Universal Music Group and its subsidiary Virgin Music Group have agreed to sell Curve Royalty Systems to Jamen Capital and Merlin.
The sale is the divestment that the European Commission required as a condition of clearing Universal Music Group‘s $775 million acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings in February.
It paves the way for Curve, the royalty processing platform used by thousands of record labels, distributors and publishers, to operate as an independent business again.
Curve President Richard Leach will continue to lead the business as its standalone CEO, with the existing management and day-to-day teams remaining in place.
The companies said Jamen and Merlin would operate as strategic partners, with complementary roles in Curve‘s development. Jamen, they said, would provide “long-term financial backing”.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, and the acquisition remains subject to final European Commission approval before closing, with the regulator required to sign off on the buyer.
“This is an exciting moment for Curve,” said Richard Leach, CEO of Curve Royalty Systems.
“Throughout this process, our priority has been ensuring Curve remains an independent and agnostic platform, with a client-first approach that has earned the trust of rightsholders across the music industry. We are delighted to be entering this new chapter with Jamen and Merlin, whose vision for Curve aligns with our own.
“Their support secures Curve‘s long-term independence and enables us to continue investing in expertise, technology and service that our clients rely upon. We look forward to building on our success together.”
Matt Spetzler, Founding Partner of Jamen Capital, added: “Curve is exactly the kind of critical infrastructure the independent music sector needs; trusted, scalable and built around the real operational needs of modern music businesses.
“What stood out to us throughout this process was not just the sophistication of the platform, but the expertise and culture of the team behind it.
“Curve has earned enormous trust across the industry, and we’re committed to supporting its significant growth opportunities in payments and publishing while ensuring it provides ever-increasing value to its longstanding label, distributor and artist clients. Data and royalty infrastructure is only becoming more important to the future of the music business.”
“Curve has earned enormous trust across the industry, and we’re committed to supporting its significant growth opportunities in payments and publishing while ensuring it provides ever-increasing value to its longstanding label, distributor and artist clients.”
Matt Spetzler, Jamen Capital
Charlie Lexton, CEO of Merlin, commented: “Curve provides an essential service to independent music businesses around the world and has earned enormous trust through the quality of its service and relationships.
“Merlin is here to enable our members’ independence, and to be truly independent our sector needs its own infrastructure. Curve is central to that.”
“That’s why ensuring its future independence and neutrality was vital to us and it’s why we stepped up to make this acquisition. We are delighted to support the next stage of Curve‘s growth while ensuring it remains a part of the community it serves.”
Pieter van Rijn, COO of Virgin Music Group and CEO of Downtown Music, said: “Given the strength of our relationships within the independent community, we are happy that Jamen and Merlin are buyers that will help Curve continue to thrive as an exceptional resource to independent labels and entrepreneurs.
“Downtown and Virgin Music Group wish Richard and the Curve team every success in the future, and we’re pleased we will continue to benefit from their services as a client.”
Curve had been part of Downtown Music Holdings, which UMG‘s Virgin Music Group agreed to buy for $775 million in December 2024.
The European Commission cleared that acquisition in February, but only after UMG committed to selling Curve to an independent buyer approved by the regulator.
Curve processes royalties across the recorded music and publishing sectors for a client roster that includes Armada, Defected, Epitaph, Exceleration, Reservoir, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Virgin Music Group, Netflix, and BBC/Demon.
Under commitments UMG submitted to the Commission in December, the divestment covered the entire Curve business and its staff, with only two engineers retained by UMG.
Jamen, the investment firm founded by Matt Spetzler, launched independent financing platform Pipeline earlier this year, after which Pipeline struck a deal with Merlin in January to offer the licensing body’s members advances against their digital royalties.
Before founding Jamen, Spetzler played a role in private equity firm Francisco Partners‘ roughly $750 million acquisition of Kobalt Music Group in 2022.
Merlin says it represents 15% of the global recorded music market across more than 70 countries, and has negotiated deals with platforms including Apple, Meta, Spotify, YouTube and AI music company Udio.Music Business Worldwide