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In a first for a music streaming company, Paris-based Qobuz has publicly released the per-stream royalty rate it pays to rights holders. Qobuz tells Billboard it paid out an average per-stream royalty rate of $0.018732, or 1.8782 cents, in the 12 months ended March 31, 2024. That all-in rate, which covers both recorded music and publishing, works out to $18.73 for every 1,000 streams.
“Today, we are taking this step for greater transparency,” Qobuz deputy CEO Georges Fornay said in a statement. “Our payout rates are now public. This unprecedented move in our industry is a necessary first step toward promoting a fairer and more sustainable streaming model. Choosing Qobuz means taking concrete action for fairer compensation for all artists and supporting musical diversity, values that our customers cherish.”
One reason streaming companies haven’t released their per-stream royalty rates is because royalties aren’t paid on a simple, per-stream basis. Rather, royalties are the result of complex calculations based on such factors as market share and guaranteed minimums. Qobuz admits as much in the press release announcing its first-of-its-kind calculation, which was conducted by a major accounting firm. “It should be noted that the methods of payment to labels and publishers are not systematically based on remuneration per stream,” it reads. “Calculation methods may vary from one contract to another.”
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Nevertheless, the per-stream royalty rate has persisted as a popular metric for gauging streaming services’ value to artists and rights holders. And although Qobuz is often mentioned as the platform with the highest per-stream rate, there are no official numbers to show its place in the royalty hierarchy. Companies have disclosed the amounts of royalties paid annually and cumulatively, but never, until now, on a per-stream basis.
At approximately $0.0187 cents per stream, Qobuz ranks well ahead of its peers, based on the limited, imperfect information available. The best comparisons come from music catalog investor Duetti, which released its own calculations in January for per-stream rates paid to independent artists. That report said the average royalty for master recordings—excluding the publishing component that Qobuz included—was $0.00341 per stream in 2024, though Qobuz wasn’t included in those rankings. Publishing typically accounts for approximately 20% of music streaming content costs, which would put Qobuz’s recorded music per-stream royalty at approximately $0.015—4.4 times the average on Duetti’s list.
Amazon ranked first on Duetti’s list at $0.0088 per stream and was followed by TIDAL at $0.0068, Apple Music at $0.0062 and YouTube at $0.0048. Spotify’s $0.003 per-stream payout was lower than its peers because of high usage, geographical mix, reliance on free and discounted plans and Discovery Mode, through which artists accept a lower royalty in exchange for in-app promotion.
One reason Qobuz pays relatively well is because it charges a relatively high price. Average revenue per user (ARPU) at Qobuz is $121.13 annually or $22.38 per month, while Spotify’s latest ARPU (for the quarter ended December 31, 2024) was 4.85 euros ($5.29). In the U.S., Qobuz charges $12.99 per month—$1 more than Spotify’s music-and-audiobook tier—or $129.99 per month when purchased annually. In its home country of France, Qobuz charges 14.99 euros ($16.35) per month or 149.99 euros ($163.55) annually. That’s 34% higher than the 11.12 euros ($12.13) per month Spotify charges.
The company cited other aspects of its business that result in the relatively high royalty rate. Qobuz does not have an ad-supported tier that would pay less than subscriptions. Additionally, the platform provides greater valued through uncompressed files and high-resolution audio, which, along with “exclusive editorial content,” merit a higher price, the company says. And Qobuz highlights artists and genres—jazz and classical, for example—that are underrepresented at other streaming platforms. As a result, the company argues, more revenue is generated for a wider range of artists.
Geography also plays an important role in the size of Qobuz’s royalties. In the 26 markets where where Qobuz is available—including the U.S., Japan, U.K., Germany, France, Sweden and Canada—consumers tend to spend money on music subscriptions. The service is not available in many emerging countries such as India where subscription prices are low and listeners overwhelmingly opt for free, ad-supported options. And while Qobuz available in places like Mexico and Brazil where subscription costs are lower, it costs more than its competitors in those markets. In Mexico, for example, Qobuz’s monthly price is 150 pesos ($7.49) to Spotify’s 129 pesos ($6.44). In Brazil, Qobuz costs R$25.90 ($4.59) to Spotify’s R$21.90 ($3.88).
