Distronics: from minnow to giant. (MW Comment).

First EMI and now Universal. And, suddenly, the majors have exited manufacturing in the UK.

It is a sign of the times and should come as no surprise. The days when record companies felt they could gain an advantage over their competitors by duplicating their own vinyl, cassette or CDs themselves are long past. As a Universal source said on Thursday, "We are in the content business, not the manufacturing business." Frankly, there are more important things to worry about.

But, further, the move underlines the changing future of the music business. Having direct, self-controlled access to the means of getting music to the consumer -- a process which has become so standardised and automated -- is not important. And that includes distribution, a sector which Sony and Warner long since concluded is not an arena for competition between them, and which majors including EMI, BMG and Universal have acknowledged they are ...