The International Artists Organisation (IAO), representing featured artists across Europe and internationally, acknowledges the European Commission’s decision in the UMG/Downtown case.
We recognise the significance of the Commission’s detailed Phase II investigation and the structural remedies secured. The level of scrutiny applied reflects the seriousness of concerns raised across the music sector.
However, from the perspective of artists, the outcome remains deeply concerning.
Even with remedies, the decision allows the world’s largest music company to further expand its reach across key areas of music infrastructure, also aquiring DIY distribution services for independent artists. In an already concentrated market, this further strengthens structural power within the ecosystem.
-“For artists, this is not simply a matter of market share. It is about how dominance translates into influence over market mechanisms. If market mechanisms increasingly reward scale over creativity, cultural diversity will inevitably suffer,” says Nacho García Vega, President of IAO.
IAO has consistently warned that dominant companies can use their position to shape streaming models, negotiate platform-level arrangements and influence revenue allocation systems in ways that disproportionately benefit their own repertoire — often at the expense of independent artists, niche genres and smaller markets.
In highly concentrated digital markets, reforms to payment structures are necessary and overdue. However, when dominant players are able to influence revenue allocation systems, thresholds, or playlist and algorithmic visibility, there is a risk that scale is rewarded over creativity. Cultural diversity depends on revenue models and access mechanisms that treat repertoire neutrally and allow emerging artists to compete on fair terms.
IAO also underlines the importance of safeguarding genuine freedom of choice in distribution. Independent routes to market must remain viable in practice, not only in theory.
The rapid development of AI further increases the stakes.
As dominant actors expand both infrastructural control and AI-related commercial arrangements, regulators must ensure that artists’ rights, consent and remuneration are fully protected.
This decision must not mark the end of regulatory attention. Effective monitoring will be essential to ensure that remedies function as intended and that market power is not used to distort competition or undermine cultural diversity.
IAO, alongside other organisations in the sector, will scrutinise the Commission’s decision carefully once the full reasoning is published and will assess whether further action, including a possible appeal, is required.
Artists are the heart of Europe’s music ecosystem.
Ensuring fair competition, balanced power and genuine diversity is not only an economic necessity — it is a cultural imperative.