Sony to become world's No. 1 music publisher with $2.3 billion EMI deal

wanderlust: seriously? You never heard of Sony music or Colombia movies (owned by Sony)?

a sound idea

Genius.  another overpriced Japan overseas acquisition that only gives me more confidence that we are almost the top of global equity markets.

The move makes good sense. The reason that Sony bought EMI is the US government change the law. Streaming services have to pay more to publishers.  The US government issued a ruling that streaming services must increase the portion of their revenue they share with songwriters and music publishers from the previous 10.5% rate up to 15.1%.  That means that sony will pick up 1 5% on every song.

Sony is doing this because they're refocusing towards content subscriptions while slowly getting out of consumer commodities:

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2018/05/sony-please-dont-give-up-on-gadgets/

Sony's new CEO, Kenichiro Yoshida, has a three-year plan to improve the company's profits. During a presentation to investors today, he promoted three core areas of investment - services, semiconductors, and AI/robotics. If you're a fan of Sony, one key thing seems to be missing from that future: Gadgets.

Ahead of Sony's investor relations day, rumours spread that Yoshida would announce a movement away from consumer hardware development and while he didn't exactly come out and say that explicitly, what he did say had nothing at all to do with gadgets. Yoshida primarily focused on the services that Sony offers as the path forward, citing his own past experience with content as well as the success of Sony's lucrative life insurance business. If Sony's making big bets on consumer hardware, it's not saying so publicly.

This might seem like something of a sea change for Sony, a company which has invented and reinvented its hardware business for generations with innovations like the Walkman, Blu-ray players, and full-frame mirrorless cameras. But for anyone who has been paying attention, the writing has been on the wall.

Toshiba Part II

So Sony has decided that it is now an entertainment company, and no longer a maker of things, which form just a small part of its business now.

I never listen to music and rarely watch TV or movies, so this doesn’t bother me, but I don’t like anything concentrated in a few, much less one hand. Monopoly!

Watch prices go up. Look at what happened when Microsoft bought Skype. Ads. Difficult to use on some iPhones, etc. Control. Market is cornered. We got you where we want you.

Enjoy your entertainment.

Excellent news. I am really happy to read this. Sony will be Number 1 in the world, and is going from strength to strength, taking advantage of economic boom in Japan and Abenomics policies.