Warner Music has struck a truce with independent record labels, which could clear the way for the US-listed group to make a $6bn bid for EMI and reset the balance of power in the music industry’s negotiations with Apple and other digital distributors.  Warner has secured the support of the music companies’ fiercest critic to revive merger talks with EMI. No formal bid has been made and the terms of any offer are unclear but Warner said Impala, which represents independent music publishers and labels, had agreed to provide full and complete support for a Warner-EMI merger in front of regulators. Patrick Zelnick, vice-chairman of Impala, said his group had decided it was better to have “three strong majors [Universal, Sony BMG and Warner-EMI] and a strong independent sector” than to let the industry lose more power to the likes of Apple.

This entry was posted by Helen Thomas on Wednesday, February 21st, 2007 at 4:59 and is filed under M&A. Tagged with apple, emi, impala, warner music. Edit this entry.