Spotify, Universal Music Group expand strategic relationship

Universal Music Group (UMGNF) and Spotify (SPOT) announced an expansion of their strategic relationship that will “further amplify music discovery and social interaction and enhance fan experiences across the platform for UMG’s family of artists and songwriters.” “Under the agreement, Spotify will make available a series of new promotional and social features that will help artists drive interaction and generate excitement around new releases. To start, UMG artists will have the ability to share teasers of upcoming music on Spotify to increase fan engagement and pre-save activity before a new release. Additionally, a new agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group will enable Spotify to distribute music videos in the US, enabling deeper experiences with the songs, the artists, and the songwriters. The companies will continue to explore additional features that allow fans to discover artists and propel virality of new releases. They will share more details about these new tools and how artists, songwriters and fans can leverage them in the near future,” the companies stated.