Impala responds to news that the EC will issue a formal objection to UMG’s proposed Downtown acquisition

20 November 2025 - Press release

 

Today, IMPALA, representing over 6,000 members in the European independent music sector across 33 countries, issued this short statement below in response to the news that the European Commission will proceed to the next step in its investigation of UMG's proposed acquisition of Downtown by issuing a set of formal objections: 
 
“We welcome this news and look forward to official confirmation and details of the objections. We will continue to liaise with the European Commission regarding our members' concerns.
 
We believe this acquisition should be blocked outright, for the reasons set out in 100Voices which is an illustrative snapshot of views from the sector as well as in our cultural diversity paper, and other expert analyses submitted to the regulators. 
 
Competition and diversity in the music market in Europe, and across the globe, depend on the outcome of this case. 

On Friday the International Artists Organisation sent an open letter to the European Commissioner responsible for the case. Eva Karman Reinhold raised concerns in the Swedish press as did Ruth Barlow, Chair of AIM at their AGM. See also these op-eds by Kees van Weijen, Ruth Barlow, Birte Wiemann, Noemí Planas, and Helen Smith, as well as comments from Gee Davy in a Music Week feature."

See more on IMPALA's news page. Other key parts of the music sector on top of labels and featured artists have also raised concerns about this acquisition, including authors and composers, managersandindependent publishers.