Spotify, Universal Music sign new deal

A joint statement by the two companies announcing the news says the deal is expected to advance their efforts to create innovative features that give value to artists and a better experience to fans.

Additionally, UMG, which is one of Spotify’s earliest supporters, will deepen its leading role as an early adopter of future products and provide valuable feedback to Spotify’s development team. No further details were given on the new deal.

“From their early experimentation with Marquee, to testing new experiences like Canvas, Universal Music Group has been an important partner in helping to shape the development of our marketing tools,” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said.

“With today’s announcement, we will expand on this level of early stage innovation and further strengthen our partnership and shared vision for helping advance artists at all stages of their careers.

UMG CEO Sir Lucian Grainge said: “With this agreement, UMG and Spotify are more aligned than ever in our commitment to ensuring the entire music ecosystem thrives and reaches new audiences around the globe. Our new partnership will provide our artists with new and powerful opportunities to connect with fans on Spotify’s growing platform.

“Working together, our teams will expand and accelerate our collaborative efforts to deliver artist-focused initiatives, strategic marketing campaigns and new offerings to provide exciting new experiences for fans worldwide.”

Spotify and Universal Music Group’s previous agreement ended in the first quarter of 2019, which means the two parties have been on a rolling contract for more than a year. The music streaming platform also renewed its licensing agreement with Warner Music Group in April, which covers all the countries where Spotify operates, plus additional regions.

Spotify officially launched its services in Russia earlier this month. It has also been widely reported that the audio streaming platform will launch in South Korea soon. The East Asian country is the sixth-largest music market globally, according to IFPI's Global Music Report 2019.