Hot on last weeks news of the RIAA members seeking to reduce artist royalties, record labels are starting to squeeze artists in other ways, or so the NYTimes reports.

In the article, NYT cites a recent release from R&B star Akon that sold 283,000 discs in its No. 2 debut. In years past, a release such as this would have sold half a million copies easily, but this recent performance is a sign of the new direction the industry is taking.

Along with the 283,000 discs sold, iTunes sold 244,000 songs in the first week and ringtones generated another 269,000 sales.

Because the record companies make the lions share of cash on CD sales, they are feeling the crunch and are passing the crunch downstream by hitting the artist up for less royalties and cuts of merch sales. Merch sales are a sweet peach and many bands make their living on them, along with the revenue from the tour (which has been cut into already as well) so it's going to hurt.