SCREW ME, SCREW YOU: Major labels squash Napster was selected by Blender magazine as #1 in its list of the Biggest Record-Company Screwups of All Time. The rest, in order, includes 2) Decca’s Dick Rowe passing on the Beatles, 3) Berry Gordy Jr. sells Motown to MCA and Boston Ventures for $60 million, 4) The growth of independent promotion, 5) The RIAA sues a struggling single mom for digital piracy, 6) Casablanca ships a million copies each of the four Kiss solo albums in 1978, gets more than that in returns, 7) Leeds/Duchess sells Bob Dylan’s publishing back to Albert Grossman in return for its $1,000 advance, 8) Warner lets Interscope go after taking heat from Bob Dole, C. Delores Tucker, 9) SonyBMG’s “Rootkit” DRM backfire, 10) Columbia loses Alicia Keys to J, drops 50 Cent, 11) Geffen sues Neil Young for not making “Neil Young” records, 12) Geffen spends $13 million on Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy, which never comes out. 13)
Warner Bros. inks R.E.M. to a five-album, $80 million deal, 14) Stax Records inadvertently signs away all future rights to its catalog to Atlantic, 15) MCA sinks $2.2 million into marketing Carly Hennessy, then sells 378 copies, 16) Warner drops Wilco, then resigns them to its Nonesuch label, 17) Thomas Edison refuses to put out jazz or make his records playable on other systems, 18) BMG tries to dump, then rehires Clive Davis, 19) The industry phases out the vinyl single in favor of cassettes and then, CDs, 20) MCA signs L.A. glam band Pretty Boy Floyd for $1 million, passes on Nirvana right before grunge kicks in.

WHICH ONE IS AVIS? eMusic said it has now sold more than 200 million downloads since establishing its current subscription model in November 2003, and is now operating at a monthly clip north of 7 million tracks worldwide. The store claims more than 400k subscribers, further asserting that it’s the #2 download service, although that’s disputed by some observers, who point to Wal-Mart or Amazon in the absence of concrete data. In any case, the difference between iTunes and whatever store is #2 is like that between Mt. Everest and an anthill. (4/15a)

UP AGAINST THE WAL: All of a sudden, Wal-Mart finds itself in the center of the action. Along with the Hertz-Avis question of who's #1 and the announcement of the exclusive release of Bryan Adams’ 11 (see below), the chain last week removed downloads from Warner Music and Sony BMG, the result of a negotiation impasse surrounding DRM-free licensing, according to Digital Music News, which has been following the story. In the meantime, the retail giant is offering an exclusive Mariah Carey interview, part of its in-studio series, Soundcheck. (4/9a)

CHANGING THEIR iTUNE: The Big Four music distributors confirm that Wal-Mart is still the #1 music retailer, not Apple’s iTunes, and are wondering where the NPD Group, which made the original claim, got its information. All four acknowledged that they are billing more with Wal-Mart than Steve Jobs’ online store. (4/8p)

BRYAN’S SONGS: Following the lead of The Eagles, Bryan Adams’ new studio album, 11, his first in four years, will be released exclusive through Wal-Mart and Sam’s Clubs nationwide, as well as on www.walmart.com in CD and MP3 formats. In the last month, 11 debuted in the Top Ten of 11 international charts, including #1 in Canada, India and Switzerland; #2 in Austria, Denmark and Germany; #4 in Portugal; #6 in the U.K and #8 in Holland. The album, recorded in hotel rooms and backstage concert venues through Europe over the last two years, is his 11th of all-original music and features 11 songs. (4/8p)