The few become fewer ..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44206075Sony says it has agreed to buy a controlling stake in EMI Music Publishing for $2.3bn (£1.71bn) as it looks to boost its music portfolio.
The deal would mean Sony would indirectly own about 90% of the record label and its some two million songs.
"We are thrilled to bring EMI Music Publishing into the Sony family and maintain our number one position in the music publishing industry," Sony's president and chief executive Kenichiro Yoshida said on Tuesday.
Mr Yoshida said the music business had enjoyed a resurgence over the past couple of years, driven largely by the rise of paid subscription-based streaming services.
The deal to buy up a controlling stake in EMI is very much part of Sony's plans to realign its business, analysts said.
In April, it reported a net income of 380bn yen for last year, a seven-fold increase on 2016.
These corporations are like cannibal piglets, greedily gobbling each other up until a near monopoly is created so prices can be hiked up with impunity and consumers have little choice, nothing new from the Recorded Music Industry then, expect some fresh rounds of negotiation with the streaming platforms when the current deals run out focusing on a new higher revenue share, look also to new tricks to try to re-copyright older works, commercial greed knows no bounds.
