Category: Music

Virgin Music Group (VMG) announced on Friday (February 20) that it has completed its acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings LLC (Downtown).

The closure follows the European Commission’s approval of the deal last Friday (February 13), subject to Universal Music Group‘s commitment to divest Downtown’s Curve royalty accounting business.

UMG’s Virgin Music Group first announced the transaction in December 2024.

Alongside the deal’s completion, it was announced that Pieter van Rijn has been appointed Chief Operating Officer of VMG, having been CEO of Downtown since last year.

He will report to co-CEOs Nat Pastor and JT Myers and will continue to be based in Amsterdam.

Downtown Founder Justin Kalifowitz confirmed he is stepping away from the company he founded in 2007. Andrew Bergman, previously Chairman of Downtown, will transition into a senior advisory role.

In a Founder’s Letter shared on Friday (which you can read in full below), Kalifowitz reflected on Downtown’s origins: “When we first started Downtown’s publishing business, the music industry was in freefall,” he said.

“Our first hit was the 2007 ringtone of the year — a phrase that now feels museum-worthy. CDs were collapsing, streaming hadn’t yet found its footing, and most of the conversation centered on what was being lost. We saw something different.”

He added: “We believed more music would be created, not less. More entrepreneurs would enter the business, not fewer. More global participation. More direct relationships. The question wasn’t how to protect what had been — it was how to build for what was coming.”

According to the announcement on Friday (February 20), the completion of the deal marks “a significant milestone in the creation of a global, end-to-end solution that meets the evolving needs of independent entrepreneurs, artists, and rights holders”.

Initially established in 2007, Downtown collectively serves over 5,000 business clients and more than four million creators in 145 countries.

Today, the company has core divisions across Artist & Label Services, Distribution, and Music Publishing. The company’s portfolio of businesses includes FUGA, Downtown Artist & Label Services, CD Baby, Downtown Music Publishing and Songtrust.

VMG noted that with extensive leadership experience across both Downtown Music and FUGA, van Rijn has been a “key architect in the development of innovative, scalable services designed to empower the independent community”.

The company added that as COO of Virgin Music Group, he will oversee global operations, tech, product, and strategic integration across the combined businesses, as well as “ensuring continuity for Downtown’s clients, teams, and brands while unlocking new opportunities for growth and collaboration”.

“Pieter’s appointment signals our intent to bring these businesses together thoughtfully and strategically.”

Nat Pastor

Nat Pastor said: “Pieter’s appointment signals our intent to bring these businesses together thoughtfully and strategically.

“This is about making both Virgin Music Group and Downtown even better — preserving their distinct strengths while increasing the investment, technology and global resources available to independent entrepreneurs. Pieter’s experience and leadership make him the right person to help guide us forward.”

“I’m grateful to Justin and Andrew for their vision in building Downtown, and to Nat and JT for their trust as we enter this next chapter.”

Pieter van Rijn

Pieter van Rijn said: “This combination enhances the choice, service and global reach available to the independent community.

“I’m grateful to Justin and Andrew for their vision in building Downtown, and to Nat and JT for their trust as we enter this next chapter. Our focus is clear: strengthen what makes both companies special and deliver even greater value to the entrepreneurs we serve.”

“Today recognizes the extraordinary company the Downtown team has built.”

JT Myers 

JT Myers said: “Today recognizes the extraordinary company the Downtown team has built. Justin’s pioneering spirit — and the leadership of Andrew, Pieter and colleagues worldwide — created an organization defined by its powerful belief in independent creators.

“We deeply respect what this team has built and are committed to backing it, protecting what makes Downtown successful, and expanding opportunities for the global independent community.”

“Justin and I look forward to cheering on Nat, JT, Pieter and the combined teams as they continue to create new opportunities for the global music community.”

Andrew Bergman 

Andrew Bergman said: “I’m extremely proud of the culture we created, grounded in trust, long-term partnership and the constant pursuit of excellence. Pieter van Rijn epitomizes that culture and watching my friend grow into such an exceptional leader has been extremely gratifying.

“Justin and I look forward to cheering on Nat, JT, Pieter and the combined teams as they continue to create new opportunities for the global music community.”

VMG noted that, since becoming Downtown’s CEO in 2024, Pieter van Rijn has been responsible for leading Downtown Music’s global business and professional services, spanning distribution, artist and label services, publishing administration, neighbouring rights and sync licensing.

