The Senate Judiciary’s subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights will hold a hearing on Thursday afternoon to examine the planned merger of Universal Music Group and EMI.

[…]On Monday afternoon, the authors of the Public Knowledge-Consumer Federation paper will speak at a briefing on Capitol Hill to discuss the merger. Casey Rae Hunter, deputy director of the Future of Music Coalition, will join Public Knowledge’s Jodie Griffin and the Consumer Federation’s Mark Cooper. Chris Naoum, co-founder of Listen Local First, will moderate.

[…]Universal’s deal would reduce the number of major record companies to three from four, and give the company — already the largest record group by revenue — a 40 percent share of the global recorded music market, according to most estimates.

Others in the music industry, including the Warner Music Group and independent organizations like the Future of Music Coalition, also oppose the Universal deal. But the deal has supporters, too, including some artist managers and American labor unions representing musicians and performers.

TOPIC

What does the future hold for the major labels? Do they need to consolidate to remain competitive in the face of music piracy? Would the cost of music rise? Would they stymie growth and creation of streaming sites such as Pandora and Spotify?

GUESTS

Casey Rae, Deputy Director, Future of Music Coalition, an artists’ advocacy group.

C. Evan Stewart, attorney who practices antitrust law; Partner with Zuckerman, Spaeder law firm based in New York.

Listen to the archived program.