Today Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG announced their plan to merge their music divisions (Sony Music and BMG), creating the second-largest record company in the world (after Universal). The companies will each own half of the new label group, to be called Sony BMG. Bands affected by this deal include Cave In, The Blood Brothers, Reel Big Fish, Modest Mouse, Foo Fighters, Ben Kweller, The Forces Of Evil, The Ataris, The Mooney Suzuki, Juliana Theory, The Offspring, Zebrahead, Goldfinger and Gob.

The deal is pending approval from the European Union's competition regulators. Further consolidation of the major labels is expected soon, as a deal between EMI and Warner is on the horizon. It's not too unlikely that there will be three (3!) massive major labels by this time next year.