The incredible shrinking industry… that’s what it appears to be with more and more layoffs each year. It seemed a bit strange that Jay Z was negotiating an alleged 10 Million Dollar contract with the industry in the state that it’s in, but our sources tell us he tried.. unfortunately,he failed. Jay, it seems, has still not gotten the performer aspect out of his blood and in today’s industry. That’s just not going to fly, record labels want TOTAL focus. Ironically, had the industry hired people like Jay 10 years ago before the ship started to sink, they would have been better prepared for the storm. I’ve said for years the industry has kept too many of the wrong people in very high paying positions while the Black interns were used as sources of information and the bridge to find new talent. They were doing all the work and the executives were taking all the credit and the money. NOW they decide to hire the RIGHT people but they’re a day late and a dollar short. It’s one thing to clean up a messy house and another thing to rebuild it. Oh well, it will be interesting to see what happens next. As an industry employee, I really hope we start to open our ears and minds to more innovative approaches to marketing and promotion. Radio is not far behind the record labels.