The Monopolies and Mergers Commission's Investigation of the U.K. Music Market

Abstract

The purpose of this Communication is to pass on information about two recent reports by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC), the U.K. government body that investigates monopoly and makes recommendations on action to be taken where monopoly (more than 25 per cent of the market) exists. These reports, The Supply of Recorded Music (1994) and Performing Rights (1996), between them cover practically every economic aspect of the music business in Britain. They are invaluable to researchers because they provide a wealth of institutional description and data, some of which would be difficult (or even impossible) to obtain elsewhere. They are written with exemplary clarity and are accessible to non-economists; as many of the Commissioners are economists, however, the questions addressed in the reports are essentially economic ones. The music business consists of the composition and live performance of music of all kinds (classical, contemporary, jazz, rock, pop etc), music publishing, and the production of sound recording. Sound recording has many facets to it: the production and sale of records (CDs, vinyl, tapes); the making of sound tracks for use in films and broadcasting; music videos which accompany pop record releases; and the very widespread use of recorded music in almost every place where people congregate. One of the things that welds together a host of very different types of music-making in the U.K. is that there is quite a lot of overlap in the production of sound recording between "classical" performers and pop and film music. Another is that the major record companies deal with a wide variety of music. A third factor is that the same problem of collecting due payments for the performance of live and recorded music faces everyone in the industry from composers through to record companies. That has become an exceedingly complex business in its own right and that is the subject of Performing Rights (see later). By contrast, The