Prior to becoming President of Downtown Music in July 2022, he served as CEO of global music distributor FUGA, joining in 2014 and guiding the company through “a period of significant international expansion and technological innovation,”

Under his leadership, FUGA grew to serve more than 900 industry clients across over 50 countries.

Originally headquartered in Amsterdam, van Rijn expanded the company’s global footprint with hubs across EMEA, North America, LATAM and APAC, transforming FUGA into a full-service label services partner offering marketing, sync, royalty accounting, physical distribution, audience development and advanced data insights, “while maintaining its reputation as a leading music-technology platform”.

You can read Justin Kalifowitz’s message in full below:

When we first started Downtown’s publishing business, the music industry was in freefall. Our first hit was the 2007 ringtone of the year — a phrase that now feels museum-worthy. CDs were collapsing, streaming hadn’t yet found its footing, and most of the conversation centered on what was being lost.

We saw something different.

We believed more music would be created, not less. More entrepreneurs would enter the business, not fewer. More global participation. More direct relationships. The question wasn’t how to protect what had been — it was how to build for what was coming.

Downtown grew up inside that belief. We weren’t perfect, but we were always tinkering — questioning, adjusting, improving. Trying to serve artists, entrepreneurs, and partners better today than the day before. Service beats control. Infrastructure beats trend-chasing. Culture beats hierarchy.

Of all the changes over the past two decades, the one I believe we helped shape most is mindset — that creators deserve choice, that independence can scale, that service is not a weakness but a strategy.

What I’m personally most proud of isn’t a catalog, an acquisition, or a headline. It’s our people. The operators who showed up every day and did the work. The alumni who now sit across this industry and beyond. The partners who trusted us. The creators who chose us. Nearly two decades later, that’s the real story.

To everyone who has been part of the journey — and especially those running with us since the very beginning — thank you.

Andrew and I step away proud of what we’ve built together and confident in the leadership and culture that define Downtown today. We congratulate our good friend Pieter on his new role and wish Nat, JT, and the broader Virgin team nothing but the best as they carry the business forward into its next chapter.

Companies evolve. Markets shift. Strong cultures endure.

I know this is only Downtown’s story — so far.

JustinMusic Business Worldwide

Live Nation has publicly called on the US Department of Justice to settle the government’s antitrust lawsuit against the company and its subsidiary Ticketmaster, arguing that the prospect of a court-ordered breakup is effectively dead.

In a statement published today (February 19) — the same day the company reported record annual revenues of $25.2 billion — Live Nation’s EVP of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, Dan Wall, said the company is “ready” to reach a deal with the DOJ and state attorneys general.

Wall writes: “Cases in this posture nearly always settle, and with the prospect of structural relief off the table, that is what should happen in this case now.

“Live Nation is ready to make that happen with DOJ and any State Attorney General committed to realistic, common-sense solutions to the remaining issues.”

He adds: “We understand that any settlement needs to be meaningful for our venue customers, for artists, and of course for fans. That is what we want, too.”

The statement, titled It’s Time to Move On, can be read in full here.

Wall’s statement comes one day after US District Judge Arun Subramanian issued a ruling that narrowed the scope of the DOJ’s case.

The judge dismissed claims that Live Nation monopolized the concert promotion market, while allowing claims related to Ticketmaster’s dominance in venue-facing ticketing and Live Nation’s practice of tying access to its amphitheaters to its promotion services to proceed to trial.

Jury selection is currently scheduled to begin on March 2.

Live Nation’s argument centers on the dismissal of the concert promotion claims. Wall writes that this “undermines any serious argument for breaking up Live Nation and Ticketmaster“.

He continues: “First, it ends the narrative that concert promotion and ticketing are ‘mutually reinforcing monopolies.’ There was never much substance to that contention, but the idea at least was that the two monopolies propped up one another. Now [the] DOJ has failed to prove there is a concert promotion monopoly.”

Wall also argues that separating Live Nation from Ticketmaster “would not serve any remedial purpose, let alone be a legally permissible remedy”.

He writes: “The case is now about three things: long-term exclusive ticketing contracts, a discrete ticketing deal Ticketmaster has with Oakview Group, and Live Nation’s policy of not renting its amphitheaters to rival promoters. None of those claims, nor even all three taken together, warrants more than standard injunctive relief.”

Wall points to recent precedent to bolster his argument, citing the DOJ’s antitrust case against Google.

