Sell your soul to the company
who are waiting there to sell plastic ware
And in a week or two if you make the charts
the girls'll tear you apart
-- The Byrds

Pop music used to be a much simpler business. The economics have changed radically as CD sales slide and digital use booms. The English band Radiohead, which does not have a record company, this week began offering its new album online in a name-your-own-price scheme. The bands Jamiroquai and Oasis are considering doing the same, the Telegraph says.

In the most vivid sign yet of how the music industry has been turned upside down, Madonna is poised to leave her longtime label, Warner Music, for a $120 million deal with the concert promoter Live Nation.

Although word of a possible deal emerged over the summer, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Madonna is now close to signing a 10-year contract includes a general advance of $17.5 million and payments of $50 million to $60 million for three albums.

Under the deal, Live Nation would share in all facets of the revenue generated by the 49-year-old pop star, including her recordings, concert tours, merchandise, and licensing.   Live Nation has a similar, albeit smaller, deal with the hard-rock band Korn, in which it holds a 6 percent stake in the group's business.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the Madonna has decided to leave Warner, which has been her home since 1983, because the label would not match Live Nation's offer.

The singer is still under contract to deliver one more studio album and a greatest-hits package to Warner, the Los Angeles Times says.

Madonna makes more money on her tours than on her albums. Her North American tour last year had ticket sales of $86 million.

Some labels have been looking to offset declining CD sales with deals that give them a share of revenue from touring and merchandise, but Warner Music has apparently decided the economics would not work in a new Madonna deal.

Indeed, the Journal notes that some in the industry estimate that based on current prices Live Nation would need to sell 15 million copies of each of the first three Madonna albums before it would earn back its investment.