Nostalgia comes in all forms during the holidays, particularly vinyl. Turns out music fans still want a physical product to hold onto, and vinyl and CD box sets are a sure bet this season.

Take your pick from Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, The Decemberists, Plastikman and The Pixies (whose massive Minotaur scored a Grammy nomination for best packaging design). Labels released big box sets to celebrate anniversaries, including Matador at 21 (Pavement, Mogwai, Dizzee Rascal, Cornelius) and Ninja Tune’s XX (Roots Manuva, Daedelus, Poirier, Spank Rock).

Even in physical format, the classics never go out of style. For a hefty price, you can grab box sets from Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, Tom Zé and the Apple Records Box Set ($336.98? C’mon!) featuring James Taylor, Badfinger and, you know, The Beatles.

And the numbers prove that people want the goods year round. Nielsen Entertainment reports vinyl sales are steadily increasing. Last year in the U.S. alone, 2.5 million vinyl albums were sold, up from 1.88 million in 2008, Computer World reports. Newer figures reveal sales may be plateauing, but according to the bands and musicians we’ve interviewed, tangible music isn’t going anywhere just yet.

Tis the season of giving, and everyone from Paul McCartney to Kanye West is pitching in to increase awareness of worthy causes. And it’s easier than ever–you can upload a video, you can skip shaving, you can even be silent.

Most popular is columnist Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” video campaign, created after several LGBT teenagers committed suicide across the U.S. Despite the seemingly insurmountable troubles we face, there’s life–and a good one–after the challenging teenage years.

Many musicians have shared their own stories of coming out or their friend’s struggles with sexual identity, including Sia, Eve and Scissor Sisters. Since forming, the campaign reports a 50 percent increase of calls to the crisis intervention hotline, The Trevor Project.

Notice an increase of mustachioed friends lately? That’s because it’s Movember, an annual effort to increase prostate cancer awareness. Participants grow their mustaches, the furriest raising money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG. There’s also the Mustaches VS. Cancer campaign, benefitting pediatric cancer care and research.

Paul McCartney, Paul Weller and others recently contributed to “Art of the Song,” a U.K. campaign raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Their songwriting contributions will be auctioned in December. Even Kanye West is taking a little time from gazing in the mirror to donate artwork to Whatever It Takes, a non-profit that’s raised over $4 million for several charities.

So enough turkey talk–find a local opportunity near you.

The biggest trend to emerge from the CMJ 2010 Music Marathon? It wasn’t necessarily what went down at the festival itself, but what happened on the periphery. From competing non-CMJ shows to unannounced surprise performances, sideline attractions became the main event.

Phoenix set the bar only two nights in with the help of some old friends. The French band, along with The Dirty Projectors and Wavves, performed at Madison Square Garden (the first time the arena has hosted CMJ), and wowed the Twitter-frenzied crowd when Daft Punk came out to perform mega-hits “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” and “Around the World.” (Word on the street is they also sound checked in full futuristic gear).

Then there’s Kanye West, who unexpectedly showed up at Pitchfork’s #Offline fest, running concurrent with CMJ. Mr. West’s star power reportedly blew Daft Punk out of the water as he ran through a set of newer songs at Brooklyn Bowl for the Fool’s Gold party, mostly from his weekly G.O.O.D. Friday releases.

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The idea of open content is picking up serious steam now that basic production software comes with every new laptop and video cameras fit in pockets. Wikipedia and Creative Commons were born of the idea that given access, everyone has something viable to contribute.

Musicians are increasingly aware of the power of their fans–whether bands are asking fans for remixes or fans are taking the reins to produce new material, the trend is snowballing.

In true open content form, Radiohead fans in Prague pooled footage from a show and edited it down into a two-hour documentary. Once the band caught wind, they donated high-quality audio from the performance to complete the soundtrack. Curious? Download it here. When it comes to video content, the Beastie Boys kicked things off way back in 2004 with crowdsourced concert footage, resulting in Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That!

The latest band to crowdsource is Metric, who are hosting a remix contest of their album Fantasies. Remixers download wav files from Indaba, and the band will select the best remixes, each winner scoring $1000. The Creators Project (the peeps behind Vice and Intel) took it a step further at events held earlier this year, where producers teamed up with the audience to create tracks live on the spot.

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Someone always gets snubbed. Despite launching the careers of many musicians, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences doesn’t hand out Emmys for music supervision. If the songs featured on a show were previously recorded or created without the show in mind, they don’t count. No original score? No dice.

Music purists side with the Academy, and for reasons fair enough. But even if music supervision is the red-headed step child of the Nielsen family, there’s no denying the lucrative exchange between music and television.

So which shows score high with music fans? “Treme” leads the way for showcasing New Orleans jazz and cajun music–as well as musicians–naturally weaving them into the storyline. Steve Earle (Justin Townes Earle‘s dad) was nominated this year for “This City,” a song written for his character, though the show was otherwise ineligible for an Emmy.

“Gossip Girl,” “Weeds” and “True Blood” are also favorites for introducing indie acts like the Mountain Goats, Grizzly Bear, Beach House and White Rabbits to the mainstream. And “Glee,” well, you’ve heard about “Glee.”

From the artist’s perspective, no one talks about selling out anymore. Licensing is arguably the best way to make a living these days, and several talented bands from our roster have licensed their music to television shows. Hear Jace Everett, Fanfarlo and The Pierces explain the impact of television on their careers, and we’ve also included a blooper from Mugison on showcasing your talents the way Dolly Parton does.

Musicians are businesspeople–at least the smart ones. While up and coming bands once started their own labels and booked their own tours (full-time jobs alone), they’ve now expanded to crowdfunding album production (Kickstarter, Sellaband), selling merch online without the high distribution percentage cuts (Bandcamp) and much more as DIY is pushed into new territory.

Entrepreneurial successes this summer alone include Crooked Fingers, who raised over $12,000 to pay for recording and manufacturing a limited-edition vinyl 12” of cover songs–twice his goal.

Amanda Palmer realized her goal in mere minutes, selling $15,000 worth of merchandise in 90 seconds with the release of her ukulele-based Radiohead cover album. Not bad for someone who recently left a major label.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

Now that the U.S. has been knocked out of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, who should Americans root for? (Those of us who follow football, anyway.) Well, if we’re as multi-culti as we like to think, we probably all have roots in other countries–or a couple if you’re Brazilian Girls’ Sabina Sciubba.

The best part about the World Cup is the exposure it brings to international music. Two-hundred and four countries attempted to qualify for this installment of the World Cup, and here we present a selection of interesting music from around the globe. Boring “world music” this ain’t.

(WORLD CUP MUSIC)