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FTC Clears Way For Proposed Sony-BMG Merger

posted Aug 9, 2004 at 1:11 PM by deathbringer.  (9 Comments)

Not content with the sorry state of the music industry as it is, federal antitrust regulators have cleared the way for the proposed merger between Sony Music Entertainment and BMG. This merger would create a company that owns 1 out of every 3 new releases.

The FTC released its approval a little over a week after the European Union gave its unconditional support to the 50-50 merger stating that it would in no way harm the consumer.

Source: tinfoil.music

What's Next?

9 Comments on "FTC Clears Way For Proposed Sony-BMG Merger"

Anonymous Reader

1. Preaching to the perverted.. writes:

Insane. But not a worry for bands who don't want to be on a major label!

Go Tonmeister!

# Aug 10, 2004 @ 12:13 AM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
Anonymous Reader

2. brokenwings13 writes:

this will pretty much screw everything up in the industry. not that it
is already screwed up. i think that this is will drive every band to
start an independent label like Nitro or Eaturmusic.

# Aug 10, 2004 @ 12:26 AM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
Anonymous Reader

3. useless opinion writes:

Yeah bw13, but eaturmusic has serious major label backing.

# Aug 10, 2004 @ 8:04 AM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
Anonymous Reader

4. brokenwings13 writes:

yeah, it does. Daron Malakian probably had to beg to get it though.
Nitro has some, but not a whole lot because they have it all "under control"
according to some friends over in California.

but this merger is gonna make your wallets more empty.
don't listen to what they talking about, it is going to do harm to
you, the consumer, and your wallet. We already pay 15 bucks for a cd,
they're probably going to raise it for "funding of a building", yeah right,
that building is some corporate jerks beach home in Miami.

# Aug 10, 2004 @ 1:11 PM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
Anonymous Reader

5. fouldeathrat writes:

I agree - it will just be more help for people up there who want to raise prices. It's ridiculous that they target the audiences with the least money and then charge outrageous prices for crap, and then get mad when so many people download music. What f***ups.

# Aug 10, 2004 @ 8:19 PM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
Anonymous Reader

6. iseedeadpeople writes:

wow.this means that we all will pretty much be paying sonybmg for every cd we buy.
oh,and eaturmusic isn't to uch of an independent label,because EUM is distributed through sony,which is an example of how much power they will have if they merge

# Aug 10, 2004 @ 11:55 PM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
Anonymous Reader

7. brokenwings13 writes:

and once they do this, in a matter of months, your gonna see a big jump in
downloads, i know i'm gonna continue downloading.

# Aug 11, 2004 @ 12:19 AM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
Anonymous Reader

8. verginbitch sweet mother of god writes:

i agree, and like Daron Malakian, he is so creative and my favorite song for system of a down is ''chop suey''

# Aug 11, 2004 @ 5:52 AM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address
Anonymous Reader

9. Andy Christ writes:

How about we all just boycott Sony/BMG, and watch them fold? Go to the concerts, but f*** it, you know how little bands get out of CD sales when on a major label? Pretty much nothing. Bands make their money out of touring and merchandise.

Unfortunately, downloads won't work for getting complete albums on anything on the major label because write protection usually f***s at least one track on anything from these labels.

Eaturmusic is not an independent label, it's just one of a billion sublabels owned by The Corporation. Daron Malakian may be 'in charge' of the label, but just watch how poorly anything really weird or extreme will be distributed by Sony.

I think this merger could actually be good, because with all of the major labels now one, it opens up the market for smaller labels with more worthy band rosters to become larger. Maybe we'll only have one big label releasing sh**e pop music instead of the many that have been.

# Aug 11, 2004 @ 10:10 PM ET | IP Logged Reveal posts originating from the same IP address

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