new video loaded: Kenyan Police Fire on Mourners at Raila Odinga Memorial
transcript
transcript
Kenyan Police Fire on Mourners at Raila Odinga Memorial
Tens of thousands of mourners gathered at a stadium in Nairobi, Kenya, to pay their respects to opposition leader Raila Odinga. At least two people were killed, Kenya’s head of police operations told The Associated Press.
Africa has lost a son. Your death can only be compared to one death in this planet. It can only be compared to that of Madiba, Nelson Madiba Mandela in South Africa. Baba, you are a true son of this — you are a true son of this soil, Baba. We are going to miss you.
Tens of thousands of mourners gathered at a stadium in Nairobi, Kenya, to pay their respects to opposition leader Raila Odinga. At least two people were killed, Kenya’s head of police operations told The Associated Press.
The Philadelphia 76ers enter the 2025–26 NBA season under intense scrutiny. Despite holding a top-five draft pick, expectations remain sky-high for a roster built around Joel Embiid and Paul George. Three-time NBA champion Danny Green believes no team faces more pressure than Philadelphia.
“They’ve been talking about blowing it up each year,” Green said. “What do we do with Joel Embiid? If they don’t win this year, it’s going to be a lot of smoke in the city, and they’re going to have to make a lot of changes, and it’s going to probably start with Joel.”
A Star Without a Deep Playoff Run
Since debuting in 2016, Embiid has been the Sixers’ franchise cornerstone and the 2023 MVP. Individually, he’s delivered elite production, but team success has consistently fallen short. The Sixers have yet to reach the conference finals during his tenure.
Last season marked perhaps the most disappointing campaign of the Embiid era. Injuries limited him to just 19 games, and the team collapsed to the third-overall pick in the draft. For a franchise once viewed as a top contender in the East, the fall was steep.
Philadelphia’s struggles weren’t entirely self-inflicted. The roster was hit by multiple injuries, including Embiid and George—both players with lengthy medical histories. Still, Green believes that another disappointing season could push the organization toward major changes.
The “Untradable” Myth
Green stopped short of predicting an Embiid trade but acknowledged that it’s possible if results don’t improve. “There’s no such thing,” he said when asked about untradable contracts. “Everything can be traded. I’m willing to bet there are a lot of teams out there in the lower tier, the bottom tier, and mid-tier that would want Joe out to sell tickets and try to put themselves in playoff contention.”
A Critical Year Ahead
The Sixers have invested hundreds of millions into Embiid and have long envisioned him retiring in Philadelphia. But with another lost season, that dream could fade. As Green put it, “They have the most pressure to win. My list is my list.”
For Embiid and the Sixers, the message is clear: it’s championship or change in 2025–26.
A one-time gene therapy using a patient’s own stem cells has effectively cured a deadly immune disorder in 95% of treated children, offering a lasting, donor-free solution to ADA-SCID, known as the “bubble boy” disease.
Those who are old enough may remember “the boy in the bubble,” David Vetter, born with a rare hereditary condition called severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). It affected his immune system, making even the mildest of infections life-threatening. Vetter died in 1984, at age 12.
In a new study, researchers from UCLA, University College London, and Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, trialed an experimental gene therapy for children born with severe combined immunodeficiency due to adenosine deaminase deficiency (ADA-SCID), demonstrating a 95% long-term success rate.
“These results are what we hoped for when we first began developing this approach,” said the study’s senior author, Donald Kohn, MD, a pediatric bone marrow transplant physician and head of the Kohn Lab at UCLA. “The durability of immune function, the consistency over time and the continued safety profile are all incredibly encouraging.”
Five-year-old David Vetter, “the boy in the bubble,” received a custom-made spacesuit from NASA in 1977
NASA Johnson Space Center
A deficiency in the enzyme ADA, caused by mutations in the ADA gene, leads to a buildup of toxic metabolic byproducts (metabolites), which most potently affect white blood cells. ADA-SCID presents in early infancy, usually in the setting of persistent infection. Left untreated, the condition is usually fatal in the first one to two years of life. Two treatment options are currently available to people with the condition:
Enzyme replacement therapy, which can alleviate acute symptoms and partially restore the immune system, but the treatment is lifelong, and the individual’s immune system may nullify the effects of the enzyme replacement.
