The songs of Coldplay and Robbie Williams are instantly recognisable to music fans, but the City is more used to the familiar tune of Eric Nicoli's hokey-cokey.
The boss of music group EMI, which counts the artists among its roster of recording stars, has once again failed to pull off a deal after years of on-off attempts.
Talks to sell the company to Permira foundered when the private equity firm failed to offer north of 320p a share. Now the City expects EMI to get together with rival Warner Music next year.
In June, it offered 320p for EMI, valuing the company at £2.5bn, but deal hopes were quashed when Brussels decided to look again at the similar 2004 merger of Sony Music and BMG.
Warner and EMI have been close to combining at least three times, dating back to 2000. Standard Life, which owns 3pc of EMI, said: 'Any offer below 320p does not take into consideration the long-term value that the move towards digital music downloading could provide.'
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