OOXML: Portugal says "yes with comments"

Today is a bad day.

Sympathy for sale

Irreverent, huh? This is the image you get when you go to Sympathy for the Record Industry's website, along with a message saying "somewere a glory remains unseen...", one of the sentences that got known along with this record label, along with others like "We almost really care", "Is a force this powerful going to be overlooked by an industry that needs all the Sympathy it can get" or "You've tried the rest now go f*ck yourself". Yes, Sympathy for the Record Industry is a record label, but not just that, it is a record label that, since its conception, tells you that "the record industry is a complete fuck up", and so it does things differently. When I say "it does" I really should say "he does": SFRI is a one-man-only record label, created and run by Long Gone John, and while the label is cool enough to really care about artists and music fans, and doing things like doing business only on a handshake only basis, and releasing all its stuff without a single UPC, don't just think that this isn't a "real label" (whatever that is): not only it was voted best record label "2006" by venus magazine, but also have launched bands like Hole, The White Stripes, Turbonegro, Rocket from the Crypt, The 5,6,7,8 or Scarling..

Thing is, now with 19 years, this record label is up for sale. Using Long Gone's words, the price is "$625,000.00 or $700,000.00 if i don't like you", but, besides everything else, buying the record label includes "existing stock modestly estimated at a wholesale value of 1.8 millon dollars". Unfortunately this is a quite atractive deal for those wanting to invest in this business, and do quick cash out of it: mainly for other labels wanting to expand their business, this is a great deal. Unfortunately, because that probably will be the death of SFRI as well.

Is EMI going to be sold to Terra Firma?

In April EMI shareholders started to have a load of news on a possible change of hands.

EMI is one of the big four record companies, with more or less 10% of the music market share. In April we started to hear about Warner wanting to buy EMI (again), in May we heard that several Private Equity firms also wanted EMI. Warner extended the offer, but Terra Firma also made an offer, and EMI accepted it - meaning that they started by then to convince its shareholders to accept the deal. Terra Nova needs 90% of the shareholders wanting to do the deal. Warner kept wanting to buy EMI, and shareholders were not really interested in Terra Nova's offer without knowing what alternatives they have... So Terra Firma raised their offer for EMI, and set'd up June 27 as the aquisition deadline. Warner said they were going to make a final offer, and EMI shareholders didn't show any interest on Terra Firma's offer. The limit date was postponed, but when Warner gave up the ride, then shareholders faced an easier decision: Terra Firma or nothing. Until friday Terra Firma had 84.94% from the 90% they need to, and a final extention was set to 1.00 pm on Wednesday. Everything would lead to the conclusion that Terra Firma is going to get the deal, but there are reports that financing for the deal could fall through due to the recent turmoil on global debt markets.

Let's see what's going to happen: wednesday is definively the final day for us to know if EMI is going to be sold to Terra Firma or not. Unfortunately I think that if they are sold those are bad news, but if they're not we have even worse news. One way or another, after the deal we'll have interesting time for the big four in the next few months.