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EC Approves Unconditionally Sony-BMG Merger
Paul Slocum writes "Just when you thought the music industry couldn't get any worse, Sony and BMG are merging. Now there will only be 4 major labels, and they estimate that 2000 jobs (25% of combined workforce) will be cut." An anonymous reader points to Reuters' report on the planned merger,
which points out that "Vivendi-owned Universal and Sony BMG, as the new company is to be called, account for about 46 percent of music sold worldwide."
There's an obscure reference to something like this in an old eighties movie called Crazy People, where the genius crazy people decide to thwart Sony executives by making an ad that simply says: Sony, Bony (while the guy shows this a sketch of a really skinny old guy). I'm sorry but when else am I going to get to reference this funny/stupid movie quote, but when a company starting with the letter B is going to join forces with Sony.
So say it with me;
BMG + Sony...
Sony, Bony
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Sony CEO : "What shall we call it?" ... "
BMG CEO : "...."
Marketing Guy : "How about Sony BMG".
CEOs : "Mmm, it has a good ring to it
Marketing Guy : "I'll invoice you from my office"
*marketing guy leaves, door shuts*
"It's not your information. It's information about you" - John Ford, Vice President, Equifax
Just picturing from "Demolition Man" where all restaraunts are "Taco Bell".
Sony artists include Aerosmith, George Michael and Barbra Streisand, while the BMG stable has Avril Lavigne and Elvis Presley.
Elvis unavailable for comment regarding the merger.
Just one step closer to CocaWarner McMicroSonySoft
The Neo-Bohemian Techno-Socialist
Load up the Sony BMGs! The DMZ (Downloaded Music Zone) is hot!
Hokey statistics and ancient misconceptions are no match for a good thought in your head, kid!
Now there will only be 4 major labels
That's like complaining that there's only four different types of manure. Any way you buy it, it's still crap.
You know, these mergers are actually a good thing. If all the media companies keep merging, eventually they'll be one big monolithic company that everyone can actively hate, like Microsoft.
It's hard to fight a battle on many fronts, but if there's ONE company to hate, it's easy to rile up the masses.
Of course it's consolidation of the industry. A STRUGGLING industry. And obviously things are probably going to get worse for them rather than better.
I think there's enough blame to go around... INCLUDING the artists! They suck... the record company promotes crap... P2P has sucked what little margin was left... and now the live concerts are going down the tube.
Music Industry... Airline Industry... what's the difference? Could a government bailout be next? LOL!
what? that hot chick from harry potter is singing now?!?
If all the huge music makers merge, the RIAA will become redundant. One hardly needs a Recording Industry Association of America if there's only one company to represent. They can do it themselves.
Let's hope the 25% staff cut are RIAA morons.
So, to sum up: I, for one, welcome our new trash pop overlords.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Today IBMSNBCBS, owners of Fox/ABCNN, merged with CokeWarner McMicroSonyDisneySoft, completing the last possible corporate merger that had remained on planet Earth.
The price of freedom is eternal litigation.
welcome our new music overlords!!!
....
If you need me, I'll be listening to Aerosmith's new remix of "Blue Suede Shoes"
--- Please insert flaming below ---
Thank goodness I can still buy my clothes from the OldBaNavyRepubliGap Crew.
"The joint venture will create a recorded music business better able to serve artists and consumers in this rapidly changing marketplace," Bertelsmann chairman and CEO Gunter Thielen said in a statement late Monday.
Real-world translation:
We blow our noses at you, so-called consumers. We fart in your general direction!
Now obey us, or we shall taunt you a second time!
>Its the same thing that happened to Microsoft... Microsoft's over-reaching control basically caused the Linux movement.
>So hopefully, our culture will no longer be held hostage to these corporate giants.
I hope not. Hell, I don't want to download music sheets and lyrics and have to play/sing the music myself!
Stupid open-source movement.... grumble grumble