UMG Dollars Make EMI Holla

Umm, I mean, Universal bought EMI today.

Is this a big deal? Yes, if you work for EMI.

If you work for EMI CMG? Probably not.

Universal doesn't have a Contemporary Christian division. They do have a Gospel section, but guess who distributes that. Yep. EMI CMG.

EMI CMG should be OK through all of this.

It will take AT LEAST six to 12 months for the dust to settle. This is only an agreement on paper. There's the matter of both the European Commission (or whatever it is) and the U.S. government because there might be a matter of antitrust issues. EMI is based in the U.K., so that governing body must be involved as well.

And what of Universal? Who owns that, you ask? Vivendi. And who or what does Vivendi own? It USED to own NBC but sold its remaining stake at the beginning of this year. So currently it owns Universal Music Group (duh), Activision Blizzard video games (think Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, World of Warcraft) and a few telecom and mobile communication companies.

Makes an interesting mix, yeah?

This won't affect Christian radio to many degrees. Like I said, Universal doesn't have a Contemporary Christian department. My guess is that EMI CMG will be absorbed into the Universal system with a name change but that would be about it.

Some of you have been in this situation; some of you have not. The best thing we can all do right now is pray for those who work at EMI CMG, that God watches over them during this time.