Aktuellt

EU godkänner sammanlagningen Sony/ATV och EMI Publishing.

IMPALA objects to European Commission approval of Sony/ATV's acquisition of EMI Publishing

Brussels 19 April 2012

The European Commission today announced that it has approved Sony/ATV's attempt to purchase EMI's publishing arm. This follows an extension of the initial Phase 1 investigation, during which Sony submitted and then revised an offer of remedies in a bid to deal with the problems cited by the the European regulator, who said it had serious doubts about the merger.

The Commission has now approved the deal without market-testing the revised remedies or opening a more detailed investigation. Last month it launched a detailed investigation (Phase 2) into Universal's proposed deal to purchase EMI Recording.

Helen Smith, IMPALA Executive Chair, commented: "We need to study the full decision in detail, but this is bad news for Europe's publishers and writers, as well as for collecting societies and any label or online service which needs to be able to rely on fair terms to use music. In the wake of Martin Bandier's confirmation this morning of expected job losses at both EMI and Sony, we are particularly concerned for all Sony and EMI's employees and writers. We remain convinced that the impact of this merger on the livelihood of authors has been underestimated, while the ability of the remedies to secure future competition has been overestimated. We understand the Commission has treated the case as unique, concluding on the basis of its analysis of Sony's power and the specificities of its corporate structure and rejecting other arguments such as the power of online players, which will send a strong message regarding the Universal/EMI case, now even more crucial."

Michel Lambot, Co-Founder of the PIAS Entertainment Group and Co-President of IMPALA added: "This decision goes clearly against the official position of the EU to put knowledge and internet at the heart of its development. Any web developer coming from any European Silicon Valley will have to obtain an authorisation from Sony/Emi if it wants to put music on its website unlike the US. How many of them will ever get an answer when requesting a licence?"

EC STATEMENT

Mergers: Commission approves Sony and Mubadala's takeover of EMI's music publishing business, subject to conditions

Brussels, 19 April 2012 - The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposedacquisition of joint control over the music publishing business of EMI Group, a British company, by Sony Corporation of the USA and Mubadala Development Company PJSC, an investment fund based in the United Arab Emirates. The decision is conditional upon the divestiture of the worldwide publishing rights to four catalogues and the musical works of 12 contemporary authors. In light of these commitments, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not raise competition concerns.

Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy Joaquín Almunia said: "Sony and Mubadala have offered to divest valuable and attractive catalogues containing bestselling titles as well as works of successful and promising authors. I am therefore satisfied that the competitive dynamics in the online music publishing business will be maintained so as to ensure consumer choice and cultural diversity."

The Commission’s initial investigation found that the transaction, as initially notified, raised serious doubts as to its compatibility with the internal market in the area of online licensing of copyrights. The Commission's analysis focused, in particular, on the merged entity's ability to control the online licensing of Anglo-American chart hits in the European Economic Area (EEA). Anglo-American chart hits are an indispensable part of any online platform offering to consumers. Post transaction, the merged entity would have fully or partially owned publishing rights in more than half of chart hits in the UK and Ireland. Such market power would have likely affected customers' ability to license music not only in these countries but also at multi-territorial and pan-European levels.

During the first-phase review, the parties submitted commitments to divest the worldwide rights in relation to works included in four catalogues - namely Virgin UK, Virgin Europe, Virgin US, and Famous Music UK - and to the recent and future musical works of 12 contemporary Anglo-American authors, some of whom have future delivery obligations towards the parties. The catalogues to be divested comprise many best-selling titles and include the rights to works by leading authors such as Gary Barlow, Ozzy Osbourne, Robbie Williams, Ben Harper, Lenny Kravitz, Placebo and The Kooks.

The Commission therefore concluded that, subject to these divestments, the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the EEA or any substantial part of it.