While none of the three other major record companies appeared at this week's European Commission hearing on Sony and BMG's merger proposals - perhaps to avoid the tricky questions an EC report on the merger asked about the level of market control already enjoyed by the major labels - Warner Music boss Edgar Bronfman Jr has told the London Financial Times about his fears regarding the merger.
He told the paper this week: "There remains the danger in a Sony-BMG merger that the industry does not go from five to four [majors] but from five to two by making two companies dominant, which would be quite problematic. Two companies that come together controlling 60 per cent of the market in various territories has the potential for creating a duopoly."
Bronfman does have a point in this regard of course - the aforementioned IFPI figures show that if BMG and Sony merged their combined market share would make them bigger than even Universal Music, the two together would dwarf both EMI and Warners. Therefore it could be argued that the music industry would, in fact, be more stable if EMI and Warners were also to merge resulting in three major majors of equal size. Given the rumour that such a merger is somewhere on Bronfman's future wish list a more cynical publication might suggest that's exactly why the Warner boss is talking up the dangers of a duopoly right now.