Music copied on to recordable CDs is becoming a bigger threat to the bottom line of record stores and music labels than online file-sharing, the head of the US recording industry’s trade group says.

SRichard Branson’s ambitious plans for reviving sales at his Virgin Megastores is beginning in San Francisco, where shelves will soon be stocked with sex goods and a 24-hour street vending machine that dispenses the latest CD and DVD titles.