The chairman of the antitrust subcommittee, Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl, opened proceedings by asking whether Universal's music catalogue would be so large after the proposed merger that it would create a gatekeeper that could make or break new digital services.

That was certainly the concern of Beggars' Martin Mills, who said, "Market power is why they're doing this. The power to dominate internet services and impose their demands upon them, the power to leverage a disproportionately onerous deal, the power ...