I agree on some of the points here:
1. Rihanna's performance last night was very off key,maybe not the worst.

2.Rihanna is NOT RnB by any means, she is strictly POP.

3.There is NO RnB music today,due to labels and artist's greed to go after mainstreams' money.
Berry Gordy's Motown sound will forever be a legacy because he did not sell out RnB. He actually had great sounding artist so mainstream had to take note. Sorry but Rihanna is not a strong vocalist, nor a soulful one. She has great song writers and she's mainstream's size 2 to fit in a video. Sad but true for today's music industry.

4.Def Jam is the most unscroupulous record label there is. They will do anything for a profit. They have bankrupted GREAT vocal talents such as Toni Braxton. So yes they are definitely using Rihanna as a pawn. And I agree that Jay-z and Def Jam brain washed Rihanna to demonize Chris at the price of super stardom.RIhanna was just as violent as CHris that night,and that's a documented fact. She was just not as strong. No way to set a standard for young women to follow. Yet she got on TV and cried about Chris beating her after she attacked him and wouldn't get out his car. They should have both been in counseling.

5.And I think Rihanna is medicated up from the guilt of selling her soul for fame.

6.If other artist have dropped their sales to 3.99, then I see this only as a marketing ploy. Her record label can book her as a top selling artist and get her to be a headliner for concert tours here in the states. She has never been able to headline a tour in the U.S., only abroad. And I understand that, she's lacking in the charisma to captivate an audience with her vocals nor with her her dancing or personality. So people here can demand their money's worth when they pay for a live concert. Whereas for people overseas, an American top selling artist is a novely.

7.I'm not a pop music fan, but I do realize that Rated R had strong writers and since she's a stuido artist only, her voice comes across very well with all the automated enhancements.