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SONGWRITERS DON'T LIKE THIS TUNE: The Bee Gees' Robin Gibb and other European music composers warned Thursday that standardizing music royalties across Europe could hurt musicians and the songs they write. The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, is close to finishing an antitrust investigation into how royalties are collected. The outcome might help large music retailers like Apple Inc.'s iTunes sell from one store across Europe, rather than from different stores with different products in each of the 27 EU nations. Gibb and three other composer-songwriters, representing the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance, or ECSA, warned that drastic changes to Europe's current online music market could reduce the royalties that musicians, particularly those who are lesser known and with fewer sales, depend on to keep writing songs. Musicians make money from their music after they register copyrights with collective-rights managers, who in turn license songs and collect royalties from online services, radio stations, nightclubs and other outlets. Currently, there are separate licensing managers in each of the 27 EU nations, leading to a highly fragmented market and causing European online music sales to lag behind those in the United States. More than 220 singers, musicians and composers, including Sade, Julio Iglesias, Maurice Jarre and Mark Knopfler, already have signed an appeal to the EU.

INDIA'S DOUBLE-DIGIT INFLATION RISES: India's key inflation rate rose to 11.63 percent for the third week of June, the government said Friday, lifted by increasing gasoline and food prices. A Commerce Ministry statement said Friday that the wholesale price index, India's most-watched inflation gauge, was up slightly from 11.42 percent the previous week, lifted mainly by the rising price of food, oil, cement and steel. Inflation in India has been at alarmingly high levels since the first week of June, when it rose sharply to 11 percent from 8.75 percent. The government recently raised fuel prices because it had to cut subsidies amid soaring crude oil prices. The move lifted gasoline prices about 10 percent in New Delhi. A year ago, the inflation rate was 4.32 percent.

AIR FRANCE EYES RAIL PARTNERSHIP: With the high price of fuel raising the cost of flying, Air France is looking into replacing some of its short-haul European flights with high-speed rail service in partnership with a French train operator, a move that analysts said could lead to significant savings. Air France spokeswoman Brigitte Barrand said the French flagship air carrier and train operator Veolia Transport "are examining the possibility of concluding a strategic partnership aimed at introducing a new player in the European high-speed rail sector." She declined to provide details on when the service could be launched or what routes would be concerned.

BEE NEWS SERVICES

Figuratively Speaking

37 million: Estimated number of young urban consumers -- ages 12 to 34 -- there are in the United States, according to a report from Packaged Facts.

$594 billion: Aggregate income of these 37 million young urbanites in 2007.

$684 billion: Projected income in 2012, much of which will be spent on luxury items.

JOHN MacINTYRE,

UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE