edgar bronfman

Here are some notes from the Q&A portion of yesterday's WMG earnings call. Two things stodd out. First, WMG said weakness in sales has not been due to reductions in floor space. Second, CEO Edgar Bronfman was almost as cautious as Vivendi's CFO was last week in answering analyst questions about mobile growth.

• AC/DC's Black Ice dropped 65% in its second week but held on to the #1 spot on the album chart. Unit sales last week were 6.96 million units, down 1.7% from the previous week and down 25% from same week in 2007. (Billboard.biz)

• The CEO of Activision commented to the Financial Times on Warner Music Group chief Edgar Bronfman's statement that labels and publishers are not being compensated properly for use of their songs in video games. "We’re going to favour those publishers that recognise and appreciate how much we can add value to their artists," said Robert Kotick.

Over the last few days, much commentary has been offered on how Sony's acquisition of Bertelsmann's half of Sony BMG can be used as a measuring stick for other music companies. That's a low-tech way of saying people are comparing multiples and valuing companies.