Yesterday, we reported that Universal Music Group had submitted what it described as a “robust remedy” to persuade European regulators to give its Downtown Music acquisition the green light.
We also suggested that since the EC’s concerns focused on royalty-processing division Curve, divesting that might be an option. That has since been confirmed as the plan.
MBW reported that UMG will commit to “divesting the entire Curve business, including all employees (except two retained engineers), customer contracts, and the Curve Platform software and related assets” to address the concerns.
Having seen the relevant document, it also reported that UMG would retain a duplicate version of Curve’s software “sanitized” to remove all data from its current indie customers.
As we reported yesterday, European indies body Impala wants UMG to go further, calling for divestments of “all the businesses whose acquisition would cause concerns” – by which it meant also FUGA, CD Baby and Songtrust. However, the EC regulators seem to only regard Curve as a stumbling block to approving the deal.
