Warner Music Announces New Deal With Spotify as Part of Mixed Earnings Report

variety.com:

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Warner Music Group and Spotify have announced a new, multi-year agreement, covering both recorded music and music publishing, that effectively ends the companies’ disputes over the streaming giant’s “bundling” option, which pays rights-holders less in royalties by offering audiobooks and music together for a reduced subscription fee.

Universal Music struck a similar deal with Spotify just days ago. While terms of the deal were not announced, it appears that a compromise has been reached over royalties.

According to the announcement, the new deal “will help deliver new fan experiences, a deeper music and video catalog, further paid subscription tiers, and differentiated content bundles.

The agreement also builds on the companies’ existing alignment around ‘artist centric’ royalty models that reward and protect the power of artists to attract and engage audiences.” Like Universal’s deal, the new publishing agreement introduces a direct licensing model with Warner Chappell Music in several additional countries including the U.S.