In his first interview since the announcement of the pending merger, the UMG boss told the Financial Times that he is "extremely open-minded about working with the [European Commission] in the context of behavioural remedies as well as divestitures."
Universal will increase A&R investment across its own labels and those of EMI, the FT reports. Grainge said that EMI had suffered "enormous" cuts in that area under Terra Firma.
He said Universal would increase investment "in different artists and genres in different languages and, although working on a "pro-consumer" package of concessions said, "What I care about is that EMI is kept as intact as possible so it can be reinvested in. One of the great dangers is that EMI is asset-stripped."
Grainge also said that he is working on a collaborative "manifesto for the new music industry", which would include "a new way of working with all these startup platforms... in a fair, open-minded way.
"It could be in five years that the digital landscape has the same choices as the physical landscape had 25 years ago," he added.
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