For the last 14 years, the Big 3, the holy trinity SONY, WMG, and UMG have dominated the music industry, devouring all of the other labels, and scooping up music catalogs.

BMG, once a major label itself, though seemingly disappeared, has been kept alive by its parent company Bertlesmann, and it has sprung back to life joining with the old jazz label, Concord.

Both have been on a feeding frenzy of music catalogs owning 4.3 million songs, enough to claim a spot with the Big 3 labels ....(BMG would prefer to be considered the king of indies).

Though the headlines have broadcast the merger and the major shift with the Big 4, most haven't noticed that BMG is just a small part of the Bertelsmann empire, that with the merger owns Penguin Random House, the largest book publisher, 10,000 plays and musicals including Hamilton and Rogers and Hammerstein's works, and even classic movies like King Kong, Citizen Cane, and It's a Wonderful Life.

Along with the titles, Bertelsmann has large divisions of marketing, streaming, and yes...AI.

Regardless if it's one of the Big 4, or King of the Indies, it has moved up the food chain, and will undoubtedly have a major impact on the music industry.

Sources: https://snydersmusicbiznews.blogspot.com/2026/05/another-shark-in-food-chain-big-4.html