Bone marrow transplant (hematopoietic stem cell transplant), a treatment that involves administering healthy donor stem cells to patients with dysfunctional bone marrow, where hematopoietic stem cells, the source for all blood cells, are produced. It can cure the condition, but it comes with serious risks and requires a well-matched donor.
Between 2012 and 2019, 62 children with ADA-SCID (33 in the US, 29 in the UK) first received a mild dose of chemotherapy to make space in the bone marrow. Then they were given a transplant of their own hematopoietic stem cells, genetically modified with a lentiviral vector to deliver a functional copy of the ADA gene to their blood-forming stem cells. This meant that their own cells could now permanently make the enzyme they were missing.
These six children were part of the study and received gene therapy for ADA-SCID
UCLA/Images provided by children’s families
The researchers followed these patients for a median of 7.5 years, totaling 474 patient-years. (Patient years are a statistical measure of the total time individuals in a study are observed, calculated by multiplying the number of patients by the duration of their participation.) The study was the largest and longest follow-up of a gene therapy of this kind to date.
Importantly, all 62 children survived to the end of the trial. Of the 62 participants, 59 of them – that’s 95% – were successfully treated. That is, they did not need any further enzyme replacement therapy, no donor transplants, and no repeat gene therapy. These 59 had normal ADA enzyme levels and detoxified metabolites. Almost all (98%) were able to stop receiving immune-boosting antibody infusions. They responded normally to vaccines for diseases like tetanus and pneumococcal. And none developed cancer-like cell growth. In short: their immune systems rebuilt themselves and stayed healthy for years.
“What’s most remarkable is that everything has been completely stable beyond the initial three-to-six month recovery period,” Kohn said. “Treatment was successful in all but three of the 62 cases, and all of these children were able to return to current standard-of-care therapies. Two of these patients went on to receive bone marrow transplants, and one was receiving ADA enzyme injections while preparing for a transplant at the time of the data cutoff.”
Eliana Nachem, from Fredericksburg, Virginia, is 11 years old, starting sixth grade, and wants to be an artist when she grows up. It’s a stark contrast to her childhood, which was spent in complete medical isolation following a diagnosis of ADA-SCID at three months.
“We had to get rid of our dog and cat, she couldn’t go outside, and I had to stop breastfeeding,” said her mother, Caroline. “Formula had to be consumed within an hour or thrown out. Everything that might harbor germs was dangerous.”
The same six children, at the conclusion of the study, were living healthy lives
UCLA/Images provided by children’s families
Eliana was a participant in this study, receiving her genetically corrected stem cells at the age of 10 months. Caroline and her husband, Jeff, didn’t need much convincing after Dr Kohn told them about the results he’d achieved with another patient who’d received the therapy.
“The data was absolutely stunning – like a bouquet of flowers over the phone,” Caroline said. “Almost overnight, we knew we had to do this. I remember thinking [afterwards], she’s born again, and now we just get to watch her grow. Now the biggest thing I have to worry about is her entering middle school and bossing me around.”
More than half of the children received their corrected stem cells in a frozen preparation. They saw similar outcomes to the children who received non-cryopreserved preparations. This is important for broadening access to the therapy.
“The freezing approach allows children with ADA-SCID to have their stem cells collected locally, then processed at a manufacturing facility elsewhere and shipped back to a hospital near them,” said co-lead author Katelyn Masiuk, MD, PhD, who, at the time of the study, was a clinical project lead in the Kohn lab. “This removed the need for patients and their families to travel long distances to specialist centers.”
Using cryopreservation also allows for more comprehensive testing and quality control before treatment, and more precise dosing of the chemotherapy used to prepare patients for the gene therapy.
The next step is to seek approval for the treatment from the US FDA. Rarity PBC, a public benefit corporation that Masiuk founded, has licensed the gene therapy from the UCLA Technology Development Group, and is partnering with commercial manufacturing organizations to produce the therapy. The hope is that it won’t take too long.
