The recent string of blockbuster music mergers — and the complex deals that govern them — has offered plenty of work for the teams of corporate, tax, antitrust and intellectual property lawyers who have helped negotiate, paper and win approval for them.

In February, Universal’s Virgin Music Group officially completed its $775 million acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings, one of the world’s biggest artist-services companies, after a lengthy review by competition authorities in the European Union. A team from the law firm Kirkland & Ellis represented Virgin, while Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom advised Downtown.

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A month later, Primary Wave announced it was acquiring Kobalt, creating a new $7 billion powerhouse independent music company. The deal will combine the huge portfolio of Primary Wave — which owns music and other rights associated with Prince, Whitney Houston, Bob Marley, Britney Spears, The Notorious B.I.G. and many others — with Kobalt, the world’s largest independent music publisher and a tech-forward administration platform.

For that complex tie-up, the firm Paul Hastings represented Primary Wave, while Kobalt was repped by both Kirkland & Ellis and White & Case.

Then in April, an even bigger deal was made public: BMG, which represents artists like Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson, said it would combine with Concord — owner of songs by artists including Creedence Clearwater Revival, Phil Collins and R.E.M. — in one of the biggest music industry mergers in years.

While the new BMG-Concord would still trail the majors in market share by a significant amount, the combined entity could be considered something of a “quiet major,” given its huge portfolio and estimated $2 billion in yearly revenue, which will give it the financial muscle for capital-intensive artist development, technology and catalog investments.

BMG was represented by the firms Davis Polk & Wardell and ArentFox Schiff, Concord was represented by Latham & Watkins and Reed Smith, and Great Mountain Partners, a financial backer of Concord for years, was represented by the firm Alston & Bird.

This story appears in the July 18, 2026, issue of Billboard.