In that case, Judge Amit Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia rejected the DOJ’s request to force Google to spin off its Chrome browser in September 2025, instead opting for more targeted remedies around exclusive default agreements.

Wall writes that breakups in monopolization cases are vanishingly rare: “The last time it happened was in 1980, when AT&T agreed to be broken up to resolve a monopolization case that was in the late stages of trial.”

He also notes that the DOJ itself had approved the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger in 2010, and had at the time said it was “sure to benefit concertgoers, artists, and the industry as a whole”.

Wall’s statement directly targets the origins of the case under the Biden administration. He writes that former DOJ Antitrust Chief Jonathan Kanter “broke from usual DOJ practice and announced on Day One that ‘it was time to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster’”.

Wall continues: “He also told the American public that the merger and its attendant evils were responsible for high ticket prices and fees. Of course, none of this was true.”

He adds: “On the eve of trial, DOJ has no evidence of that, and its argument has become that it doesn’t need to prove higher prices.”

The DOJ, joined by 39 US states and the District of Columbia, filed the lawsuit in May 2024, alleging monopolistic conduct across the live entertainment industry.

Despite Live Nation’s call for a settlement, not all parties may be willing to stand down.

Following yesterday’s ruling, New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement: “Live Nation has used its monopoly to rig the live events industry to its benefit, driving up costs with higher ticket prices and outrageous fees. Regardless of the path that the Department of Justice takes, my office will continue this case and we will see Live Nation in court.”

Wall’s statement arrives on the same day that Live Nation reported annual revenues of $25.2 billion for 2025, up 9% year-over-year, and adjusted operating income of $2.37 billion, up 10%.

The company said a record 159 million people attended Live Nation-promoted shows in 2025 across 55,000 concerts — up by 8 million on the prior year. For the first time, more people attended Live Nation concerts outside the US than inside it.

Live Nation Entertainment has posted annual revenues of USD $25.2 billion for 2025, up 9% – or by $2.05 billion – year-over-year.

The live entertainment giant has today (February 19) also reported that a record 159 million people attended Live Nation-promoted shows in 2025 (across 55,000 concerts) – up by 8 million YoY.

A standout fact about these 159 million attendees?

For the first time, in 2025, more music fans attended Live Nation concerts outside the United States than inside it.

Live Nation reported operating income of $1.25 billion for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2025. That was up 52% YoY, though a $454.9 million charge weighed on 2024’s results, relating to the cost of settling claims from the 2021 Astroworld tragedy.

Live Nation’s Adjusted operating income (AOI) — which strips out depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation, and ongoing legal costs stemming from the Ticketmaster merger, among other items — came in at $2.37 billion for 2025, up 10% YoY.

The results arrive as Live Nation faces perhaps its biggest-ever legal challenge: jury selection in the US Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against LN and Ticketmaster — which alleges monopolistic conduct — is scheduled to begin on March 2

Today’s results confirm what Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino predicted in May when he said 2025 was “shaping up to be a historic year for live music”.

Rapino said in a statement accompanying the full-year results today (February 19): “In 2025, the bond between artists and their global fan bases reached new heights, fueling another year of double-digit growth. As artists continue to unlock untapped markets and headline the world’s most iconic stadiums, we’ve built momentum that carries us into a record-breaking 2026.

“We’re not just building venues; we’re crafting world-class stages designed to elevate the artist’s vision and their connection to fans. By strategically expanding our global footprint and investing in premium, upgraded infrastructure, we provide the canvas for career-defining performances. This investment doesn’t just drive ticket sales — it revitalizes local economies and cements our venues as cultural anchors.

“With a deep pipeline of large-scale shows and ticket demand continuing its ascent, we are positioned for another year of double-digit operating income and AOI growth in 2026. Our commitment to being the ultimate partner for artists ensures we are set to compound this double-digit growth for years to come.”

Live Nation further confirmed today that it invested nearly USD $15 billion in artists and shows during 2025. The firm claims this expenditure “reinforces” its position as “the leading financial supporter of artists”.

If ever a corporate line was invented to tweak the noses of the major music rights companies, it’s that one.

Concerts

Live Nation’s concerts business — by far the firm’s largest segment — generated revenue of $20.9 billion in 2025 (+10% YoY).

The concerts business also posted an annual AOI of $687 million, up 30% YoY.

That meant AOI margins expanded to a best-ever 3.3%.