Seeking the right pitch over EMI Lucian Grainge is in the midst of the media industry's most contentious deal, but the chairman and chief executive of Universal Music is skipping this week's gathering of media dealmakers in Sun Valley, Idaho. "I reluctantly decided it would be best if I were in a European timezone," he says. The reason is that his £1.2bn bid for EMI's record labels has hit turbulence in Brussels, where regulators fear it would give the world's largest music company too much power over the fast-evolving digital music ecosystem. Rivals were aghast when Universal announced the deal, having assumed that the Vivendi-owned company's near-30 per cent market share would preclude it from buying EMI, which has about 10 per cent of a market that regulators watch closely. In his first interview since the bid, Mr Grainge laughs when asked whether the deal is in trouble. The "statement of objections" in which the Commission aired its concerns is a procedural document, he says, and regulators have cleared 25 of the past 27 deals that hit the same hurdle. He is fighting similar concerns in Washington, where a Senate hearing last month left Mr Grainge looking uncomfortable in a rarely worn suit. "Regulators have got an incredibly difficult job getting up to speed as quickly as they can with a really difficult, funky industry," he says, treading a careful line between challenging authorities" market share data and offering constructive proposals to break the deadlock. Competition in music is not like other industries, he argues. If you want a Chris Brown album and it's not available but you can buy a new Leonard Cohen album cheaper, that's a fat lot of good. The artists are not interchangeable. Mr Grainge, an Arsenal-supporting Londoner transplanted to Los Angeles, became his industry's most powerful figure when he succeeded Doug Morris at the top of Universal last year. Now he must persuade regulators that he will use his power to benefit the whole industry, not just Universal. Asked why he needed to buy EMI, he says his main motive was "that I refuse as the industry leader to accept steady decline." The former talent scout has been in the business since leaving school, working with artists from ABBA to Amy Winehouse. I care about this industry. Rivals question his motives, however. Edgar Bronfman Jr of Warner Music, who long pursued an EMI merger, told senators that Mr Grainge's deal risked creating "one innovation-stifling dominant player." Asked about rivals" whispered claims that he had bid for EMI to foil Sony Music, now run by Mr Morris, he does not hide his frustration. "Come on," he says, his voice raised. To think I'd be able to invest $1.9bn in a [competition] is something from Enid Blyton. He continues: "This is not about "he said, she said." This is about the future of music. We've got to stop [messing] about and playing this game like it's 1999. Napster was founded in 1999, starting the industry's battles with piracy and then with large technology companies such as Apple and Google that offered legitimate alternatives but left record companies feeling small. The EMI deal, he argues, is a chance to reset the balance and spur growth again. He is cagey about the details of Universal's pitch to regulators, but says it will fund as many legitimate digital music platforms as it can. "I see a new world, with new platforms, new entrepreneurs, where we can all come together and create value," he says. Such language is unfamiliar in an industry where personal rivalries last for decades, and Mr Grainge will have to win over competitors as much as regulators. If his concessions are accepted, however, rivals will benefit enough that "we won't have to have these debates," he says. He must also win over some in the creative community. Sir George Martin, the former Beatles producer, dubbed the deal "the worst thing that music has ever faced." He declines to comment on the remark, but says he can restore EMI's labels to health. I'm British. I want to see EMI back to where it was when I wanted to get a job there," he says. With two months to go before the outlook for the EMI deal becomes clear, he says he is impatient to get back to working with artists, talking animatedly about a planned Rod Stewart Christmas album. He adds: "I'm absolutely desperate that once this is over we can move on and stop attacking one another."