Music Business News: Europe

Spotify set to hike prices across Europe, Latin America, following 18% price rise in Netherlands

A Spotify individual subscription in the Netherlands now costs EUR 12.99 per month

IMPALA welcomes EU’s Downtown deal probe; UMG remains ‘confident’ $775M acquisition will close in H2 2025

Brussels-based IMPALA, which represents over 6,000 independent music companies in Europe, has welcomed the European Commission’s decision to investigate Universal Music Group’s proposed $775 million acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings. “We welcome this news and stand ready to collaborate fully with the European Commission throughout its assessment of the merger,” said Helen Smith, IMPALA Executive … Continued

Splice acquires Spitfire Audio for a reported $50m as it bets on AI music creation

Splice was valued at nearly USD $500m in 2021 after securing $55m in funding

Confirmed: European competition regulator to assess UMG’s $775m acquisition of Downtown Music

European Commission has accepted requests from Austria and the Netherlands to review the proposed acquisition

Universal Music Group’s Downtown acquisition to be probed by EU competition regulator (report)

The FT reports the probe will be announced on Friday (April 25)

Oscar Höglund talks Epidemic Sound’s revenue growth and vast reach: ‘We get roughly 3bn daily views. That’s 20 Super Bowls per day, 365 days per year.’

MBW's World Leaders series meets Oscar Höglund, CEO of Epidemic Sound

‘If everybody’s running one way, you can’t be running the same way. You don’t need to be the 20th version of something.’

MBW’s partnership with the brilliant Did Ya Know? podcast continues with Adrian Sykes in conversation with RCA UK Co-President Stacey Tang…

Spanish society SGAE distributed $378m to its members in 2024, as annual collections reached record $422m

SGAE reports highest annual revenues in 125-year history