Plunge in CD sales: rap down almost 21%

Interesting article by Jeff Archer that appeared today in my paper, originally published in the New York Times on May 28 (available in full here). More info on the decline of the music industry, particularly the big music industry--what used to be the big seven now down to the big four, with Universal Music Group recently purchasing BMG, formerly in the big seven. How can so much concentration be healthy?? What really caught my eye was this, that rap music sale, "which had provided the industry with a lifeboat in recent years, fell far more than the overall market last year with a drop of almost 21 percent, according to Nielsen SoundScan." Has the creative juice begun to run out? Stay tuned.