Spotify, Universal Music Group Strike New Multi-Year Music Licensing Deal

Spotify and Universal Music Group have announced a new, multi-year direct licensing pact that will cover the United States and several other companies, according to a Sunday release.

“When we first presented our vision for the next stage in the evolution of music subscription several months ago — Steaming 2.0 — this is precisely the kind of partnership development we envisioned,” UMG chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grange said. “This agreement furthers and broadens the collaboration with Spotify for both our labels and music publisher, advancing artist-centric principles to drive greater monetization for artists and songwriters, as well as enhancing product offerings for consumers.”

The pact brings new paid subscription options, music bundles and “a richer audio and visual content catalog,” according to the release.

Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek said the deal broadens the company’s “commitment to return the music industry to growth, ensuring that we deliver record payouts to the benefit of artists and songwriters” that have gone on for two decades.

“This partnership ensures we can continue to deliver on this promise by embracing the certainty that constant innovation is key to making paid music subscriptions even more attractive to a broader audience of fans around the world,” Ek said.

The post Spotify, Universal Music Group Strike New Multi-Year Music Licensing Deal appeared first on TheWrap.