Jamen Capital and Merlin have completed their acquisition of Curve Royalty Systems from Virgin Music Group, officially returning the music royalty-processing platform to independent ownership.
The transaction closed on August 18, 2026, following final approval from the European Commission, which had required Curve’s divestment as a condition for approving Universal Music Group’s $775 million acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings.
Curve is a major royalty-processing platform used by thousands of record labels, distributors and publishers across the recorded music and publishing sectors. Its clients have included companies such as Armada, Defected, Epitaph, Exceleration, Reservoir, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Virgin Music Group, Netflix and BBC/Demon.
Under the new ownership structure, Curve will operate as a standalone business, separate from Universal Music Group and Virgin Music Group. The company’s existing leadership, team, brand, products and client relationships will remain in place.
Richard Leach will continue as Curve’s CEO, while Jamen Capital and Merlin will act as strategic partners. Jamen brings long-term financial backing and experience in music technology investments, while Merlin brings deep expertise in the independent music sector.
The deal is particularly significant because the European Commission’s intervention was designed to prevent Curve’s royalty infrastructure from remaining under the control of UMG following its Downtown acquisition. The regulator required the entire Curve business and its staff to be divested to an independent buyer.
For Merlin, the acquisition is also strategically important because the organisation represents independent music companies globally. Having an independent royalty infrastructure provider gives the sector greater control over critical systems used to process and account for music revenues.
The new owners have said that preserving Curve’s neutrality and independence is a key priority. The company will continue serving clients across the industry without immediate changes to its services, customer support, account management or existing contracts.
The acquisition also highlights the growing importance of royalty technology in the modern music business. With increasingly complicated global rights structures, streaming revenues, publishing income and metadata requirements, accurate and scalable royalty processing has become critical infrastructure for labels, distributors and rights-holders.
With the transaction now officially complete, Curve enters its next chapter as an independent music-technology company backed by Jamen Capital and Merlin.
The move gives Curve the financial and industry support to expand its technology and services while maintaining the independence that was at the centre of the acquisition.
