Pieter van Rijn Courtesy Pieter van Rijn As opposition to the 775 million acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings by Virgin Music Group heats up, Downtown CEO Pieter van Rijn says the controversial deal has attracted more attention because of the buyers owner, Universal Music Group (UMG), than it has for the benefits musicians would enjoy from the combination. In an open letter obtained by Billboard, which arrived as the European Commission investigates the acquisitions potential effect on competition, van Rijn took aim at what he called misinformation aimed at undermining our longstanding and trusted client relationships.Its disappointing to see how quickly some parts of our industry closed the door to rooms we and others helped build.
He added that the debate about the acquisition, announced on Dec. 16, and its impact on the independent music community must be honest.
It must be about facts, not agendas. Related UMGs Downtown Deal: European Commission Launches In-Depth Second Phase of Investigation Elizabeth Dilts Marshall While van Rijn referred to the acquisition as a merger of Downtown and Virgin, a label services provider owned by UMG, European regulators are more concerned about the transactions potential to hurt competition for artist and label services.
In July, European regulators began a four-month investigation into the acquisition after a standard preliminary review, owing to the fact that UMG is the largest record labelpublisher by both annual revenue and market capitalization, and that Downtown owns a variety of companies that allow independent recording artists and songwriters to generate revenue in todays digital-focused market, including distributors FUGA and CD Baby, publishing administrator Songtrust and rights management company AdRev. Trending on Billboard Opposition quickly mounted after Virgin and Downtown announced the acquisition.
*Reporting by Billboard.*
Downtown Music CEO Blasts ‘Misinformation’ Around Virgin Acquisition: ‘It’s Disappointing’
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