Billboard magazine reports that the record label interests of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (now called Newscorp Music Group, NCM) and Edel Music have signed an alliance to work on recorded music and Internet opportunities. NCM labels like Festival, Mushroom and Rawkus, (the first 2 mentioned are big labels in Australia) will license through Edel in countries outside of Australiasia, North America and the UK. In Australia and New Zealand, NCM and Edel will form a joint company, and NCM chairman James Murdoch is tipped to join Edel's supervisory board. Rumour of the week is that Festival Mushroom Group is to change its name to News Music or Newscorp Music.

Editor's Note: This transaction does not appear to affect Roxette in any way, as their recent deal with Edel is limited solely to the United States. (Lars-Erik)