Sony/BMG merger?

Music-industry mergers from Economist (free subscription)

ah...the music industry woes...decreased sales being the primary problem.

the 26% drop in sales is presumably attributed to file sharing and cd-burning technology.

bunk. the 26% drop in sales is natural because:

1. when the economy goes belly up, people don't have extra money to spend on CDs.
2. the largest market for CD sales is teenagers, who aren't getting extra allowance money during the economic downturn.
3. everyone has gotten hip to the music industry's long-time tactic of putting out CRAP. Who on earth wants to buy a CD that is 11 tracks of CRAP and one track in the top 40?
4. the music industry is charging between $16 and $24 per CD, when the cost of the materials barely goes over $1. The money is definitely not going to the artists, most of whom have CRAP-deals with the Big 5.

Maybe if the price came down to something in the realm of "reasonable" people might be more willing to buy their CRAP. But no one in their right mind will spend that much for CRAP.

Besides, technology is here to stay and the industry needs to adjust to it. Maybe they need to revamp their business model and start looking at what the "Independents" are doing right. They own 25% of the market now, and there is something to be said for it.

With all the new technology, people have more access to Independently produced music, and find it a better alternative than swallowing the CRAP fed to us through the Big 5.

Also, the Independent labels have more musician-friendly contracts, and some of them are self-produced, which keeps any money going directly to the artists and not to some "suit" who is running around suing grandmothers for downloading Elvis songs.

Power to the people! Revolt against the revolting tactics that have been historically used by the music industry to limit people's access to good music, and limit the number of artists that can actually make a living.