The difference between Qobuz and its peers may narrow over time as royalty rates improve—slightly—in the coming years. Spotify, according to reports, plans to launch a higher-priced plan that includes high-quality audio. Various companies are taking measures to marginally improve payouts. Deezer, for example, has changed its royalty scheme by demoting AI-created tracks, removing “non-artist noise content” and provide better payouts to what it terms “professional artists.” Spotify changed its royalty payout scheme in 2023. As more platforms follow suit, average royalty rates should inch upward.
Playboi Carti‘s new album is off to a strong start on streaming platforms.
Following its release on Friday (March 14), the Atlanta rapper’s long-awaited third studio album, MUSIC, became Spotify‘s most-streamed album in a single day in 2025 so far.
“Carti’s MUSIC is already making history,” the streaming giant captioned its announcement on X on Saturday.
In the lead-up to the album’s release, Spotify supported the rollout by putting up billboards in major cities such as Los Angeles, New York City, and Miami, displaying messages like “STREETS READY,” “SORRY4 DA WAIT” and “I AM MUSIC MF.”
MUSIC was preceded by the official single “All Red,” which reached No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 3 on Billboard‘s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Carti also released several tracks on his YouTube and Instagram, including “2024,” “BACKR00MS” featuring Travis Scott, and “H00DBYAIR.”
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Additionally, Carti performed unreleased songs during his headlining set at Rolling Loud Miami in December 2024, including “Lose You” featuring The Weeknd. Carti and The Weeknd’s collaboration “Timeless,” from The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow album, reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 last year, following the success of their platinum-certified hit “Popular” with Madonna.
MUSIC features star-studded collaborations from Young Thug, Travis Scott, Future, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, Lil Uzi Vert, Skepta and Ty Dolla $ign. It also boasts an impressive list of producers, including Cardo, Metro Boomin, Southside, F1lthy, Ye, Cash Cobain and the production duo Ojivolta, among others.
The 30-track project arrives five years after Carti’s last album, Whole Lotta Red, which topped the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The 2020 set featured collaborations with Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) on “Go2DaMoon,” Kid Cudi on “M3tamorphosis,” and Future on “Teen X.”
Carti is set to headline Rolling Loud California on Sunday (March 16). The festival posted on X earlier this week, noting that his 2018 debut album, Die Lit, dropped the day before Rolling Loud Miami, and he’s continuing that tradition by releasing MUSIC the day before Rolling Loud California opens.
The music business has earned a reputation for being recession-proof. In bad economic times, people still pay for their music subscription services and want to go to concerts. Some synch opportunities may dry up as advertisers make cutbacks, but overall, the music is a hearty business that doesn’t follow typical economic cycles.
Music business stocks, however, aren’t immune to fluctuations in the market and investors’ worries about the increasingly fragile state of the economy. This week, just three of the 20 companies on the Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI) finished with gains, and five stocks had losses in excess of 10%. Despite a host of strong quarterly earnings results in recent weeks, President Donald Trump’s tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico, China and Europe have caused markets to panic, taking down music stocks along with the industrial and agricultural companies most likely to be affected.
The S&P 500 entered correction territory on Thursday (March 13) when it closed down 10% from the all-time high. The Russell 2000, an index of small companies, was down 18.4% from its peak. Most stocks improved on Friday (March 14) as markets rallied — despite a decline in the University of Michigan’s consumer confidence index — but the first four days of the week were too much to overcome. The S&P 500 finished the week down 2.3% and the Nasdaq composite closed down 2.4%.
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Markets outside of the U.S. fared better than U.S. markets. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 dropped just 0.5%. South Korea’s KOSPI composite index rose 0.1% and China’s SSE Composite Index improved 1.4%.
Even though 17 of the 20 companies on the BGMI posted losses this week, the index rose 0.5% to 2,460.71 because of Spotify’s 8.1% gain, and the dollar’s nearly 1% increase against the euro offset the weekly declines of 17 other stocks. Spotify is the BGMI’s largest component with a market capitalization of approximately $117 billion — more than twice that of Universal Music Group’s (UMG’s) $50.2 billion. The stock also received rare good news this week as Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage of Spotify with a $545 price target (which implies 5.5% upside from Friday’s closing price) and a neutral rating.
UMG shares fell 8.8% on Friday, a reaction to Pershing Square’s announcement on Thursday that it will sell 50 million shares worth approximately $1.5 billion. Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman called UMG “one of the best businesses we have ever owned.” JP Morgan analyst Daniel Kerven admitted the news was “a near-term negative for confidence” in UMG but saw Pershing Square’s decision to sell shares as a move to take profits and re-weigh its portfolio (UMG was 27% of Pershing Square’s holdings) rather than a commentary about UMG’s long-term potential or recent operating performance. UMG shares ended the week down 8.2% to 25.46 euros ($27.78) but remained up 6.5% year to date.
