MARKETSHARE MANIA

When the AOL Time Warner/EMI Recorded Music merger was announced last fall, the combined companies looked like they could present a serious challenge to Universal for supremacy. But so far this year, Warner/Elektra/Atlantic has a mere 12.4% market share. By contrast, WEA had 18 % at this time last year and 16% for all of 1999.

Merger partner-to-be EMD sits at 7.6% after holding 10% in the first five months of '99 and 9% for the year as a whole. Combined—which they should be by the end of the first quarter 2001—the two sit in third, behind BMG's 20.9% share and well below the dominating Universal's 27.3%. Sony stays consistent with 16.8% of the market.

BMG's gain of 7% over the past year comes mostly from Arista and Jive. Arista has more than a third of BMG's sales and Jive has another third. If Arista's 6.9% and Jive's 6.3% are added together, they're doing just a tad better than WEA. Columbia and Interscope/Geffen/A&M are neck-and-neck for top imprint this year.

Top 10 Labels

1. Columbia 8.4%

2. Interscope/Geffen/A&M 8.3%

3. Arista 6.9%

4. Epic 6.7%

5. Jive 6.3%

6. Island Def Jam 6.0%

7. Universal 4.5%

8. Warner Bros. 4.0%

9. Atlantic 3.8%

10. RCA 3.3%

In a related story, a 14-year-old hacker was able to merge IBM with Microsoft for about 20 minutes this morning.