Speaking in London, United Kingdom, on September 10, Richard Leach, chief executive of Curve Royalty Systems, said the European Commission (EC) investigation into Curve as part of the Universal Music Group (UMG)/Downtown Music Holdings review changed how he defines independence. Curve was later divested from UMG’s Virgin Music Group to Jamen Capital and Merlin.
Leach told the Association of Independent Music (AIM) Connected event that independence is commonly understood as freedom from outside control, rule or support. In the music industry, he said, no one is truly independent.
“Broadly speaking, no-one is independent, not in this industry anyway.”
He contrasted that with interdependence, which he described as two or more people, things or groups relying on each other for support, survival or function. For most music businesses, he said, “independent” means the ability, freedom or opportunity to speak for oneself, or the freedom to choose a trusted third-party partner to speak on one’s behalf. That is why organisations such as AIM, Merlin, IMPALA, IMPF, A2IM and AIMPF exist and remain important, he added.
Client trust and ownership questions#
Leach said almost every Curve client has asked about the company’s future plans. Royalty infrastructure is not a short-term commitment, he noted, because music businesses do not move platforms every couple of years.
“Can the client trust that the decision they’re making today won’t become a problem in five years?”
Curve came to market in 2019, but Leach and his two co-founders have worked in the music industry since 2003. He said the company did not have a “get rich quick, tech-bro agenda” and has aimed to serve independent partners.
Success, however, creates situations that good intentions alone cannot navigate. For companies providing critical infrastructure, trust is shaped as much by ownership as by behaviour. “Intentions matter. Structures endure,” he said.
Downtown sale and European Commission probe#
Leach said that was not how he thought about ownership when Curve became part of Downtown Music Holdings in 2022. Downtown was independent, and he saw no cause for concern. But he did not ask follow-up questions about Downtown’s backers, their investment horizons or the realistic buyer universe.
Had those questions been asked, he said, Curve might have been less self-assured that a sale of Downtown would probably happen eventually but that there were years to focus on the mission. Downtown invested significantly in Curve and gave it room to grow faster, Leach said, but he did not leverage Curve’s position in the sale to understand what the future might hold.
Within two years, UMG’s Virgin Music Group agreed to acquire Downtown, Curve was at the centre of an EC investigation, and a public debate about Curve’s operations was conducted, he felt, on the wrong terms.
Theory of harm and data access#
Leach said he now concurs that the EC’s theory of harm was sound. If UMG owned Curve, it could gain access to commercially sensitive data belonging to independent labels, publishers and distributors that use the platform, including:
- royalty rates
- advances
- digital service provider (DSP) sales
That intelligence could be used to poach artists, undercut competitors or tilt the playing field, he said. “The rascals.”
Leach said he resisted this argument for a long time because it did not match his experience: Curve would never have handed over client data. Trust is the bedrock of the company, he said, and any suggestion of misuse would finish it. Curve is ISO (International Organization for Standardization) certified, moving toward SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley) certification and bound by confidentiality obligations to every client. “It’s not a question of willpower; it’s architecture. It’s existential.”
Eventually, Leach said, he accepted the EC’s position not because he thought it was likely, but because he had to acknowledge it was possible. “A theory of harm doesn’t require probability. It just requires plausibility.” The Commission was right that the structure created the conditions, he said.
He told the EC case team in Brussels, Belgium, in January: “I don’t agree with how you have made your decision, but I do agree WITH the decision.”
Team scale and structural pressure#
Leach said the threat that bothered Curve was more mundane, inevitable and insidious. When Curve sold to Downtown, it had 13 people. By the divestment announcement, it had 37.
A team of 13 has a singular way of working, he said: a short agenda and fierce focus. A team inside a larger organisation operates in a fundamentally different environment, not necessarily a worse one.
