wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

It's been an especially tough year for the record industry. American album sales fell 5 percent during the third quarter. Weekly album sales recently hit a 10-year low. And recently, after months of talks, EMI and Warner Music Group announced that they were pulling the plug on a proposed merger that would have created the world's second largest music company. But according to Gerd Leonhard, an industry consultant and co-author of the book "The Future of Music," music fans have much to be optimistic about. Also: Lenine, one of Brazil's most celebrated songwriters, who mixes funk, rock and his native maracatu, performs live in the studio. And finally, Leon Botstein, conductor, historian and president of Bard College, talks about his school's upcoming festival devoted to Franz Liszt, arguably the most controversial composer of the 19th century.