Four major releases have been temporarily halted, from record giant Universal Music Group, home to Interscope Geffen A&M Records.  Initially, plans were to release the new music during the holiday season, but these releases have been delayed for a variety of reasons. 

Axl Rose and his take on Guns n Roses were also going to be part of the delay, however, the long awaited, multi-million dollar, "Chinese Democracy", finally saw the day of light on November 23rd.  First week sales are expected to be lower than previous thought, projected at around 300,000 copies.   

Even though the music industry has been sending stress signals for some time now, recently, music sales have taken a undeniable nosedive.  In the last few weeks sales fell beyond expectations, with last week dropping almost thirty percent from a year ago.

Previously, although the trend of slagging sales had become quite the norm, the record industry continued to meet admirable expectations, even as the economy was falling on its face.  What a difference a few weeks can make.  The situation only gets worse for Interscope, who were caught off guard by the sudden downturn.  Now that the expected releases have been delayed, a bad situation has become worse.  Planned for a November / December release were recordings from 50 Cent, The Black Eyed Peas and the highly anticipated "Relapse", the first release from Eminem in seven years.  Is there a Doctor in the House?  The only recording that may be released before 2009 is "Detox" from hip hop mogul Dr Dre;  his first solo effort in nine years.

Pop kings U2 planned on an early 2009 release of their new album, but not before the band, manager and record label decided that the album needed more work stating that the material was not "strong enough" and pushed back the release date to early fall.

All this had people questioning the record company's motives, prompting Interscope Chairman Jimmy Iovine to state the he is more concerned with quality than timelines.  "Interscope Geffen A&M has never been a label to rush the creative process of its artists".