Phew, what a very busy week this has turned out to be. Not helped by phone calls demanding I go on the telly or radio to speculate wildly about EMI. Not that I'm complaining; speculating wildly about EMI is one of my favourites hobbies. If you've been just as busy, you've probably not had chance to read all of the 100+ news stories we've published this week. Don't worry, here are the five things that happened in our industry in the last seven days that you really need to know about.

01: EMI lost a Chief Executive and a court case. Every week is a bad week for EMI these days, but this one stood out. On Wednesday morning, the boss of the music major's collapsing recordings division, the actually quite popular Elio Leoni-Sceti, suddenly quit his job. The division's Chairman, former ITV boss Charles Allen, will now take on an executive role and take over many of Leoni-Sceti's responsibilities. But no new CEO will be appointed, leading to much speculation that Allen's brief is to get EMI ready for merger, most likely with Warner Music. Elsewhere, EMI lost a court battle with Pink Floyd who said their 1967 recording contract with the music firm forbid the selling of their albums on a track-by-track basis on iTunes etc. EMI's lawyers said the relevant contract clause did not apply to digital. The judge did not concur. CMU coverage | Interesting NY Post article

02: The BPI and web lobby continued to spar over the Digital Economy Bill. On Monday, record label trade body the BPI launched some research that said internet service providers could make millions a year by bundling music services into their net packages. The implication was that ISPs should work with the labels, rather than opposing the BPI-supported three-strikes system proposed in the Digital Economy Bill, which continues to work its way through parliament. ISP TalkTalk said they already offer a music service, and that they didn't need advice from an industry that had "failed to acknowledge the impact of new technology" on its operations. Later in the week, a consortium of ISPs and web companies signed a letter sent to the FT opposing a recent amendment to the DEB which will let judges shut down copyright-infringing websites. The web firms say the last minute provision is open to abuse, the BPI accused the web lobby of scaremongering. CMU coverage | Letter in FT

03: MusicTank discussed the pre-release window. A Think Tank event discussed the argument that by servicing new music to radio weeks before it is available via legit download and streaming services, record labels are forcing impatient music fans to access new tracks on file-sharing networks. Labels traditionally use the pre-release window to build a single's profile, to boost first week sales and therefore chart position. The music media present said they'd be happy for the pre-release window to be narrowed or closed, though admitted more mainstream media are influenced by the chart, and therefore major labels with pop acts will be nervous about losing the facility to maximise first week sales. Not everyone agreed labels should be forced to close the window through a change in chart rules. But Music Managers Forum boss John Webster said that such a chart rule was needed to "protect us from ourselves". CMU coverage | MusicWeek on Webbo's comments

04: IFPI bigged up the role of record labels. The globally focused record label trade body held a press briefing to remind the world that launching a new band was an expensive business, and that it was generally still record companies who invested the million dollars plus needed to break new talent. The briefing seemed to be a response to those who say record labels won't be needed in the music industry of the future. While their investment in new talent is still important, there are more alternative routes than ever for more established bands. This week OK Go, who got a US insurance company to pay for their latest pop video venture, announced they were leaving EMI with their current album, which they'll now sell via their own label. Meanwhile Charlotte Church secured a £2 million deal from music investment firm Power Amp. CMU coverage | IFPI report as PDF

05: Support continued for 6music and the Asian Network, the two niche digital radio services the BBC is proposing to shut next year. Although BBC COO Caroline Thomson tried to defend the cuts at the Westminster Media Forum (with some rubbish arguments), former Culture Minister James Purnell wrote an opinion piece for The Guardian explaining why 6 should be saved. Meanwhile the 'save the Asian Network' campaign gained some momentum, with an open letter of support for the service signed by actors Laila Rouass, Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal, Olympic medal-winning boxer Amir Khan, 'Bend It Like Beckham' director Gurinder Chadha, England cricketer Vikram Solanki, singers Jay Sean and MIA, plus Bollywood and 'Big Brother' star Shilpa Shetty. CMU coverage | Asian Network support letter

And there you have it, the music business week in five. Don't forget, for a handy digest of all this week's artist news, subscribe to the CMU Weekly, which will be delivered to your email this afternoon, complete with a brand new Spotify playlist compiled by the wonderful Efterklang.

Chris Cooke
Business Editor, CMU