It was 60 years ago this month when a country crooner from the South released the first-ever single to spin at 45 rpm.
Issued in green vinyl on the RCA label, the 7-inch "Texarkana Baby" by Eddy "The Tennessee Plowboy" Arnold became a No. 1 hit and enjoyed the sort of sales that today's artists can only dream of.
But good news from the music industry these days is (almost) rarer than a gaffe-free member of Prime Minister Taro Aso's Cabinet, what with total sales in all formats here down 3 percent last year, and one industry official now estimating that worldwide sales have nose-dived by more than 30 percent since 2001 because of illegal downloads.