Virgin, Downtown Selling Curve Royalty Systems to Merlin, Jamen Capital

Independent music label collective Merlin and music tech investment firm Jamen Capital said on Monday (June 8) they plan to buy Curve Royalty Systems from Virgin Music Group.

Curve, a royalty accounting and rights management business, was previously owned by Downtown Music Group. Its sale to Merlin and Jamen fulfills a requirement European regulators outlined when they approved Virgin parent Universal Music Group’s acquisition of Downtown over concerns that Curve could give Virgin upstream data about rival labels. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and it remains subject to approval by the European Commission.

The companies said the acquisition of Curve, a royalty tech processing platform for thousands of record labels, distributors and publishing clients worldwide, “reflects the growing strategic importance of royalty infrastructure within the modern music business, as increasingly complex global rights flows, metadata requirements and reporting demands place greater emphasis on transparent, scalable accounting systems.”

Curve will remain an independent company run by its president, Richard Leach , with Merlin and Jamen acting as strategic development partners, according to the statement.

“Curve provides an essential service to independent music businesses,” Charlie Lexton , CEO of Merlin, said in a statement. “Merlin is here to enable our members’ independence, and to be truly independent our sector needs its own infrastructure. Curve is central to that.”

Curve works with clients like Armada, Defected, Epitaph, Exceleration, Reservoir, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Virgin Music Group, Netflix and BBC/Demon.

Jamen Capital was founded by experienced music tech investor Matt Spetzler , who has led more than $5 billion in music and audio investments in recent years. Prior to founding Jamen Capital in 2025, Spetzler was a partner and the co-head of Europe for Francisco Partners, where he led the firm’s acquisition of Kobalt, Muse Group, Native Instruments and more. Spetzler has invested in and sits on the boards of Soundtrack, which he invested in with Matt Pincus ; Recognition Music Group; and Pipeline Media.

“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,” Spetzler said. “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.”

Francisco Partners said earlier in June that it exited its investment in Muse Group.

_Originally reported by [Billboard](https://www.billboard.com/pro/virgin-downtown-sell-curve-royalty-systems-merlin-jamen/)._