3Q SCORECARD

The third quarter is in the books, and what dull books they are, with label marketshares nearly identical to what they were going into July.

Universal Music Group continues to command 28.7% of sales, with Interscope Geffen A&M bringing home 9.8% of that total. BMG is a distant second at 20.2%, thanks to continued great performance from Jive/Zomba's 6.4%. Sony sits in the middle with 14.9%, led by Columbia's 7.5%. At the bottom is the happy couple-to-be: Warner Music Group with 13.5%, and EMI with 7.4%.

If the WMG-EMI merger goes through, they'd have 20.9%, putting them into a tight race with BMG. But as it stands now, both Interscope and Columbia have more marketshare than EMI. WMG looks to be heating up some in 4Q, though.

Then there's the label race: repeat after us—IGA, Columbia and Jive are one, two and three in marketshare. The only discernible difference from the halfway point is that IGA has picked up just under half a percent, and Columbia's share has dropped nearly an equal amount. Oh, and Universal Records has added a half-point, too. Thrilling, ain't it?

Top 10 Labels
• Interscope 9.8
• Columbia 7.5
• Jive/Zomba 6.4
• Arista 5.8
• Epic 5.8
• Island Def Jam 5.3
• Atlantic 5.2
• Universal 4.8
• Warner Bros. 4.3
• RCA 3.0