It was announced this weekend that the Universal Music Group's parent group, a French conglomerate named Vivendi, has made an offer to buy EMI music from Citigroup, and EMI Music Publishing has been sold to Sony. Citigroup bought EMI in 2007 after it's parent company, Terra Firma Capital, nearly went belly up. EMI' current catalog includes Kanye West, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Lady Antebellum, Gorillaz, Coldplay, and the Arcade Fire, to name a few, and along with the purchase come the rights to the catalogs of Pink Floyd, Queen, David Bowie, and the Beatles (only to name a few). The deal ends up adding around $4.2 billion to the Citi-purse, with Sony paying a $.3 billion higher pricetag for EMI's award winning music publishing company, which includes the rights to Motown, and the Jackson 5's music; reuniting it with the rest of the King of Pop's catalog. The deal still has to be validated by European and American regulation committees, however, the Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA). a group that includes indie -labels such as Matador and Epitaph, has petitioned that would be drawing nearer to musical monopolies. Experts are saying that the Sony deal will go through, but since Universal/Vivendi already controls nearly 30% of the market, the mecha-label may have to sell some things off to make it work.
Pink Floyd - Money by joshuamic