Music Business Worldwide
Michaël Majster, founding partner at Paris-based Majster & Nehmé and a 30-year legal veteran, described the data-related fears as stemming “more from fantasy or paranoia than from a concrete, realistic, and rational analysis”.
During his career, Majster has represented both multi-platinum and emerging artists in France, plus prominent independent record labels and distributors, and a major music publisher. He has not represented UMG or Downtown.
He is rated in the top tier of music law practitioners in France by the industry-standard Décideurs Leaders League.
In July, some 200 employees of independent music companies and trade bodies signed a letter citing data concerns about UMG’s potential acquisition of Downtown subsidiaries FUGA and Curve Royalty Systems.
The letter contended that UMG’s ownership of these subsidiaries would grant it access to sensitive data from independent labels, such as “distribution information – including artists and song trends, and performance on digital platforms [plus] critical business information such as pricing, contractual terms and strategic relationships”.
Majster argued that much of this data is already “easily publicly available or accessible” through existing market intelligence services.
Top European music lawyer dismisses UMG/Downtown data concerns as ‘fantasy or paranoia’
