Warner Music Group Corp.New York, NY, United States (NYSE: WMG)

Stronger Copyright Protection Regulation - To better protect music producers, distributors, and musicians, the House has approved the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (PRO-IP) Act, which improves the government's ability to enforce copyright protections. The bill creates a senior office in the White House to coordinate the government's copyright enforcement efforts, funds prosecutors and law enforcement officers who specialize in copyright protection, and raises penalties for intellectual property theft. The Senate is considering similar legislation.

Digital Downloads Outpace Physical Purchases - Music consumers are switching to digital downloads and buying fewer CDs, vinyl albums, and cassettes. The total number of physical sales and digital downloads neared 1.8 billion units in 2007, up 11.6 percent from the previous year. By category, digital downloads exceeded 868 million units, up 39 percent; physical sales fell slightly short of 544 million units, down 16 percent.

Anti-Performance Royalty Bill - Music producer and distributor efforts to lobby Congress to create legislation that would allow the recording industry to charge broadcasters a royalty fee for playing their music hasn't been successful. Instead, the Senate has introduced a bipartisan anti-performance royalty bill intended to block passage of legislation that would allow record companies to collect fees from broadcasters. Lawmakers argue that by playing music, broadcasters essentially provide free advertising, which spurs record, merchandise, ring tone, and concert ticket sales for the recording industry.