Two insightful articles on the record industry in Rolling Stone magazine, a few weeks ago.
Rolling Stone : The Record Industry’s Decline
Rolling Stone : The Fall of the Record Business: What Next?

The first is a summary of the overall situation for major labels. Including biting commentary which seems quite appropriate. (That piece was also covered by Boing Boing.)

A similar piece was published in Wired a few years ago:
Wired 11.02: The Year The Music Dies
According to that Wired piece, Billboard editor-in-chief (and former editor for Rolling Stone) Timothy White predicted the demise of the record industry before his death in 2002.

The second Rolling Stone compiles several scenarios for the future of the record industry, à la Global Business Network.
Together, a rather clear overall picture of what is going on with and what may happen to the record industry. Plenty of tidbits which should make their way into analysis of the music industry at large.
Of course, there could have been more attention given to actual musicians and the report seems somewhat self-serving for Rolling Stone. Not to mention that the perspective is very much that of large multi-national conglomerates.
A useful read nonetheless.<—9c9903708802dc016273bda0c1c42df9—>