Spotify has renewed its global licensing partnership with Warner Music Group. This news comes eight months after announcing they renewed licensing deals with two of their four major label partners.
What Does This Mean?
The expanded deal covers countries and additional markets where Spotify is available. Both companies look forward to collaborating and working together to grow the music industry. This means that all Warner Music represented artists and songwriters will be available for the first time in India.
They did not disclose the terms of the deal, but they aim for impactful global initiatives. Spotify currently has footholds in 79 markets. Reportedly, they are close to launching in South Korea as well. The relationship between the two companies goes back a few years. In 2017, they reached terms on licensing content. They resolved a legal dispute in India in 2018, making Spotify available there. Now, the major label partners include WMG, Sony Music, and Merlin. All that’s left is Universal Music Group.
India is getting more music because of this deal and that is great news. Their country is very competitive in music streaming; more than 200 million citizens stream music online. Spotify even launched their free-ad supported service to users that didn’t want to pay.
At 124 million paid subscribers and 217 million total monthly active users, Spotify’s total revenue for 2019 was $7.44 billion. For a reputation like this, even Tiktok has struck short-term deals with the three majors. As easy as it sounds, a lot goes into renewing deals with music labels. Content is the key. With WMG, podcasts had been an issue.
You need to negotiate when paying minimum percentages of subscriber revenue to music labels. It’s important to find a middle ground when music listening percentage compared to overall audio consumption is declining.
Inasmuch, this deal is significant because it ends long-lasting tensions between the two companies.