By the way I say proposed because obviously it needs to be approved yet...

There are many people voicing concerns about this acquisition and in some cases quite rightly so, in other cases they probably need to just change how their own business works.

Is this really as bad for the independents as everybody is saying, in my opinion "controversially” it may not be as bad as it seems.

Why?

There are many different routes to market in this day and age, the choice has never been greater. There are many companies that are there to pick up the slack and some of them have even better technology than Downtown’s group of companies. This brings opportunity for newer companies to scale...

The fact is that companies are always going to get acquired. If it's not Virgin buying Downtown then it's going to be somebody else, maybe it would be Believe, ONERPM maybe Exceleration or one of the other majors, it could be any of the big funds, as we know pretty much everything is being controlled by money and investors.

The owners of Downtown, they wanted out, and so they're out. So should we complain about it, or should we just get on and make the changes that were needed, if you have the ability to make the changes, then you should do it.

Paying so much attention to the majors is a distraction, invest your energies into your own business and reap the rewards instead.

Many labels and publishers are taking huge advances from distributors and other publishers but often this locks them into long term deals, then something like this happens and everyone is up in arms...

If you’re taking money to grow, make sure you're working with the right partners. You've got to make sure that if you're taking money, that the money isn't holding you back, there are other ways to get investment for the label without taking hefty advances from distributors… Services like Beatbread and Royfi and others…

So is this the end?

Is this doom and gloom?

Not if we see it as an opportunity.

It's the evolving cycle, and it keeps on going. All I can suggest is that if you are in this industry, you need to make sure that you have the ability to enter into different opportunities and new deals, don’t get locked in.

Technology now is giving us even more routes to market, more ways to monetise, more control on our catalogues, you need to ensure you’re exploiting every right in every area as best you can and have the ability to enter into new and existing offerings easily.

So now to summarise, is the Virgin / Downtown deal so bad? Short term maybe, long term I don’t think so, it’s going to open up other avenues for the Indies.

It is bad that Universal is getting so big with so much market share, but the indies will fight back, take control of their businesses and those market shares will move again.

Independence is really about having those choices. And if you don't want to be involved in a major supply chain and you don't want to be working with them. Don't work with them. If you do then do, I am sure there will be multiple companies that jump ship should this go through, just make sure you’re ready, at any moment to make that switch…

You just need to keep control. Do not rely on your distributor / publisher as your repertoire database. Yes, change is difficult but it really shouldn’t be… Be ready for it....

So if you’re still here reading, it’s worth noting that rightsHUB has been built to give you that complete control, no long term contracts, the ability to deliver your content where you want, when you want, no data ownership, no revenue shares, purely amazing tools to ensure that as a rights holder you have the ability to work with which ever distributor, publisher, sync company, marketing partners etc etc that you so desire...

Feel free to get in touch if you want to learn more.