Pan-European indies trade body IMPALA confirmed yesterday that it has begun a consultation of its members regarding the proposed takeover of BMG Music Publishing by the Universal Music Group. The merger of the BMG company with Universal's existing music publishing house will create a new company of equal size to, or slightly larger than (opinions vary), current market leader EMI Music Publishing.
Both Universal, and BMG owners Bertelsmann, say they do not feel their merger proposals will create an anticompetitive environment in the publishing sector but IMPALA, who earlier this year successfully had 2004's European Commission approval of the Sony BMG record label merger overturned, question that judgment. The EC has now asked the trade association to input into its own investigation into the Universal BMG proposals, and following a management meeting in Paris last week the trade association has said it will consult its members before providing its feedback to European competition officials.
Meanwhile, IMPALA bosses say they are still of the opinion that the Universal BMG merger will not win EC approval, adding "the parties' claims that they are relatively small major publishers are misleading as already they have rights in larger catalogues of songs than the other majors".
In a statement published yesterday they added: "The European court in July this year set tough precedents when IMPALA succeeded in overturning the EC's approval of the SonyBMG merger in recorded music. In 2000, in the attempted EMI Warner merger, the EC had already concluded that further concentration in publishing could not be tolerated. The new merger rules make it easier to block mergers".