Consolidation in music industry: BMG buys another company

'Consolidation', eventually leading to monopoly, is the inevitable path of every large industry, at least according to Marxist critiques of free market theory and capitalism. The very existence of market regulation shows that this is generally accepted up to a point, and is an acknowledgement of a need to step in and prevent 'free markets' from destroying competition.
Here's just ONE recent example of this ongoing process in the music biz, already globally dominated than even fewer conglomerates than in the film industry.

SOURCE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/12/bmg-buys-bug-music

BMG buys music publisher Bug Music

Bertelsmann and private equity joint venture acquires rights to songs by artists including Johnny Cash and Kings of Leon

John Plunkett 12.9.11
BMG Rights Management has bought music publisher Bug Music in a deal reported to be worth more than $300m.
BMG, a joint venture between German media giant Bertelsmann and US private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, beat rival bidders including Pop Idol creator Simon Fuller.
Los Angeles-based Bug Music represents the estates of Johnny Cash, Muddy Waters and Woody Guthrie, as well as contemporary artists including Kings of Leon, Ryan Adams and The National.
BMG bought Bug Holdings and its subsidiary, Bug Music, from Spectrum Equity Investors and Crossroads Media in a deal announced on Monday. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"With the acquisition of Bug Music and its vast collection of evergreen and contemporary compositions, BMG further establishes itself as a leading music rights management company," said the BMG Rights Management chief executive, Hartwig Masuch.
Bug Music was founded in 1975 and owns or manages copyrights to songs including Fever, What A Wonderful World, The Real Slim Shady and The Passenger.