“Our goal is to have this therapy FDA-approved within two to three years,” Kohn said. “The clinical data strongly supports approval – now we need to demonstrate that we can manufacture the treatment under commercial pharmaceutical standards.”
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the US Department of Health and Human Services, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Orchard Therapeutics and the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Center. It was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
A required part of this site couldn’t load. This may be due to a browser
extension, network issues, or browser settings. Please check your
connection, disable any ad blockers, or try using a different browser.
Who: Fulham vs Arsenal What: English Premier League Where: Craven Cottage in London, United Kingdom When: Saturday, October 18, at 5:30pm (16:30 GMT) How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 2:30pm (13:30 GMT) in advance of our live text commentary stream.
Premier League leaders Arsenal will be the heavy favourites when they travel to Fulham on Saturday, but London derbies usually give the underdogs more than a fighting chance, as former Gunners manager Arsene Wenger always used to bemoan.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
The Gunners, who have finished second in the table for the last three seasons, have not won the league since Wenger’s era. Fulham, meanwhile, have hit a blip and languish in 14th position.
Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at a game where the west Londoners will hope to upset the formbook against their north London visitors.
How have Arsenal fared this season?
Arsenal opened their season with an unconvincing 1-0 win at a surprisingly dominant Manchester United, and have rarely looked back. The Gunners have won eight of their 10 matches in all competitions this season; the only times they have failed to win in the league were the narrowest of 1-0 defeats at defending champions Liverpool and a 1-1 home draw with Manchester City, although that did require a 90th-minute leveller from Gabriel Martinelli.
The Gunners are yet to concede more than one goal in a game this season, and have only conceded twice in their last seven games. At the other end, 20 goals have been scored in their 10 games.
How have Fulham fared this season?
After a bright start, the west Londoners have suffered back-to-back defeats in the Premier League. One defeat and four wins in their seven games so far, continued the feel-good factor that manager Marco Silva has brought to the Cottagers. Two of the four wins this season have come in the League Cup, but back-to-back league wins, either side of the latest cup win, had appeared to kickstart Fulham’s season.
Both recent defeats, by Aston Villa and Bournemouth, did come on the road, and Fulham remain unbeaten in five matches on home soil this season, where they have only dropped points once – and that after a fine second-half display against Manchester United in their first home game of the campaign.
When did Arsenal last win the Premier League?
The Gunners last lifted the Premier League trophy in 2004 when Wenger’s side were dubbed the “Invincibles” as they went unbeaten through the English top-flight season.
How many times have Arsenal won the Premier League?
The Gunners have lifted the league title in England on 13 occasions, with their first top-flight trophy coming in 1931. They would go on to win the title three times in the four seasons that followed. Wenger’s era was the most successful thereafter, with the Premier League trophy lifted in 1998, 2002 and 2004.
Premier League action returns this week 🤩@Arsenal are currently on top of the table, for the first time since April 2024 📈 pic.twitter.com/02Tkxse4Aq
Fulham have never lifted the English top-flight title and are one of a limited number of teams in the two top divisions in England to have never lifted a major trophy. The highest domestic title the Cottagers have claimed is the second-tier title, which has been won on three occasions – the last being in 2022. Fulham have also been runners-up in the FA Cup and UEFA Europa League in 1975 and 2010, respectively.
What happened the last time Fulham played Arsenal?
Title-chasing Arsenal beat Fulham 2-1 at Emirates Stadium in the Premier League in April in the last meeting between the clubs. Mikel Merino and Bukayo Saka gave the Gunners a two-goal lead before Rodrigo Muniz’s 90th-minute strike set up a nervy finish.
What happened in the corresponding fixture between Fulham and Arsenal last season?
The Premier League game at Craven Cottage last season ended in a 1-1 draw in December. Raul Jimenez gave the home side the lead in the 11th minute, but William Saliba cancelled that out seven minutes into the second half of a game short on chances but heavily dominated by the Gunners’ possession of the ball.
