• Bertlesmann confirmed the sale of its BMG Music Publishing to Universal Music Group. The deal must be approved by European Union anti-trust regulators. From where I sit, the two parties seem confident regulators will approve the deal. (Read article at Hollywood Reporter)

• The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ruled to leave radio station's quota for Canadian content at 35%. Associations representing producers, composers and publishers were seeking a new quota of up to 55%. The CRTC also passed on imposing an incentive-based strategy to promote Canadian music. (Read article at Billboard.biz)

• Sony BMG's Zomba Records signed 19-year-old Carli Marino, a singer from New Jersey who won Gospel Dream on the Gospel Music Channel. (Read article at NorthJersey.com)

• Paul Resnikoff follows up on reaction to Forrester's iTunes analysis. The lesson of it all: If you want to comment on iTunes' sales, Soundscan data trumps credit card receipts and music sales' seasonality cannot be ignored. (Read post at Digital Music News)

• The long, long, long awaited Guns N' Roses album, Chinese Democracy, is tentatively set for a March 2007 release according to a post by Axl Rose at the official GNR website. He also had some comments about his former manager Merck Mercuriadis. Sounds like the most recent delay comes for poor planning at the very least. (Read article at Billboard.com)