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The world music market is the global market for the commercial trade of music, and the licensing of the use of music. As of 2006, the recording market is dominated by the "Big Four record companies": Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Group, and Warner Music Group, and the "Big Five music publishers". The four record companies control around 80% of the world recorded music sales market and around 85% of the United States record sales market, demonstrating the concept of oligopoly within the music industry. On 13 July the European Court of First Instance annulled the European Commission's clearance decision of the merger of Sony Music and BMG. Therefore, the European Commission will have to re-examine the merger.
Terminology and business structure The view that the music industry consists solely of record companies only is incorrect. A record company is an entity that manages sound recording-related brands and trademarks which are called labels; coordinates the production, marketing, licensing, and copyright protection of sound recordings and videos; and maintains contracts with recording artists and their managers. Record companies (manufacturers, distributors, and labels) may also comprise a record group which is, in turn, controlled by a music group. Music publishers exist separately (even if sharing the same ultimate holding company or brand name), and they represent the rights in the compositions - i.e. the music as written rather than as recorded. Record companies and record labels that are not under the control of the Big Four and music publishers that are not one of the Big Five are generally considered to be independent, even if they are large corporations with complex structures. Some prefer to use the term indie label to refer to only those independent labels that adhere to criteria of corporate structure and size, and some consider an indie label to be almost any label that releases non-mainstream music, regardless of its corporate structure. Reported statistics Nielsen SoundScan reported that the big four accounted for 81.87% of the world music market in 2005:• and in 2004, 82.64%: The global market was estimated at $30-40 billion in 2004. Total annual unit sales (CDs, music videos, mp3s) in 2004 were 3 billion. According to an IFPI report published in August 2005, the big four accounted for 71.7% of retail music sales: Prior to December 1998, the industry was dominated by the "Big Six": Sony Music and BMG had not yet merged, and PolyGram had not yet been absorbed into Universal Music Group. After the PolyGram-Universal merger, the 1998 market shares reflected a "Big Five", commanding 77.4% of the market, as follows, according to MEI World Report 2000: Albums sales and market value The following table shows album sales and market value in the world in the 1990s–2000s. Singles sales Physical single sales in the world in the 90s-00s and digital single sales in 2005. Recorded Music Interim Physical Retail Sales in 2005 all figures in millions Miscellaneous In its June 30, 2000 annual report filed with the SEC, Seagram reported that Universal Music Group was responsible for 40% of worldwide classical music sales over the preceding year. See also | ||||||||
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