EU antitrust chief has decided to approve a merger between Sony Music and Bertelsmann AG’s BMG music business after deciding it didn’t have enough evidence of potential harm to consumers to block the deal, sources told AP.

The deal would leave four music industry “majors” controlling about 80 percent of the market. An official announcement is expected Friday.

Reuters: The combined global market share of the two labels, home to artists such as Beyonce and Britney Spears, rose to 25.1 percent in 2003 from 23.4 percent in 2002, according to figures from IFPI. That would put a combined Sony Music-BMG ahead of Vivendi’s Universal Music, which saw its market share slip to 23.5 percent from 25.4 percent.