Zelnik Breaks Rank With IMPALA

Apparently breaking ranks with his cohorts in the European independent music sector, IMPALA co-president Patrick Zelnik has used the Financial Times as a platform to detail why he’s in favour of Universal’s $1.9 billion takeover of EMI’s recorded music business.

An official IMPALA response played down the effect of his editorial, which claimed Universal’s takeover of EMI could be “just what the sector needs.”

The Brussels-based indies organisation is clearly rattled as reports suggest that more than half of its board support Zelnik’s views and agree with his remedies to ease the deal.

Apparently IMPALA is maintaining its public position of opposing Universal’s purchase of EMI only because it would take two-thirds of the board to reverse it.

Some sections of the UK media are suggesting that Zelnik, founder of Paris-based Naïve Records and the man who launched Virgin Records in France, could benefit if the European Commission Union approves the deal.

The Daily Telegraph reckons Universal may offer to sell Virgin Records to appease the regulators and says Sir Richard Branson, who sold the company to EMI in 1992, is a potential buyer. It says Branson has already had talks with Zelnik about making a bid.

Earlier in the week, the Telegraph, The Times and Sunday Times all suggested that sacrificing Virgin may be the only way Universal can get the EMI deal past the EC, which has already expressed concern that the new company would have too much power in the market.

The EC is expected to rule on Universal’s takeover of EMI Sept. 9.