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01 Feb 2011 22:59

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Biz, Music: Citigroup owns EMI: Will they start selling CDs at bank branches?

  • 2007 In one of the most un-rock-‘n’-roll moves a major label has ever done, private equity firm Terra Firma, led by financier Guy Hands, buys EMI for $6.7 billion, $4.3 billion of which was loaned to Terra Firma by Citigroup in a deal which looks really stupid in retrospect.
  • 2011 A few years after the financial crisis made that deal look like a really stupid idea, the musical home of Radiohead, Blur and The Beatles was just taken over by Citigroup. Which means that the company that runs your ATM also sells the Beastie Boys’ catalogue. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jan 2011 14:59

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Biz: Warner Music Group looking for buyer; do you guys take $50s?

The Warners, which are actually doing rather well compared to their music-industry competitors, saw their stock rise in the wake of the news. Hope we can stil afford it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Oct 2010 23:18

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Music, Tech: By catering to majors, eMusic loses a simple, effective model

  • simple eMusic starts out with a basic, credits-based model which allows you to download tons of indie music each month.
  • busy To win over Sony and Warner Bros., they slightly modify the model to make full albums worth a little more.
  • complex To win over Universal, eMusic will charge a variety of different prices for different songs. This is a bad idea. source
  • » And credits are going away, too: To win Universal over, they’re going to have to charge 89 cents per track for some of their songs. While this is cheaper than iTunes, it’s also nearly twice as much as many of their other tracks. We don’t know what eMusic’s profitability is like, but this, to us, feels like it’s going to backfire. The changes are a little too extreme, and it no longer feels like they’re the cheap alternative. Can we lament the loss of eMusic (circa 2007) yet?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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