Google is reportedly in talks with big music labels to launch a music streaming service. According to a report by the Financial Times, the search engine aims to take on popular services like Spotify, Pandora, Slacker, and Deezer. While Google already has a music download service, building its own music streaming service would be new. Meanwhile, the company already has plans to launch a paid subscription service on YouTube that would enable subscribers to pay to watch their favorite shows and artists. 

Amazon.com has launched its first music store aimed at Apple Inc. devices. The store allows, for the first time, direct purchases with iPhones and iPod Touch devices. The service enables users to buy their music from Amazon on their devices and then access it anywhere, as it is automatically saved to the Amazon Cloud Player.

According to new research by NPD Group, music downloads continue to grow despite the emergence of new streaming services. The research found that people that stream music on Spotify are twice as likely to buy songs they play. ”38% of (free) Spotify users report buying a song download in the past three months, compared to 17% for non-users.”  

While sales of CDs and vinyl still dominate the industry accounting for 61% of all music sold worldwide, digital sales are set to take over the market by 2015. According to market research company Strategy Analytics, digital music spending will represent 39% of global music spending this year, with streaming digital content rising by 40% throughout the year to become the dominant growth engine for the digital format.  Overall digital spending is expected to increase 17.8% for 2012. 

Sky News Arabia has selected its title music and brand sounds from the London-based company Box of Toys Audio. "Our aim was always to create a contemporary, young and global sound, which at the same time, speaks to a regional audience – we feel this has been successfully captured with this music," said Habib Feghali, head of creative, Sky News Arabia.