EMI-Universal Merger Is Something To Fear

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t’s no secret that the music industry is in trouble. Revenues for U.S. record labels have fallen by half since 2000. And while the industry likes to blame piracy for its decline, a number of factors have contributed to it; the poor economy, the industry’s hesitance at entering the digital marketplace, and the wealth of other entertainment choices, to name but three.

The labels are weakened as much by their own ineptness as they are by any outside forces.

And since its efforts to stem flagging sales have proven fruitless, two of the four major labels are hoping to convince federal regulators that they should be allowed to merge. We can only hope the deal isn’t allowed to go through because this would clearly not be good for consumers.

This merger, if approved would give EMI control over not only just about every major act in music today, including Coldplay and Katy Perry, but also big-selling back catalog artists like The Beatles and Pink Floyd.

But according to Reuters, there’s a chance the merger might go through because the agency feels that “the major recording companies already are weakened giants worn down by the forces of big retailers and piracy that put downward pressure on the price of CDs and digital downloads.”

This is a specious argument though. The labels are weakened as much by their own ineptness as they are by any outside forces. Their failure to embrace the portable digital music was a critical error, as was pushing a digital medium (cds) without fully understanding the consequences (ripping and downloading).

Allowing one company to control nearly half of the music industry would not be good for consumers or for artists. Here’s hoping the government does the right thing.