Warner Music has struck a truce with independent record labels which could clear the way for the US-listed group to make a $6 billion (€4.6 billion) 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, the British company behind Norah Jones and the Beatles.

Warner said Impala, a group representing independent music publishers and labels, had agreed to provide "full and complete support" for a Warner-EMI merger in front of regulators. The deal surprised anti-trust officials and lawyers in Brussels. Warner made an approach to EMI late last month. - (Financial Times service)