Head-to-head
This is the 66th meeting between the Londoners, with Arsenal winning on 43 occasions and Fulham emerging victorious nine times.
Fulham’s last win against Arsenal came at Craven Cottage in December 2023, with Raul Jimenez and Bobby De Cordova-Reid turning the game in the home side’s favour after an early strike from Bukayo Saka.
It was the second Premier League meeting between the teams that season, with the reverse fixture ending 2-2 in north London.
It also marked Fulham’s first win in 12 matches against the Gunners.
Fulham team news
Midfielder Sasa Lukic has been an ever-present for Fulham in the Premier League this season, but picked up an adductor injury in the Cottagers’ final match before the international break.
The Serbian international is likely to be out for at least two more weeks and joins Kenny Tete and Rodrigo Muniz on the sidelines, the latter pair having knee and hamstring problems, respectively.
Raul Jimenez missed the defeat at Bournemouth before the break after sustaining an injury in the defeat at Villa, and the striker is a doubt for the visit of Arsenal. Samuel Chukwueze also picked up a knock in Nigeria’s win against Benin on Tuesday, but the extent of the injury is not yet fully known.
Arsenal team news
Martin Odegaard remains sidelined with a knee injury, but it is hoped the playmaker may return to face Tottenham Hotspur next weekend.
Kai Havertz and Noni Madueke are both also expected to return from knee injuries for that game, but the Fulham match comes too soon.
Gabriel Jesus could be back before the turn of the year – he, too, has a knee problem; Ben White is a minor doubt after missing training on Thursday. Piero Hincapie is expected to return from a knock.
Putin and Trump met in person at a US base in Alaska in August 2025
US President Donald Trump says “great progress” was made during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, with the pair agreeing to face-to-face talks in Hungary.
He said the call, the first with Putin since mid-August, was “very productive”, adding that teams from Washington and Moscow will meet next week.
Trump did not confirm a date for his meeting with Putin in Budapest. The Kremlin said work on the summit would begin “immediately” after the “extremely frank and trustful” call.
The talks came a day before Ukraine’s President Zelensky was to visit the White House, and with Trump weighing whether to arm Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles capable of striking deep into Russia.
As he arrived in the US, Zelensky said Moscow was “rushing to resume dialogue as soon as it hears about Tomahawks”.
Writing on his Truth Social platform after the call concluded, Trump said he and Putin “spent a great deal of time talking about Trade between Russia and the United States when the War with Ukraine is over”.
He said “high level advisors” from both countries would meet at an unspecified location next week, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio leading the American delegation.
Trump also said he would update Zelensky on his talks with Putin on Friday, adding: “I believe great progress was made with today’s telephone conversation.”
He later told reporters he expected to meet Putin “within two weeks”.
Asked about the prospect of giving the missiles to Ukraine after his call with Putin, Trump said “we can’t deplete” the US stockpile of Tomahawks, adding “we need them too… so I don’t know what we can do about that”.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, Olga Stefanishyna, said Russia launching overnight strikes on Ukraine “hours before” Putin’s call with Trump “exposes Moscow’s real attitude toward peace”.
In a statement to the BBC’s US partner CBS, she added: “These assaults show that Moscow’s strategy is one of terror and exhaustion. The only effective response is pressure – through tougher sanctions, reinforced air defense, and the supply of long-range capabilities.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on X the planned Budapest meeting was “great news for the peace-loving people of the world”.
Earlier, he also said: “Peace requires patience, strength, and humility. Europe must shift its stance. Instead of arrogance and fanning the flames of endless war, we need negotiations with Russia. Only dialogue can bring peace to our continent.”
Trump has taken a much tougher line towards Putin over the Ukraine war since a face-to-face summit in Alaska in August failed to produce a decisive breakthrough in attempts to broker a peace deal.
The pair met on US soil on 15 August for a summit which the US president hoped would help convince the Russian president to enter comprehensive peace talks to end the Ukraine war. Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
EPA
The two leaders last met in Alaska in August for a summit which last only a few hours
They spoke again days later when Trump interrupted a meeting with Zelensky and European leaders to call Putin.
