NYTimes: No. 1 With a Bullet: Madonna Opens Big, and She'd Better. "The music business has become like the film business. If a record doesn't do well the opening week, people say it's dead.

In the race for first-week supremacy, labels coordinate an attack on four fronts: radio airplay, video exposure, media coverage and placement at retail stores. But radio and MTV often wait to evaluate first-week sales before committing to airplay. Yet, strong opening sales are difficult to build without radio and video exposure.

In older days, when labels were often ruled by mavericks, an artist could win prolonged support despite commercial struggles. But after the consolidation of the business into five companies, record executives can keep their jobs only by delivering regular quarterly profits to impatient bosses and trigger-fingered shareholders." If there was any evidence against media consolidation, this must be it. Diversity is the key element in media growth and success.