Independent labels’ music trade body AIM has asked the Office of Fair Trading in the UK to investigate record company Universal’s “creeping dominance” of its industry. The AIM request comes after Universal bought label V2 for £7m, which brought artists such as Paul Weller and Stereophonics under its control.
While Universal claims its takeover is pro-competitive and denies that its success stifles smaller rivals, its recent £44.5m acquisition of music group Sanctuary has brought other artists into the portfolio and according to the BBC, Universal enjoyed 55% of UK artist album sales last week, as opposed to the 800 members of AIM, who had around 20%.