Since then, neither the White House or Kremlin have public confirmed any communications between the two.
During his presidential election campaign, Trump claimed he would be able to end the war in Ukraine within days but has since admitted resolving the conflict has been more challenging than any he has been involved in since returning to power.
Trump had been seen as more sympathetic to Russia than his predecessor Joe Biden, and strained relations with Zelensky came to a head on 28 February when he and Vice-President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian president in the Oval Office on live television.
But public relations with Zelensky have vastly improved in recent months.
In September, Trump signalled a major shift in his view of the conflict, saying he believed Kyiv could “win all of Ukraine back in its original form”, a far cry from his public calls for Kyiv to cede territory occupied by Russia.
During Zelensky’s upcoming visit to Washington on Friday, his third since January, the subject of Tomahawk missiles is likely to be high on the agenda.
Zelensky has called on the US to provide Ukraine with the advanced missiles, which have a range of 2,500 km (1,500 miles).
Asked earlier this week if he was considering giving Ukraine the missiles, he said: “We’ll see… I may.”
In late July, Trump set Putin a deadline of less than a fortnight to agree to a ceasefire or face sweeping sanctions, including measures against countries which still trade with Russia.
But he did not follow through the threat after Putin agreed to meet Trump in Alaska, which the US president hailed as a significant diplomatic success at the time, despite it not producing any tangible outcome.
Earlier on Thursday, India’s foreign ministry cast doubt on a claim made by Trump a day earlier saying Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to stop purchasing Russian oil.
An Indian government spokesman said he was “not aware of any conversation between the two leaders” taking place the previous day, after Trump said Modi had assured him purchases would stop “within a short period of time”.
The US has pushed for countries – in particular India, China and Nato members – to stop buying Russian energy in an effort to increase economic pressure on the Kremlin. Zelensky has also repeatedly echoed those calls.
U.S. stocks fell on Thursday, hurt by drops for midsized banks as worries flare about the loans they’ve made.
The S&P 500 slid 0.6% in its latest up-and-down day after erasing a morning gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 301 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.5%.
Zions Bancorp. tumbled 13.1% after the bank said its profit for the third quarter will take a hit because of a $50 million charge-off related to loans made to a pair of borrowers. Zions said it found “apparent misrepresentations and contractual defaults” by the borrowers and several people who guaranteed the loans, along with “other irregularities.”
Another bank, Western Alliance Bancorp, dropped 10.8% after saying it has sued a borrower, alleging fraud. It also said it’s standing by its financial forecasts given for 2025.
Scrutiny is rising on the quality of loans that banks and other lenders have broadly made following last month’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing of First Brands Group, a supplier of aftermarket auto parts. The question is whether the hiccups are just a collection of one-offs or a signal of something larger threatening the industry.
Thursday’s swings on Wall Street, where the Dow bounced from an early gain of 169 points to an afternoon loss of 472, fit the pattern of the week for stocks. They’ve been shaky since the end of last week, when President Donald Trump shattered a monthslong calm in the U.S. stock market by threatening much higher tariffs on China.
Thursday’s swoon erased an early morning gain driven by an encouraging signal about the artificial-intelligence boom.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported a bigger jump in profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang also said TSMC expects “continued strong demand for our leading-edge process technologies” going into the end of the year.
That’s important for the U.S. stock market because TSMC is a critical player in the AI frenzy, making chips for such companies as Nvidia. And Nvidia and other AI stocks have been central to Wall Street’s surge to records this year, even though inflation is still high and the job market is slowing.
AI-related stocks have shot so high that critics worry about a possible bubble, like the one that imploded for dot-com stocks in 2000.
U.S. companies broadly are under pressure to deliver stronger profits after the S&P 500 surged 35% from a low in April. To justify those gains, which critics say made their stock prices too expensive, companies will need to show they’re making much more in profit and will continue to do so.
Travelers dropped 2.9% Thursday even though the insurer reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its revenue fell short of forecasts.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise fell 10.1% after detailing long-term financial targets that some analysts found underwhelming.
