But the recording side is also enjoying a few bright spots, however dispersed. This week, EMI Music scored a chart-topping release, this time through the returning Lady Antebellum (on Capitol Nashville). The top-ranked Antebellum album, Need You Now, scored another 93,061 units in its eighth week, according to US-based figures from Nielsen Soundscan. Need You Now is currently approaching sales of 1.5 million units.

Also in the top ten is Gorillaz. The EMI (Virgin) artist ranked 9th on Plastic Beach with 37,869 units in its second week. In a bout of positive spinning on Wednesday, the label group also reported a gain in album-related market share to 11.74 percent, year-to-date, better than a year-ago 8.77 percent.

Other (non-EMI) chart-toppers included Marvin Sapp, whose Here I Am scored 75,534 in its debut week, enough for a second-place finish. That was followed by Ludacris (Battle of the Sexes, 61,198); The Edge compilation (53,141); Lady Gaga (The Fame, 48,210); and Sade (Soldier of Love; 40,274).

Online formats will boost the bottom line. These are still early days, and BIA/Kelsey projects a 16.5 percent compound growth rate from internet and other nascent formats. “The industry will continue to grow its online revenues in 2010 as increasingly more progressive radio groups recognize they are more than just over-the-air transmitters and begin to integrate cross-platform promotions with their broadcast and web operations,” commented Mark Fratrik, vice president of BIA/Kelsey.

And, ignore the local connection at your peril. The community aspect remains incredibly important, especially on the traditional dial but also across other delivery formats. On that note, most of the biggest earners are from Los Angeles or New York, an outcome that maps to population densities.

The first remains under wraps (stay tuned), though the other is Musicolio (musicolio.com), the brainchild of former A&R executive Big Billy Clark (not to be confused with Big Jon Platt). Clark has been a longtime A&R executive at several majors, including Island Def Jam, Atlantic, and the label formerly known as Sony BMG. He is currently owner of Arketekt Entertainment, among other pursuits.

But Clark’s experiences as a tour manager, specifically for Hoobastank, helped to plant the seed on Musicolio. “When I was recording with Hoobastank in Hawaii, I remember we needed to add a harp to one of the songs and we spent countless days trying to find a player,” Clark told Digital Music News, a familiar tale for too many.

Currently, Musicolio is in beta, though actively beefing its job, project and collaborative listings. It is also enabling XML-based feeds of new posts. Early takers include Babyface, who is tapping the platform to find artists for his label (a deal with Island Def Jam). The listings for harpists in Hawaii remain light though, at least at this early stage.

The decision spells relief to Terra Firma chairman Guy Hands, who recently relocated to Guernsey in the Channel Islands to minimize tax obligations. A case in London would force Hands to spend considerable time in England, and seriously threaten his taxation status.

So, the case rolls on in the Big Apple, though the face-off remains a huge distraction – regardless of venue. EMI is struggling to retain talent amidst the uncertainty, and even rumored acquisition talks are getting complicated by the suit.

Actually, Gaga is at the vanguard of a continued music video attack. Soulja Boy has grabbed 722.4 million views on “Crank That” alone, and other heavy-hitters include Susan Boyle, Michael Jackson, Beyonce, and of course, Rick Astley. Collectively, music videos make up more than half of the ‘Club’ list, mostly from professionally-generated (not user-generated) pieces.

Just recently, UK-based ACS:Law threatened blog Slyck.com for allegedly defamatory comments made within its forums, a flimsy attack at best. The private firm, acting on behalf of various clients across different forms of media, has been pursuing an RIAA-style campaign against file-swappers in the UK. Those efforts have raised some familiar problems, including reports of false accusations and bullying, a negative media backlash, and even a disciplinary review by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

What a mess, though Slyck appears to have brushed back the ACS effort, thanks to some legal research and help from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). ACS may be confusing defamation with simple name-calling, something clearly protected under the First Amendment. “The statements are at worst hyperbolic opinions and therefore cannot be found to be defamatory,” the EFF wrote to ACS. “An online poster calling your firm’s ’5 Point Plan’ a ‘wank plan’ or stating that he or she hopes that you ‘choke on your mince pie’ hardly subjects the speaker to legal liability.”

That consolidation also extends to the iTunes Store, where searches for individual contestants redirect to the official ‘American Idol’ page. The redirect was first tipped to Digital Music News by an AI contestant, and the policy was subsequently confirmed by sources at Apple.

But the real proof is in live search. Just try searching a current contestant – Aaron Kelly, Casey James, Crystal Bowersox, or any other – and the iTunes redirect occurs. That is part of the agreement between the companies, though labels attempting to sell earlier content from these artists are finding it difficult to get visibility. That is a reasonable complaint, though these labels also stand to benefit from the ‘American Idol’ exposure, especially if the artist makes it into later rounds.

The numbers on Bieber are remarkably strong. In 2010, My World has been consistently clocking US-based weekly album sales of around 30,000, according to Nielsen Soundscan. The album entered in November of 2009 at 137,000 units and has since sold platinum, though its staying power is the more interesting story. Over the past ten weeks, the EP has averaged 29,798 units, with variations of just a few thousand weekly. Even more impressive is that Bieber is just now releasing My World 2.0, a tricky dovetail that is rarely achieved.

Albums – both digital and physical – are nice revenue-generators, but generally a laggard behind various online formats. On that note, Bieber is showing rare chart-topping saturation across both physical and digital platforms, and dialing back to 2007, his initial traction came from YouTube.

In the here-and-now, Bieber owns ceiling-clinging spots for the 2.0 single “Baby” (featuring Ludacris) across iTunes, P2P, and MySpace Music, according to data tracked by BigChampagne. “Baby” started hyper-reacting across those platforms within the late-January, early-February timeframe, and has remained a chart-topper since.

This is part of a broader pattern. Earlier, singles “One Time,” “One Less Lonely Girl,” “Favorite Girl” and “Love Me” reacted before My World struck, and every track from that album has since charted. The question now is whether Bieber can augment his current position towards the star-power of something like Lady Gaga, at least in terms of sales and multi-platform saturation. That is the challenge now faced by the Bieber team and label Island Def Jam (UMG)

The report, shared exclusively with Digital Music News ahead of a broader release, offers a succinct and educational history of supply chain standardization within the physical business, and also discusses XML-based standardization efforts coming from DDEX. On top of that, the report delves into standardization examples from other industries, including the insurance, travel, and financial sectors.

Those other industries appear more mature in their adoption levels, and when it comes to music, legacy systems are proving a hard habit to break. “NARM understands that partners with existing legacy systems are reluctant to update their protocols when ‘everything works’ today,” the report noted. “However, NARM also understands that rapidly evolving product types will place a heavier burden on those systems and build an information bubble that may very well burst if all parties do not come to the table.”

The survey, conducted through NARM’s ‘Digital Think Tank’ initiative, shows the plodding state of standardization. According to a survey of members, 71 percent of digital suppliers and retailers had not yet implemented DDEX standards. Of that, roughly half were gun-shy because of a lack of broader industry consensus around standards.

One-third of the non-adopters cited resource constraints. “According to one respondent, the technical barrier to entry for smaller suppliers is quite high, and such companies would seek assistance to make it feasible,” the report notes.

Nelson is the 16-year-old programmer behind the concept, and the other half of the team is father Mark. The duo caused a few ripples over the holidays by offering ad-free videos from Vevo, based largely on an API loophole.

The app is smartly positioned as a free download, though early ratings are only lukewarm. Part of that may stem from the competitive impact of this site, or lack thereof. After all, lots of sites offer free streams and access, including the source – YouTube – for much of this content.