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Alleged file-sharer Joel Tenenbaum has a new ally in his battle against the record labels: Radiohead manager Brian Message. Tenenbaum, a grad student currently being sued for allegedly sharing seven tracks on Kazaa, intends to have Message testify that file-sharing can help the music industry, according to his lawyer, Charles Nesson of Harvard Law School.

The Songwriters Assn. of Canada proposes to allow domestic consumers access to all recorded music available online in return for adding a $5 Canadian ($4.96) monthly fee to every wireless and Internet account in the country. It has been slammed as "a pipe dream" by Canadian labels.

"Since then downloads have come to dominate the top 40. About 98% of all single sales are now from downloads, with about 100,000 needed every week to get to the top spot."

But, where PRS really shines is in threatening tons of small businesses. Over the years, we've had stories on PRS threatening car repair shops, because mechanics in the garage were playing their radios loud enough that customers in the waiting room could hear them. That's a public performance, according to PRS. Then they went after a police station because some cops were listening to radios. Then they went after a children's charity for singing Christmas carols without paying up. The group has even been known to call up small businesses and if they hear music in the background, demand payment, including one case involving a guy working at home with his dog. Apparently, that constitutes a "public performance." The latest (sent in by a few folks) is that PRS has now threatened a woman who plays classical music to her horses in her stable to keep them calm. She had been turning on the local classical music station, saying that it helped keep the horse calm -- but PRS is demanding £99 if she wants to keep providing such a "public performance." And it's not just a one-off. Apparently a bunch of stables have been receiving such calls.