with Pitbull, Yo Gotti and now Yung Joc, Polo Grounds has an amazing front line of smart, talented, hungry artists that will continue to show why it’s still all about making hit records and outworking everyone else.”

Tom Corson, EVP, General Manager, RCA Music Group cites “The signing of Yung Joc as both an executive and entertainer is a testament to the great talent that he possesses.  His addition to the Polo Grounds Music roster will further establish the label’s strong foothold in urban music.

props HipHopDx

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If you’ve seen former Young Money artist Curren$y lately, you may have noticed him sporting a Roc-A-Fella chain. However, he isn’t signed to the iconic label … at least not yet.

According to MTV News, Damon Dash gave the rapper the chain as a celebration of their friendship. But, as he began to hear more and more of Curren$y’s music, he felt it was a good idea to resurrect the Roc to drop his debut album and that’s what he’s doing.

Pilot Talk, Curren$y’s debut, is set to drop on June 15th. It will be the first new release from the newly launched Roc-A-Fella Records.

“I think we just having fun, really,” Dash told MTV from his DD172 office in New York. “[Curren$y] inspired me to dust off the chains. We brought ‘em out for kicks, just ’cause we could. Then we was like, ‘F*** it, let’s put it out through Roc-A-Fella.’ It was really more something he wanted to do. Basically, ’cause we havin’ such a good time, and the opportunity’s there, we was like, ‘Why not?’ ”

“What that means, what that shows me, is that dude thinks as highly of me as I do him,” Curren$y added, as he explained his debut being released through the label Dash co-founded with Jay-Z and Kareem “Biggs” Burke in the mid-1990s. “I know what’s behind that. We all know and the fans know what that represented at the height of it. The aesthetic of it.”

After Dash dissolved his partnership with Jay-Z several years ago, he admits that he hasn’t had much fun with music. But, after working with the likes of Curren$y and Jay Electronica, he got the old spark back.

MTV says the last album to be released through Roc-A-Fella was Jadakiss’ The Last Kiss in April 2009. Jay had been using the Roc-A-Fella name during his time as Def Jam’s President. But after leaving his post, Dash says there’s no reason why he shouldn’t use it.

“Def Jam or Universal bought the brand. I think the ‘beef’ [with us and Jay-Z] was that Jay made it clear he didn’t want me or Biggs to be a part of it. That’s really where it was at,” Dash said. “Now that he doesn’t work for Def Jam anymore, he doesn’t have the right to use the name. So there’s no reason for us not to use it. It’s there, and it’s a brand that’s not being used. So I was like, ‘I’ll take it.’ It always meant something to me.”

Dash told MTV that he’s secured the new deal through L.A. Reid and Def Jam, which will serve as a distributor for his records.

props Ballerstatus

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If all goes as planned and you are looking at this post some time between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, what you should see above is a live Internet stream of “Sea of Cowards,” the second album from the Dead Weather, the rock supergroup. But because the band is led by Jack White, the White Stripes and Raconteurs guitarist and preciously nostalgic Luddite, this can’t be a normal online presentation — oh no. Instead of streaming the audio in a digital format, Mr. White and his crew have pointed a camera and a microphone at a record player spinning “Sea of Cowards” on vinyl at their office in Nashville.

Asked via e-mail message why he was using all this 21st-century gadgetry to transmit a form of technology that was basically perfected 50 years ago, Mr. White wrote: “We’re trying to marry the two worlds. And, more importantly, to heighten the awareness of the massive world of vinyl record sales that’s currently the only medium in music that’s rising in sales. This generation needs to be turned on to the tangible side of music, I want to involve teenagers in music in a real way. Teach them that real life experiences, and things you can hold in your hands, are so much more beautiful than mouse clicks and sound bites.”

Given that the “Sea of Cowards” album needs to be turned over — by hand — every half-hour or so, you might think that the Dead Weather has a contingency plan in case someone can’t flip the record fast enough or falls asleep during the 24-hour live stream. But no: as Mr. White wrote, “I hope somebody DOESN’T flip it fast enough. I hope they drop it and it breaks! Then I would know people would be aware of the realness of the event. Mistakes are beautiful, they spur conversation, they involve the listeners and make them part of the scenario. Perfection is a hopeless and fleeting ideal for art and music, it’s the mistakes that involve other people and let them own the experience.”

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Buzzing Alabama rapper Yelawolf has reportedly inked a deal with Interscope Records, according to Miss Info. This after a heated bidding war between several labels.

The rapper hails from Gasden, Alabama native, and becomes the second rapper from the state to sign with the label behind Rich Boy.

Details surrounding the deal were unknown at press time.

His buzz definitely helped him garner attention from the majors. In the past year, Yelawolf has worked with the likes of Slim Thug, Juelz Santana, Bun B, D12’s Bizarre, and Travis Barker, among others.

At press time, there was no official word from his camp, or Interscope regarding the deal.

To hear some of Yelawolf’s music, or to download some of his recent mixtape, head over to Myspace.com/Yelawolf.

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With last year’s class acclimating  themselves with the real world (some better and more successfully than others), XXL returns with the much anticipated Class of 2010. If you remember, an early version of this list was leaked online which was later proven as inaccurate. Thanks to the world’s greatest confessional, also known as Twitter, look for these names to grace the cover.

1. Nipsey Hussle
2. Wiz Khalifa
3. Freddie Gibbs
4. Pill
5. Jay Rock
6. Big Sean
7. Fashawn
8. J. Cole
9. OJ the Juiceman
10. Donnis

That’s all I have confirmed thus far, but when taking an overall analysis of Hip-Hop and the newcomers who have made/will be making an impact the next 11 and a half months, it shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out who’s missing. Then again, there could be some surprises too. FYI, the class took their school portraits on January 18 at a photo shoot at Industria Studio in New York.

FYI -  Nicki Minaj & Drake both declined to be on issue. Count them out

Props KarenCivil.com

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MTV changed its logo for the first time in roughly 30 years on Monday.

It was a minor change with major symbolism. The network — known more for its scripted reality show programming these days than the music videos and industry it revolutionized — dropped the “Music Television” tagline from the Frank Olinsky-designed original.

With the new look, MTV had those “Jersey Shore”-watching millennials in mind. Via the press release:

“It represents a new visually defined MTV, stimulating its past, present and future and embracing its diversity. Everything from Jersey Shore, to the VMAs to collaborations with the MoMA. The logo is part of MTV’s re-invention to connect with today’s millennial generation and bring them in as part of the channel.”

And with that, “Music Television” can officially rest in peace.

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