At least half the members of subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which met Thursday to hear testimony on the anti-trust implications of the pending Universal Music-EMI merger, have received campaign contributions from the two music industry giants.
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Business Matters: Lobbying, Spending Heat Up Before Universal/EMI Senate Hearing
According to a study by the non-partisan Sunshine Foundation, five of the eight-member Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust have “received contributions from the two music giants or from rival firm, Warner Music.” In fact, even since the Universal-EMI merger was proposed last November, the two firms have given $65,000 in contributions to members of the subcommittee or their personal PACs. That’s on top of tens of thousands of dollars donated to the senators by the music giants or their parent companies over the years.
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Highlights From Azoff, Grainge, Bronfman Testimony in Today’s Universal-EMI Senate Hearing
The Sunshine Foundation found that Democrat Charles Schumer of New York, long a favorite of both Wall Street and the entertainment industry, is the largest recipient of the two music firms’ largesse with contributions of $476,416 from Universal, home to Justin Bieber and Kanye West, and EMI, which has seen multi-platinum releases by Katy Perry and Lady Antebellum in recent years, and $66,700 from Warner Music, whose corporate offices are based in New York City, over the course of his career. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who pointed out that music legend Bob Dylan comes from her home state, has collected $39,504 from the companies seeking merger approval and $3,250 from Warner Music, according to the study.
Iowa’s Republican Senator Chuck Grassley similarly has received $35,063 from Universal and EMI and $3,000 from Warner Music. Comedian-turned Democratic Senator from Minnesota Al Franken has taken $10,250 from Universal and EMI since his election four years ago and $3,300 from Warner. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) has received $8,750 from Universal and EMI and nothing from Warner. In total, Universal and EMI alone have handed over $569,980 to members of the committee looking into their future together.
Updated: An EMI spokesperson denied that any contributions had been made by the company in the United States or in any other territory.
Meanwhile, two subcommittee members — Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), who chaired the hearing, and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — have not taken contributions from any of the music firms.
Today’s proceedings included arguments on behalf of consolidation made by UMG chairman Lucian Grainge, EMI’s Roger Faxon and Irving Azoff of Live Nation. Opposing the merger was Warner’s Edgar M. Bronfman Jr., Beggars Group founder Martin Mills and Gigi B. Sohn of consumer group Public Knowledge.