They helped overshadow a 4% gain for Salesforce, which unveiled a plan to deliver more than 10% in compounded annual revenue growth in coming years.
J.B. Hunt Transport Services trucked 22.1% higher after the freight company breezed past Wall Street’s profit targets in the third quarter.
All told, the S&P 500 fell 41.99 points to 6,629.07. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 301.07 to 45,952.24, and the Nasdaq composite sank 107.54 to 22,562.54.
In the oil market, crude prices swung lower after Trump agreed to meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Hungary in hopes of resolving the war in Ukraine. The war has had the United States trying to cut off purchases of Russian oil.
A barrel of U.S. crude gave up an early gain to drop 1.4% to $57.46. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 1.4% to $61.06 per barrel.
In stock markets abroad, indexes climbed across much of Asia and Europe.
South Korea’s Kospi soared 2.5% on hopes that a trade deal may be coming between Seoul and Washington. Samsung Electronics and automakers [hotlink]Hyundai Motor[/hotlink] and Kia Corp. were among the big gainers.
In the bond market, Treasury yields dropped as investors herded toward investments considered safer. The yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 3.97% from 4.05% late Wednesday.
Gold also rose in the hunt for safer investments. It climbed 2.5% to $4,304.60 per ounce, bringing its stunning gain for the year so far to roughly 63%.
A report in the morning said manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic region is unexpectedly shrinking. It’s one of the few windows into the economy that the Federal Reserve has been getting recently as it tries to figure out whether high inflation or the weak job market should be the bigger concern for the economy.
The U.S. government’s shutdown is delaying important updates on the economy, such as a weekly update on unemployment claims that typically helps guide Wall Street’s trading each Thursday. A day earlier, an important report on inflation was also delayed.
___
AP Writers Teresa Cerojano and Matt Ott contributed.
new video loaded: What’s Next for the Gaza Cease-Fire Plan
Israel and Hamas have reached a cease-fire deal in Gaza, but the hard part starts now. David Sanger of The New York Times describes the major obstacles to further agreement about Gaza’s immediate future.
By David E. Sanger, Melanie Bencosme and Nikolay Nikolov
MBW Reacts is a series of analytical commentaries from Music Business Worldwide written in response to major recent entertainment events or news stories. Only MBW+ subscribers have unlimited access to these articles.
Since UMG’s Virgin Music Group announced the transaction in December, it has attracted regulatory scrutiny from European authorities, while triggering competing industry narratives about what the merger will mean for the music business.
Over 200 people signed a letter in July objecting to the acquisition. Around 20 of them worked for Beggars Group or Secretly Group and their affiliates; a further 30 worked for trade bodies that are members of WIN (the Worldwide Independent Network), an affiliate of the deal’s most vocal opponent, IMPALA.
Earlier this month, a shorter list of indie reps backed a different campaign, ‘100 Voices‘, also urging the EC to block the deal. Signatories included the heads of Beggars, Secretly Group, and Exceleration Music, plus several smaller indie labels, and a collection of reps from trade bodies.
Despite this opposition, UMG has maintained its confidence that the European Commission (EC) will eventually clear the transaction.
Earlier this year, the EC escalated its review of the UMG/Downtown transaction to a Phase II investigation, citing potential concerns that the acquisition could enable UMG to access commercially sensitive data from Downtown subsidiaries FUGA and Curve Royalty Systems.
In the past few months, MBW has asked prominent leaders in the global independent distribution space what they think of the deal.
Emmanuel Zunz (OneRPM), Konrad Von Löhneysen (Zebralution), and Denis Ladegaillerie (Believe) have all emphasized their confidence in competing with a combined Virgin/Downtown/FUGA entity.
Zunz told MBW: “I responded to the European Commission’s questionnaire [about the deal], and I basically said to them, over and over again: there are plenty of alternatives [to UMG/Downtown] for independent artists and labels in the market.”
Like others, the OneRPM founder sees potential client acquisition opportunities if the deal is passed, and if independent labels currently affiliated with Downtown/FUGA/Curve grow uncomfortable with UMG ownership.
