The European Commission has reset the clock on its probe into the proposed $775 million acquisition of independent music and services company Downtown Music Holdings by the world's largest music company Universal Music Group, via its Virgin Music Group division.
The Commission had put the investigation into the merger on hold since September 2, after various parties failed to provide the EU's competition division with the data and responses it was expecting.
The Commission confirmed to Reuters ...

The Australian creative sector has welcomed the decision from the Albanese Government to shelve the project to include in the country's copyright law a Text and Data Mining (TDM) Exception to train artificial intelligence (AI) models.
The proposal, which was supported by the tech sector, would have allowed AI companies to train large models by using Australian protected content without license or compensation. The TDM exception was part of a series of proposals from government's independent advi...

The proposed acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings by Universal Music Group, currently under investigation by the European Commission, carries "significant risks for both the quantity and diversity of independent releases," according to a new paper entitled 'Universal/Downtown — Why does it matter from a cultural diversity perspective?' published by independent music companies' European organisation IMPALA.
The Brussels-based organisation explained that outlining the consequences of the propo...