Yikes!

Yikes is right.

Truly a super major.  

Scary.

Breve, apenas duas grandes gravadoras donas de 73% da Música do planeta.

The Final Countdown. 

Looks like you are assuming they won't have to downsize the company to complete the purchase

Did not realize that WMG's market share was so tiny compared to Sony and Universal.

If Universal & EMI merge, 73% of all US music'll come via just two companies. "Major label" seems like understatement.

Yikes - if the Universal / EMI merger goes through, 7 in 10 records in the US will come via just two companies...

Monopoly!

I got it. 

We should start an indie distribution company, to create an alternative to this.

I'll call it... The Orchid.

That's all fine and good till Sony buys you and all the other indie distributors and turns them into a Major in an Indie suit (torn jeans and a t-shirt most likely).  A turd by any other name still smells like shit.

UMG has to divest itself of around $500mm in assets in order to get this done. Considering the 1.2mm pound purchase price for EMI, I don't think the overall impact on the industry is as huge as the picture painted on the chart.

Devil's Advocate: Does a combined Universal/EMI really have any more leverage than the two had separately, or even, than Universal had on its own? Just because the combined company has a larger (40%+) share doesn't mean that it can exert more influence than the 2 separate entities could before. Indies, after all, will still have the same share of the market regardless of whether or not these 2 combine. 

wonder what the (apple) pie looks like for music retail these days?

This is really scary and bad.

Don't act like you are so surprised. If you actually bothered to buy music from indie artists and not steal it, that chart would be much much different today. So, shut up and don't pretend that you care.

Yeah. 

What he said. 

Hmmm! Esto no puede ser muy bueno!

Monopoly?  Thank goodness for the interwebs!

Meh. It's like the Titanic buying the iceberg.

You have to be able to market yourself!!

..and we end up with more crappy music.

All this worry from people who used to pay $15.99 for a cd. What did you expect? Once a human being figures out how to get something for free after they have been paying an inflated fee for the product they never have anymore concerns about how they consume it. Hide and watch. All of us will soon see the record biz just fade away and then we will be left with all the American Idol, Voice, etc...cramp that isn't really about the art of creating music. Don't you just love technology!

Scary!

I got it. We should start an indie distribution company, to create an alternative to this. I'll call it... The Orchid. sterling silver necklaces fashion jewelry store