“I responded to the European Commission’s questionnaire [about the deal], and I basically said to them, over and over again: there are plenty of alternatives [to UMG/Downtown] for independent artists and labels in the market.”
Emmanuel Zunz, OneRPM
Zebralution’s Von Löhneysentold MBW: “I think there’s a lot of competition… there’s definitely a lot of capable, good distribution companies out there.”
He added: “We have our own supply chain, so we’re not fazed about FUGA being taken over by Universal… if the FUGA/Virgin/Downtown setup isn’t an appealing offering for some independent labels, we’ll make sure they know about us.”
Believe’s Ladegaillerie was similarly unflustered by the prospect of a combined UMG and Downtown/FUGA.
He commented: “Do I think [UMG buying Downtown] is going to change anything for us? I can’t speak for the industry, but as CEO of Believe, as a company, we feel very good about our ability to compete.”
“we’re not fazed about FUGA being taken over by Universal, because we control our own delivery.”
Konrad Von Löhneysen, Zebralution
Against this backdrop of regulatory scrutiny and industry discussion, MBW has now contacted multiple other executives leading prominent independent distribution platforms.
Their companies will not only be competing directly with a combined Virgin/Downtown/FUGA, but are also (a) Scaled global distribution players in the independent space and/or (b) Indie distributors specifically recommended by Merlin to its members.
We asked them all the same two questions:
Does the prospect of Virgin/Downtown/FUGA merging, and its impact on competition in the sector, give you cause for alarm?
Do you see a potential opportunity here for client acquisition?
Here’s what they said…
Steve Stoute, Founder & CEO, UnitedMasters
“Independent music is the fastest-growing sector in this business, authenticated by the price of Universal’s potential acquisition of this asset.
“As a result of independent music’s success and growth, there will be consolidation. From that perspective, I feel good about it: it shows we’re all doing the right thing.
“From a competition perspective, yes, the [Downtown acquisition] does provide UMG with a competitive advantage. Any independent company is no longer truly independent if they’re owned by Universal.
“If the independent labels want to leave FUGA when it becomes part of a major, they have that option.They’re not stuck.”
“But if independent labels want to leave FUGA when it becomes part of a major, they have that option. They’re not stuck; their independence allows them freedom. They can come to UnitedMasters, or others.
“Whether it’s independent artists or independent labels, they are free to make that decision. I don’t think Universal, or any law, could stand in the way of anybody if they have the option to make that decision.”
JORGE BREA, FOUNDER & CEO, SYMPHONIC
“The prospect of Virgin, Downtown, and FUGA merging doesn’t give us cause for concern.
“At Symphonic, we’ve built best-in-class technology and expanded significantly — both internationally and domestically — to serve a growing and diverse roster of clients.
“The prospect of Virgin, Downtown, and FUGA merging doesn’t give us cause for concern… We see moments like this as opportunities to reaffirm what makes Symphonic different.”
“Our independence has always been our strength, allowing us to move quickly, innovate, and provide a level of service and transparency that larger corporate structures often can’t.
“We see moments like this as opportunities to reaffirm what makes Symphonic different. Our platform and infrastructure are ready to easily welcome any artist or label looking for a new home built around independence, flexibility, and partnership.”
IAIN CATLING, Founder & CEO, AUDIOSALAD
“The services and distribution space is now mature and offers many alternative routes to market for artists, labels who wish to remain independent of the major label systems.
“Furthermore, in any healthy market, companies must have the freedom to partner, grow, or exit. The gaps these exits create allow for new opportunities for smaller companies and drive innovation.
“Restricting this through anti-competitive measures sends a deeply negative signal to entrepreneurs and innovators in the sector. This runs entirely counter to the very ethos of the choice and independence that we value in this industry.”
“In any healthy market, companies must have the freedom to partner, grow, or exit… Restricting this through anti-competitive measures sends a deeply negative signal to entrepreneurs and innovators in the sector.”
Does the prospect of Virgin/Downtown/FUGA merging, and its impact on competition in the sector, give your company cause for alarm?
“It does not give us cause for alarm.”
Do you see a possible opportunity here for potential client acquisition?
