The European Commission has granted conditional approval for Vivendi’s Universal Music Group’s $2.19 billion bid to acquire BMG Music Publishing, after the music publisher agreed to sell off parts of its catalog, Reuters reported. The deal, coming a day after EMI accepted a $4.7 billion buyout offer from British private-equity firm Terra Firma, will make Universal Music the world’s largest music publisher.

Independent music publishing group IMPALA, which initially opposed the deal on monopoly grounds, dropped its objections after reviewing Universal Music’s promise to divest itself from publishing holdings that include Zomba UK, 19 Music, 19 Songs, BBC music publishing, Rondor UK. The merger, the completion of which depends on the divestiture, with BMG would give Universal access to thousands of song rights from such artists such as Coldplay, Christina Aguilera and Barry Manilow. Publishing rights have become increasingly attractive, as they are shielded by some of the piracy issues and declining CD sales that have plagued the music industry. Licensing songs for live performance and for use in films and television shows is seen as a good way for record companies to offset losses.

• Universal Music Offers Sell-Off To Clear Deal With BMG