The European Commission today raised concerns about the proposed acquisition of Downtown by Universal Music Group (UMG) and approved the merger between advertising companies Omnicom and IPG.
According to the community executive, Brussels informed UMG that its proposed acquisition of Downtown could, in a preliminary view, “restrict competition in the wholesale distribution market for recorded music”.
North American Downtown provides services to independent artists and publishers through the music distribution platform Fuga, or with royalty accounting services through its Curve platform, which offers processing, accounting, payment and royalty-related services, as well as rights management.
UMG operates globally in music recording, music publishing, promotional articles and audiovisual content.
The Commission fears, in a preliminary investigation and to which UGM, transferred in the Netherlands, has yet to respond, the impact that the acquisition would have “on the wholesale distribution of recorded music, potentially harming competition in that sector”.
Also today, Brussels notified the unconditional approval of the proposed merger of Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (‘IPG’) by Omnicom Group Inc. (‘Omnicom’), both in the area of advertising, marketing and communication services, considering that it does not raise competition concerns in the European Economic Area.