According to Universal’s management, financial considerations aren’t the primary reason for UMG’s evident prudency over catalog rights spending. It’s more strategic than that. Universal’s Chairman and CEO, Sir Lucian Grainge, argued that many active buyers in today’s music’s M&A rights marketplace are merely “passive participants” in the income streams from music. “UMG, on the other hand, is not in the passive rights business,” said Grainge.
Source: Universal’s music catalog spending has shrunk dramatically over the past two years. Why?