IMPALA, IMPF, and AIM Protest UMG/Virgin Acquisition of Downtown Music: ‘A Continuing Trend Towards Over-Consolidation’

Flaunt Weeekly IMPALA, IMPF, and AIM are protesting Universal Music’s newly announced Downtown acquisition, which they say threatens the indie sector and competition generally.

Those organizations reached out to DMN with firmly worded comments about the $775 million deal in question. Unveiled yesterday and expected to wrap (pending regulatory approval) sometime around the middle of 2025, the purchase is being executed specifically via Virgin Music Group.

However, the play represents just the latest in a line of consolidation-minded moves from the overarching Universal Music as well as the other majors. It was only earlier in 2024 that UMG revealed the purchase of the remainder of [PIAS]for instance.

And while it’s something of a distant memory given the year’s decidedly quick-moving news cycle, Warner Music’s exploration of a Believe buyout only ended sans offer this past April. Subsequently, the major added a Goldman vet to “supercharge” its investments in third-party operations.

It’s against this backdrop that the initially mentioned organizations are criticizing the Universal Music-Downtown deal.

Diving directly into the relevant remarks, Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA) executive chair Helen Smith decried the acquisition as “another land grab” from the Netherlands’ UMG.

“This is another land grab,” Smith communicated in part. “We expect competition authorities in key jurisdictions to carry out thorough investigations and block these deals. The time has come for cutting UMG’s market position back to what was already set. This is a huge market share grab by UMG and seriously reduces independent routes to market. We look to the new European commission to set the standard internationally.”

In additional comments, Smith emphasized calls for regulatory scrutiny not solely into the [PIAS] and Downtown purchases themselves, but also into “how it is possible for UMG to gain more market share after it was already considered too big.”

Next, the Independent Music Publishers International Forum (IMPF), which is also headquartered in Brussels, drove home the UMG-Downtown consolidation’s impact particularly on the publishing side.

“IMPF is both saddened and concerned by news of a potential sale of Downtown Music to Universal-owned Virgin Music Group,” IMPF weighed in. “Downtown Music Publishing and Sheer Publishing Africa are valued members of the independent music publishing community and indeed of IMPF. Furthermore, many of Downtown Music’s other operations, notably Songtrust, are partners to independent publishers around the world.

“While independent music publishing continues to grow in value internationally,” the organization continued, “should this sale go ahead, it will mean further market concentration, which in turn will damage the diversity of the music industry ecosystem, harm competition and ultimately reduce choice for songwriters and publishers alike.”

Finally, Gee Davy, CEO of London’s Association of Independent Music (AIM), bluntly deemed the purchase one component of “a continuing trend towards over-consolidation.”

“The potential sale of Downtown Music – including FUGA, a longstanding favourite with independents – to Universal’s Virgin Music Group is more concerning news for the global independent music community,” Davy indicated. “Following on from the recent PIAS/Integral acquisition, it plays into a continuing trend towards over-consolidation and reduction of independent routes to market.

“It is vital to uphold a true choice of partners for artists and labels and ensure that negotiating power does not become unbalanced. Only in this way can homegrown artists and businesses access fair deals, investment and growth,” the AIM head concluded.