Link-O-Rama …

Best Buy to start selling music gear, instruments. Now musicians will get that famous service Best Buy has been giving the rest of us – Associated Press

Non-ticket holders blamed for most audience-related problems at New England Country Music Festival – The Boston Globe

What do Chris Brown, Ne-Yo and Julianne Hough have in common? Each artist has cut a chewing gum commercial jingle for Wrigley’s – The Wall Street Journal (registration may be required)

CD sales are down, down, down, but artist merchandise sales are up, up up! – The Canadian Press

Did you know that before he was the “King of Country Music” Roy Acuff played semi-pro baseball? – MLB.com

Tired of MP3, AAC and OGG? Here’s five tips for better digital music – CNET / Crave

Dates, Dates & More Dates …

Like Alex Trebek, we love bands whose names are in the form of a question. Like Does It Offend You, Yeah?, which is the same line our corporate masters respond with whenever we bring up topics like “pay raises,” “vacation time” and “clean restrooms.” The band hits the club circuit during the last week of August continuing through September, and today’s update includes several new stops covering both coasts and points in between. New dates include August 30 in New York at the Bowery Ballroom, September 2 in Montreal at Les Saints, September 6 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina at Local 506, September 10 in Chicago at Subterranean, September 17 in Seattle at Chop Suey and September 22 in West Hollywood at the Troubadour.

Australian star Delta Goodrem has a new routing for the old home continent. New dates include January 9 in Newcastle, January 12 & 13 in Sydney, January 16 & 17 in Melbourne, January 24 in Canberra, January 27 in Brisbane, January 30 in Hindmarsh and February 3 in Perth.

Jason Mraz updates today with new listings for Europe and the United States. Over there the new ones include September 21 in Stuttgart, October 2 in Berlin and October 5 in Munich. Over here look for Mr. Mraz in Scranton, Pennsylvania on October 8, New York City on October 10, Upper Darby, Pennsylvania on October 16, Vegas on November 15, Milwaukee on November 21, Lakewood, Ohio on November 25, Atlanta on November 29 and Orlando, Florida on December 3.

And we have a few new dates for David Lindley – September 19 in Davenport, Iowa at Redstone Room, September 20 in Kansas City at Knuckleheads and September 21 iin Lincoln, Nebraska at Zoo Bar.

During the last couple of hours we also updated the schedules for Garaj Mahal, Days Of The New, Chicago Afrobeat Project, Bettye LaVette, Carolina Liar, Iron & Wine, Jorma Kaukonen, Laura Cantrell, Okkervil River, The Fratellis, Ruthie Foster, The New Year and Unearth.

And that’s what’s shakin’ at the halfway mark. Don’t miss Your Latest Update, coming up around 3 pm (PDT), from Pollstar.com!