In response to today’s press release from the European Commission, IMPALA has issued the following statement:

“IMPALA welcomes the European Commission’s statement today confirming to UMG that the proposed acquisition of Downtown raises concerns about restricting competition in the wholesale distribution of recorded music market, in particular an information advantage for UMG that would hamper rival labels’ ability and incentive to compete with UMG. 

As we said last week, we look forward to seeing more detail on the specifics of the objections.

We believe this acquisition should be prohibited outright – data concerns arising from horizontal overlaps cannot be resolved by remedies as the EC’s own guidelines make clear.

In addition, our members have consistently flagged that such data issues (which extend beyond Curve to include FUGA and other entities in the Downtown family) have to 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. We need more information to understand the full nature and scope of the Commission’s objections and their assessment of our members’ concerns. 

It is material to a safe outcome to the case for the Commission to address all of the concerns raised by market participants. We do not expect the EC to be abandoning issues of cultural diversity or the competitivity of small businesses and artists in such a significant case.  

Assessing impact on cultural diversity is part of the European Commission’s obligations under the European treaty and also the UNESCO convention. It was an important part of its analysis in UMG/EMI and other cases.

The scope of assessment is also important because there is no presumption in favour of merging parties, as the European court found in the Sony/BMG appeal by IMPALA. All relevant theories of harm must be assessed.

As we said, we believe this acquisition should be prohibited outright. Our cultural diversity paper and other expert analyses submitted to the regulators, set out the reasons why this matters in detail and we will discuss the next steps with the Commission.

Competition and diversity in the music market in Europe, and across the globe, depend on this acquisition being prohibited.”

Secretly Co-CEO, Darius Van Arman penned an op-ed last week in Stereogum, one of the world’s leading music blogs and includes his view on the outcome, that the deal should be blocked.

We also saw earlier this month that the International Artists Organisation sent an open letter to the Commissioner Dombrovskis. 

Eva Karman Reinhold raised concerns in the Swedish press two weeks ago. Previously we shared the speech of Ruth Barlow, Chair of AIM who spoke out at their AGM. These opinion pieces have also been submitted: Kees van Weijen, Ruth Barlow, Birte Wiemann, Noemí Planas, and Helen Smith, as well as comments from Gee Davy in a Music Week feature. 100Voices is also an illustrative snapshot of views from the independent 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.