Greetings. While no conspiracy beyond "business as usual" is required to explain this confluence of events, it is fascinating to note the continuing collapse of true competition in the music and radio industries (as in the Internet ISP industry).

On one hand, we have the proposed XM/Sirius merger, touted nonsensically as a boon to consumers. But -- oops! -- word is out that the FCC Chairman is concerned that Sirius' Karmazin wasn't exactly forthcoming when he suggested that consumers wouldn't face increased fees for combined services under the merger plan. Karmazin now seems to say that he was misunderstood -- of course the fees would be higher if you wanted the union of what XM and Sirius currently have available. But Karmazin -- the same guy who arranged Howard Stern's $500 million Sirius deal -- insists that with competitors like Internet radio, the merger should still go through, prior FCC rules notwithstanding.

Hmmm. But what about that Internet/Web radio competition? Word is out today that the Copyright Royalty Board is proposing massive fee increases and the end of exemptions -- a combination that will likely put all but the largest Internet radio broadcasters -- especially the ones with limited revenue, nonprofits, and the like -- out of business. So much for that flavor of competition. But the recording industry isn't concerned. As their spokesman noted, large operations like Yahoo! and Clear Channel Communications will certainly be able to pony up plenty of new moola.

Everyone else be damned, obviously.

--Lauren--