UK album sales slump in 2012 despite digital gains
LONDON (Reuters) - Total album sales in Britain fell 11.2 percent in 2012 despite a sizeable rise in digital downloads, official figures released on Wednesday showed.
The number of physical and digital albums sold last year in the United Kingdom totalled 100.5 million, down from 113.2 million in 2011 and extending a series of losses over the last decade.
According to figures from the Official Charts Company, the drop came despite a 14.8 percent rise in digital album sales to 30.5 million.
The rapid growth in musical downloads once again failed to make up for losses in the physical CD market which still dominates. CD sales dropped 19.5 percent year-on-year to 69.4 million. They stood at 123 million as recently as 2008.
The album chart for the year was dominated by homegrown talent with Emeli Sande, Adele and Ed Sheeran occupying the top three spots. Seven out of the top 10 were British acts.
British singles saw their fifth consecutive year of record sales, increasing 6.0 percent in 2012 to 188.6 million. Of these, 99.6 percent were digital tracks and bundles.
"Music fans are now streaming billions of songs from new services enabled by record labels," said Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI which represents the recorded music business.
"The Jubilee celebrations and the London 2012 Olympics provided a great showcase for British music internationally, but market conditions at home remained difficult and pressure on the 'leisure wallet' impacted music sales on the high street," he added in a statement.
UK consumers streamed music tracks 3.7 billion times in 2012, representing 140 tracks per household.
"Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye featuring Kimbra, "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen and "Titanium" by David Guetta featuring Sia were the three most streamed tracks of the year.
Playboy founder Hugh Hefner marries his 'runaway bride'
(Reuters) - Octogenarian Playboy founder Hugh Hefner briefly swapped his iconic silk pajamas for a tuxedo to marry Crystal Harris, the one-time "runaway bride" who followed through this time at a New Year's Eve wedding.
"Happy New Year from Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Hefner!" the Playboy magazine publisher tweeted early on Tuesday.
The message accompanied a photograph of Hefner, 86, wearing what appeared to be purple silk pajamas under a black bathrobe and snuggling his bride, 26, still wearing her pale pink wedding dress. He also wore his trademark captain's hat.
An hour earlier, Hefner posted a picture of himself in a tuxedo with his bride under an arch of pink and white flowers at the wedding ceremony in the Playboy Mansion in Beverly Hills, California.
"Crystal & I married on New Year's Eve in the Mansion with Keith as my Best Man. Love that girl!" Hefner wrote on Twitter with the picture, referring to his brother Keith Hefner, a songwriter.
The couple tied the knot more than a year after their planned 2011 wedding was scuttled when Harris got cold feet.
The blonde Playboy Playmate of the Month for December 2009 jettisoned the adult entertainment mogul in what was called a "change of heart" five days before a lavish June 2011 wedding before 300 guests.
Harris, who appeared on the July 2011 cover of the adult magazine with a "runaway bride" sticker covering her bottom half, tweeted on Monday that she was ready to commit and changed her name to "Crystal Hefner" on the micro-blogging site.
"Today is the day I become Mrs. Hugh Hefner," Harris, who has a psychology degree, wrote on Twitter after writing "Feeling very happy, lucky, and blessed."
The San Diego native, whose parents are British, said she asked for Christmas ornaments rather than lingerie at her pre-Christmas bridal shower to help decorate Hefner's famed mansion.
Hefner, founder of the Playboy adult entertainment empire, has been married twice before. He and his second wife Kimberley Conrad, also a former Playmate, divorced in 2010 after a lengthy separation. His first marriage to Mildred Williams ended in divorce in 1959. He has two children from each marriage.
Oscar nomination voting extended after online hitches
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Voting for Oscar nominations was extended by a day after some people reported problems with a new online voting system, organisers of the movie industry's coveted awards said Monday.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said the deadline for its 6,000 members to vote on nominations for the year's best films, performances, directors, screenplay and other achievements would be extended to Friday, January 4 - 24 hours after the original January 3 deadline.
"By extending the voting deadline we are providing every opportunity available to make the transition to online balloting as smooth as possible," Ric Robertson, chief operating officer of the academy, said in a statement.
"We're grateful to our global membership for joining us in this process," Robertson added.
Nominations for the 2013 Oscars will be announced on January 10, setting off weeks of speculation and campaigning by movie studios and industry pundits before the winners are announced in Hollywood on February 24.
The academy is using electronic balloting this year for the first time in its 85-year history but has also said any member can submit a paper ballot if preferred.
Monday's announcement follows reports of frustration on the part of some members in logging into the new online system, as well as some slowness in ballots being returned by both the new or old method.
A source close to the Academy acknowledged that some members had experienced problems with forgotten passwords or user names and that the extended deadline would help in resolving those issues in this first year.
The deadline to return nominating ballots was pushed forward by about two weeks this year, leaving the actors, directors, producers and other academy members less time to view the many movies opening in December that are vying for Oscar nominations.
Trade website The Hollywood Reporter, which spoke to at least 10 members of the academy last week, reported that some had been locked out of the website over password issues, others found the website confusing, and some were concerned about the website being hacked and results being leaked.
The academy in December sent all its paid-up members paper ballots in a precautionary move prompted by what entertainment website TheWrap.com said was concern about the number of people who, at that time, had not chosen whether to vote online or on paper.
Robertson told TheWrap when voting opened on December 17 that although some members were opposed to online voting, he was "pleasantly surprised" that more people than he had expected had registered to vote online.
In the past, Oscar ballots have been mailed around the world to academy members and the results have been tabulated by hand by the PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm.
The move to electronic voting was seen as speeding up the process and making it easier to swiftly reach members working or living overseas. It followed a lengthy consultation with academy members and officials, and the setting up of a 24-hour support center to help members use the online system.
Playboy's Hugh Hefner and 'runaway bride' set to wed
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The runaway bride who left Playboy founder Hugh Hefner out in the cold days before their planned wedding in 2011 said on Monday that she is finally ready to tie the knot with the octogenarian publisher on New Year's Eve.
"Today is the day I become Mrs. Hugh Hefner," Crystal Harris, 26, wrote on Twitter on Monday after changing her name to "Crystal Hefner" on the micro-blogging site. "Feeling very happy, lucky, and blessed."
Hefner, 86, and Harris reunited earlier this year after the blonde Playmate jettisoned the adult entertainment mogul in what was called a "change of heart" five days before a lavish June 2011 wedding before 300 guests.
Harris hinted at a low-key ceremony this time around, tweeting a picture of a room at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles flush with an arch of white and pink flowers, and two dozen white chairs aligned for the ceremony.
Hefner himself was silent on Twitter and the exact timing of Monday's wedding ceremony was not known.
Harris, who earned a psychology degree, was Playboy magazine's Miss December 2009 and appeared on the July 2011 cover of the adult magazine with a "runaway bride" sticker covering her bottom half.
The San Diego native born to British parents said she asked for Christmas ornaments at her pre-Christmas bridal shower to help decorate Hefner's famed mansion.
"I was deciding what kind of shower I wanted, and I thought I didn't really want a lingerie shower, since I have more than enough lingerie," Harris told Us Weekly magazine of the shower.
Hefner, founder of the Playboy adult entertainment empire, has been married twice before. He and his second wife Kimberley Conrad, also a former Playmate, divorced in 2010 after a lengthy separation. His first marriage to Mildred Williams ended in divorce in 1959. He has two children from each marriage. (Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Cynthia Osterman)