Brussels, 15 December 2025

With a new deadline in the EU’s Phase 2 investigation into UMG’s proposed acquisition of Downtown and the market leader putting forward remedies at the end of last week in an attempt to address concerns, IMPALA repeats its calls on the regulator to prohibit the deal outright.

Scrutiny is increasing from policymakers, including prominent European parliamentarian Nikola Minchev (vice chair of Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection), urging the Commission to ensure that Europe continues to benefit from a fair, competitive and culturally diverse music market.

At the end of November, the European Commission announced it was issuing a set of formal objections to the deal. IMPALA welcomed this, while stressing that the concerns raised go far wider than Curve data alone and underlined its views on potential remedies.  

The Commission has indicated in its press release that its concerns are about an “information advantage” for UMG arising from commercially sensitive data on Curve that would harm UMG’s competitors. On Friday, the EC extended the deadline to 27 February due to UMG proposing remedies. The European regulator can only accept remedies which “eliminate the competition concerns entirely, be comprehensive and effective from all points of view”. 

IMPALA has key observations as an interested third party, which have been shared with the EC:

• The music market is a single ecosystem with many interconnected facets. What affects one segment inevitably shapes the others (distribution, marketing, reporting, rights, A&R, the broader digital environment, A&L, data, etc.)
• The competition issues must be viewed in the wider context of multiple concerns around the digital market, the whole ecosystem, cultural diversity and the removal of a significant competitor.
• As regards data, the commonalities between the data held on Curve and on other services in the Downtown family, such as FUGA, CD Baby and Songtrust, are clear. In light of the above, IMPALA seeks a logical extension to the concerns around the proposed transaction.
• The EC must take a permanent structural approach, such as blocking outright, or divestments of all the businesses whose acquisition would cause concerns (anything less like behavioural remedies or partial divestments, would not eliminate the concerns).  

Now is the time for Europe to uphold culture, diversity and competition.

Helen Smith, IMPALA’s Executive Chair commented: “We look to the Commission to apply logic in its assessment of both its findings and any proposed remedies and extend where required. There is no presumption in favour of the merging parties and there is time to assess these issues properly. We are continuing our discussions with the European Commission as an interested third party to ensure that we reach a sound conclusion in the interests of the whole market and which stands up to scrutiny.”

IMPALA Chair, Dario Draštata, President of RUNDA Adria and Executive Director of Dallas Records added: “IMPALA understands that parties have offered remedies to address the Commission’s objections, which are subject to a full market test to check if they tackle the concerns. As we have already said, the concerns go beyond Curve to cover data on other services and also harm in different parts of one interconnected market, including digital, all impacting competition between UMG and its rivals.”

IMPALA President Francesca Trainini, Vice President of Italian association PMI concluded, “This is about culture and competition, two of Europe’s greatest assets. The best solution is blocking the whole deal outright, as there must be a permanent structural solution based on market realities. This is the only way to be consistent with EU rules and previous case law. This impacts not only what is acceptable but how any proposed remedies are to be assessed.”

The independent sector has consistently maintained that this acquisition should be blocked outright, for the reasons set out in 100 Voices, which is an illustrative snapshot of views from the sector, as well as in IMPALA’s cultural diversity paper, and other expert analyses. Competition and diversity in the music market in Europe, and across the globe, depend on the outcome of this case.  

As IMPALA has already flagged, a large range of views from different parts of the market share concerns about the impact of the acquisition. These concerns reflect issues about its impact in an ecosystem where power on one side of the market necessarily affects the whole market (often referred to in competition terms as a “two-sided market”). This is especially the case where the largest market player, UMG, has clearly demonstrated an ability to push changes through on digital services that not only disadvantage competitors but also demonetise large sections of repertoire.

These concerns have been raised across the music sector in an unprecedented way, with artists, independent businesses and other parts of the sector speaking out publicly:

• Featured artists – Last month, the International Artists Organisation sent an open letter to Commissioner Dombrovskis
• Distributors – Secretly Co-CEO, Darius Van Arman spoke out on the importance of independent distribution in an op-ed published recently in Stereogum, one of the world’s leading music blogs, sharing his view that the deal should be blocked.
• Labels – Opinion pieces have come from across the market: Martin Mills (UK, Europe, international),  Eva Karman Reinhold (Sweden), Kees van Weijen (Netherlands), Ruth Barlow (UK), Birte Wiemann (Germany), Nuno Saraiva (Portugal), Noemí Planas (International), Richard Burgess (US) and Helen Smith (Europe), as well as comments from AIM UK CEO, Gee Davy in a Music Week feature and a speech from Ruth Barlow, Chair of AIM UK who spoke out at AIM’s AGM.
• Other parts of the sector – on top of labels and featured artists, other key parts of the music sector have also raised concerns about this acquisition, including authors and composers, as well as managers and independent publishers.