Bmg Music Publishing

European Union regulators gave Universal Music Group clearance to buy BMG Music Publishing for $2.09 billion in a deal that would create the world's largest music publishing company. The EU warned, however, that its "serious doubts" about the deal's effect on online music were allayed only by the companies' plan to sell the rights to some hits from the '80s and '90s by artists such as Justin Timberlake, Iron Maiden and R. Kelly.

MySpace has reached a licensing deal with Sony BMG Music Entertainment to stream music videos from such artists, as Britney Spears, Beyonce Knowles and Bruce Springsteen. MySpace said it would share ad revenue with Sony BMG, which will make its music videos and select audio material available on artists' profile pages to MySpace's U.S. users.

Bertelsmann, Europe's biggest media company, said Thursday that it would buy back a Belgian holding company's 25% stake for 4.5 billion euros ($5.8 billion) -- a move that frees it from the prospect of an initial public offering. The company also indicated it plans to sell BMG Music Publishing, the world's third-largest music publisher, to help finance the buyback and said it had received numerous inquiries about it.

U.S. media conglomerate Viacom Inc. has teamed with private equity group Apollo Management to submit an offer for BMG Music Publishing in a bidding battle that could top $1.92 billion, sources close to the matter said Friday. BMG Music Publishing, which owns the rights to thousands of songs including hits by Christina Aguilera and the band Coldplay, is being sold by German media conglomerate Bertelsmann to help finance a $5.8-billion buyback of a minority stake in the company.

Universal Music Group is expected to purchase Bertelsmann's BMG Music Publishing unit for about $2.1 billion, creating the world's largest music publisher, said people familiar with the negotiations. Bertelsmann is selling the operation to help pay for its buyback of a 25.1% stake in the German media giant for $5.8-billion from Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, which had been threatening to force the privately held company to go public.

Vivendi agreed Wednesday to pay $2.1 billion to acquire BMG Music Publishing from German media company Bertelsmann in a deal that would give the French company the world's largest music publishing catalog and songs by artists such as Coldplay and Robbie Williams. Vivendi, as expected, beat out a group of other bidders that included Warner Music Group Corp., Viacom Inc. and EMI Group. Its Universal Music Group division was thought to have the nod from the beginning.

Vivendi will restructure the way it will buy BMG Music Publishing after European regulators said they were unhappy with the use of a technique that has become increasingly popular in media deals, sources close to the transaction said. Vivendi's Universal Music Group had planned to use a structure known to deal makers as the "hell-or-high-water clause" because it guarantees that the seller gets paid regardless of whether the buyer gets regulatory approval to do the deal, the sources said.

European regulators Friday opened an antitrust probe of Universal Music Group's plans to buy BMG Music Publishing for about $2.1 billion, saying the deal could damage "the already concentrated music publishing market." Officials in Brussels said they would issue a final decision on whether to block the deal by April 27.

Three years ago, when a couple of songwriters and the daughter of a famed jazz musician filed a lawsuit against the nation's two major record clubs, it seemed like just another skirmish in the continuing fight for artists' rights. Today, however, as a settlement in the songwriters' suit against Columbia House Co. and BMG Direct Inc. nears court approval, what was once an isolated battle has turned into an industrywide war.