Celebrity endorsements are behind increases in headphone sales, says a new report by market-research company the NPD Group. That’s good news for artists with headphone lines such as Dr. Dre, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Ludacris and Diddy. Last year, headphones that cost $100 or more accounted for 3.5% of the market, up from 2% in […]

Apple and other digital music retailers are in discussions with record labels to improve the quality of the song files they sell, executives involved in the talks say. As a result, online music stores could eventually offer songs that sound truer to their original recordings, perhaps at a premium price. Professional music producers generally capture […]