Sony-BMG merger to be blocked?

[Taro Toporific]

Record Labels to Appeal Sony-BMG MergerBRUSSELS, Belgium, Nov 03, 2004 (AP Online via COMTEX) --Impala, a group representing 2,000 smaller record labels, said Wednesday it would ask the European Union's high court to overturn a decision by EU regulators approving the merger between the music units of Japan's Sony Corp. and Germany's Bertelsmann AG.
....Impala said the merger would reduce its members' ability to give artists sufficient exposure and ensure cultural diversity in Europe.
The appeal "is about protecting European as well as worldwide cultural diversity and self-determination in a world where globalization means Hollywood," said Michel Lambot, Impala's president and co-chairman of the PIAS Group record label. "We need to make a stance against U.S. domination of our cultural, political and economic interests," said Lambot.