🚀 Big news in the music world, folks: Universal Music Group (UMG) just got the green light to snap up Downtown Music Holdings for a cool $775 million! 🎶 But there’s a twist—the European Commission said UMG has to let go of Downtown’s Curve royalty accounting biz to seal the deal. This blockbuster news wrapped up more than a year of nail-biting waits and announcements since UMG’s Virgin Music Group first hinted at the big buy in December 2024.💰
🗣️ Nat Pastor and JT Myers, the dynamic duo Co-CEOs of Virgin Music Group, couldn't be more pumped: “Bringing Downtown onboard means more muscle and magic for our independent artists and labels!” They’re all about shaking things up and giving indie stars the toolkit to shine on their own terms! 💡✨
Pieter van Rijn, the captain steering Downtown Music, is equally thrilled. Joining forces with Virgin Music Group, he says, is like turbo-charging their mission to power up indie music around the globe! 🌍 With over 5,000 business clients and 4 million creators in 145 countries, Downtown is already a juggernaut, but this merger might just catapult them to the stars! 🌟
Meanwhile, Valdis Dombrovskis, the Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, is throwing his support behind the move. “We dug deep and can confirm that musicians in Europe will still have tons of options for getting their music out there!” he assures. The decision to let Curve go is just another way to keep things fair and square in the music world. 🎧🔄
Stay tuned, because the music scene is about to get even more exciting with these fresh collabs and power moves! 🎤💥