Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, the largest and third-largest major music groups, have a combined market cap less than two-thirds of Spotify's.
UMG shares rose 11.2% this week and the Billboard Global Music Index rose 6.3% to a record 2,447.97, bringing its year-to-date gain to 15.2%.
Despite huge gains in industry revenues, individual creators feel they’re being cheated by streaming — a paradox that's proving difficult to solve.
Sources close to the UMG/Spotify deal say it offers better pay to UMPG and its songwriters, and it signals that Spotify might be ready to bury the hatchet with U.S. publishers overall.
The cover was released earlier today (January 29) as part of the Spotify Singles series The post
The case accused Spotify of using audiobooks as a pretext to illegally cut music royalties, but a federal judge now says the streamer did nothing wrong.
That amount is 10 times larger than what Spotify paid out to rights holders a decade ago.
Konstan's final day at the streamer will be Friday (Jan. 31).
Mars is currently the number one artist on Spotify.
The new multiyear partnership will expand monetization opportunities for recorded music and publishing, and align with UMG's new "Streaming 2.0" strategy outlined this year.
