As if anyone needed further proof that the music industry is rapidly
circling the drain, consider this: all but one of the five major 
record companies is now potentially up for sale (or other creative
moves like mergers).

That is:

Warner/Elektra/Atlatic group (WEA)
Universal Music (MCA/Island/Interscope/Geffen/A&M/Motown/blahblahblah)
EMI (Capitol/EMI/BlueNote)
BMG (Arista/BMG/Ariola)

Only Columbia/Epic/Sony is not for sale. But they aren't doing so well,
either, a fact reflected by their announcement today that they'll be
laying off around 1000 people by the end of this week.

Lot's of reasons for this, of course...Record companies run by bean counters
who don't know music, record companies run by people who only look for the
next big hit, not for career artists, Napster, $30 CD burners and 20 cent CD
blanks, etc...

Not to mention that there isn't a major record chain that isn't in the crapper
or headed there quickly...

dap