Good article in the NYT about the music industry in transition.  Paidcontent, as usual, has some good insight into what this means.  The article points to the different revenue streams that the labels are squeezing in to make up for declining CD sales, and how this is changing the definition of a hit.   The article cites Akon's record, which sold 283,000 CDs, 244,000 downloads (of the two singles in the album) and 269,000 ringtones.  Sounds like a hit to me. 

It goes on to say how "Lately, the major labels have in effect tried to move into the talent
management business by demanding that new artists seeking record
contracts give their label a cut of concert earnings or T-shirt and
merchandise revenue — areas that had once been outside the labels’
bailiwick."  Good.  That's what they should be doing.

More worryingly is the durability of albums.  More titles have churned through Billboard's top spot this year than in any other year since computerized tracking was implemented in 1991.  The short life spans of these releases are bad news for the label and the artist.  If this keeps up, I predict artists will release singles every few months rather than an album every year or so.  That would pose big challenges on the marketing front as the labels are set up to market on an album-by-album basis.