“Any current FUGA clients that take issue with the acquisition have numerous alternative options.”
“I don’t believe consolidation improves service for artists, so mergers like Virgin/Downtown/FUGA don’t concern me. Too many companies chase numbers over people, focusing on market share instead of innovation.
“I don’t believe consolidation improves service for artists, so mergers like Virgin/Downtown/FUGA don’t concern me… At Ditto, we’ve stayed fully independent, building tools that truly serve artists.”
“At Ditto, we’ve stayed fully independent, building tools that truly serve artists while maintaining sustainable 100% year-on-year growth. Ultimately, the best service comes from companies that put artists before shareholders.”
“The broader trend of consolidation across the music industry is concerning for the health of the independent sector. When a few major-owned companies control an increasing share of rights and distribution pipelines, competition and diversity inevitably suffer. In the case of distribution, there are still strong independent alternatives, so choice remains for labels and artists.
“However, Universal is already the global market leader, and its successive acquisitions – first [PIAS], and now FUGA – further strengthen its market dominance.
“This growing leverage with DSPs will give it disproportionate bargaining power at the negotiating table. That imbalance is the real risk: it threatens not only competition in distribution, but also independent labels, as well as the long-term sustainability and progress of the entire music ecosystem. In the short term, consolidation often creates opportunities for truly independent players like IDOL.
“Universal’s growing leverage with DSPs will give it disproportionate bargaining power at the negotiating table. That imbalance is the real risk… [However] consolidation often creates opportunities for truly independent players like IDOL.”
“Many labels and artists prefer to work with truly independent distributors because they have understood that this is where they will find the stability and sustainability they need. There is also concern about what the integration period might look like – merging supply chains and teams on this scale within the Universal eco-system will inevitably create disruption.
“But while that may generate new business for us in the short-term, the long-term health and diversity of the market is what really matters. Fewer independent options will ultimately harm everyone, including the majors themselves.”
“Of course it will impact the market, though both as a positive and a negative – as all change does. We don’t see this as a reason to panic; we see it as proof that the indie sector needs its own world-class stack.
“When delivery and analytics sit inside major-owned platforms, independents trade autonomy and control for convenience. I’m not sure labels and artists will be happy with Universal/Virgin/Downtown/FUGA all participating in some way with the revenue streams before they get their share. Seems a lot of mouths to be fed.
“We don’t see this as a reason to panic; we see it as proof that the indie sector needs its own world-class stack.”
“The independent sector is strong, inventive, entrepreneurial, and agile and offers a far better, more focused, ‘hands on’ service than any major can.
“[Absolute’s] Anthology is a cutting-edge agnostic service we have invested heavily in and developed, offering advanced analytics, supply-chain reliability, transparency, and business management with full ownership and portability of data and I see this as an opportunity for us to empower and strengthen the independent sector.”
Credit: Katja Ruge
RALPH BÖGE, Founder & MD, PARADISE WORLDWIDE
“A company like UMG needs market share because of reasons related to its business model. I can hardly imagine how UMG would integrate the various new Downtown assets, with the exception of Curve.
“We as independents should not [waste time on] politics. Instead, we must focus on creating attractive offerings for clients: a worldwide DSP portfolio, more precise data, affordable campaigns, advance budgets, collecting publishing royalties at the source – things that help rights-owners stay independent, gain knowledge, build up their asset/ownership, and earn more money.
“Indies should ask themselves, is it really worth spending a lot of time, money, and resources on fighting the deal instead of fixing the AI problem?”
“What we forget to talk about is that in the AI space, there is no ‘major’ or ‘indie’ – we’re in a united industry fight against copyright theft. Indies should ask themselves, is it really worth spending a lot of time, money, and resources on fighting this deal instead of fixing the AI problem?
“That’s why Paradise Worldwide concentrates on the AIxchange and our AI principles, for ethical AI and an attribution model that gives power to the creator.
“I am not jealous of UMG’s position: imagine you want to spend this amount of money, the deal does not go through, while AI attribution has developed to the next level.”Music Business Worldwide