Live Nation shares dropped 6.5% to $119.22, marking the stock’s fourth consecutive weekly decline. During the week, Deutsche Bank increased its Live Nation price target to $170 from $150 and maintained its “buy” rating. On Friday, a judge denied Live Nation’s request to dismiss an accusation that the promoter illegally forced artists to use its promotion business if they wanted to perform in its amphitheaters.
Other U.S.-based live entertainment companies also fell sharply. Sphere Entertainment Co. fell 10.1% to $31.55. MSG Entertainment dropped 1.3% to $31.46 despite Wolfe Research upgrading the stock to “outperform” from “peer perform” with a $46 price target. Vivid Seats, a secondary ticketing platform, fell 28.1% to $2.86 after the company announced fourth-quarter earnings.
Radio companies, which tend to suffer when economic uncertainty causes advertisers to pull back spending, had yet another down week. iHeartMedia fell 12.0% to $1.61. Cumulus Media dropped 11.5% to $0.46. And SiriusXM, which announced layoffs this week, fell 10.1% to $22.67. Year to date, iHeartMedia is down 24.4% and Cumulus Media is down 40.3%. SiriusXM, on the other hand, has gained 1.4% in 2025.
K-pop stocks also fell sharply despite South Korea’s market finishing the week with a small gain. HYBE, SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment and YG Entertainment had an average decline of 7.4% for the week. Collectively, however, the four South Korean companies have had a strong start to 2025 and, after this week, had an average year-to-date gain of 19.3%.
When it comes to the value of music royalties, some artists have an advantage based on where they live.
Nigerian artists earned more than $43 million from Spotify in 2024, according to the streaming giant’s latest Loud and Clear report. A “significant” portion of those royalties came from outside Nigeria, with exports of the country’s music increasing 49% over the last three years. In other words, people in other countries — many of which provide better royalties than are available in Nigeria — are listening to Nigerian artists, effectively sending their money to the West African country.
Spotify’s Loud & Clear report provides good insight into how royalties are split between superstars, merely popular artists and everybody else. In 2024, 71,200 artists earned at least $10,000 in royalties from the streaming service, up from 66,000 in 2023, while 670 artists earned more than $2 million, an increase from 570 the prior year.
Read between the lines of the Loud & Clear data and you’ll see that royalties have different values to musicians in different countries. If you’re a recording artist in India, where free, ad-supported listening dwarfs relatively cheap subscriptions, you’re better off receiving your royalties from a country like the U.S. where subscriptions are many and prices are high. If you’re an Afrobeats artist in Nigeria, a U.S. stream is worth more than a stream at home.
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Economist Will Page found that almost a third of all streams inside the U.S. in 2023 came from artists outside the U.S. The top music exporter to the U.S. was the U.K. — which has roughly the same royalty rates as the U.S. — but the No. 2 exporter was Mexico, a country where a Spotify individual subscription costs the equivalent of $6.49. Colombia, where a Spotify subscription costs the equivalent of $4.12, was No. 6. As Page wrote in his roundup of 2023 global recorded music revenues, Mexican artists’ U.S. streams were worth more than three times what they would have earned had they originated in their home country. For Colombian artists, their U.S. streams were worth more than six times what they would have earned in their home country.
In a global music business driven by streaming platforms, artists can earn more by tapping into more lucrative markets. A Nigerian artist should want more U.S. fans. A Colombian artist gets more from a U.S. stream. It’s a form of arbitrage — buying low and selling high.
In the digital era, choosing where to live is also a form of arbitrage. People with the ability to work remotely are increasingly choosing to live somewhere more affordable. Millions of Americans have moved to states with lower costs of living in recent years, with some leaving the country for safe havens in Europe as political discourse turned sour. States such as Texas, Florida and Tennessee are attractive for the (relatively) cheaper costs of living and lack of state income tax. Digital nomadism goes internationally, too, as people work remotely from faraway places — co-working spaces have sprouted on the Indonesian island of Bali, for example — with a substantially lower cost of living. Dozens of countries offer a digital nomad visa, called a remote working visa.
Musical nomadism isn’t a thing — yet. And this is more of a thought experiment than a serious proposal. Moving to a foreign country would take artists away from a large, lucrative concert market. And unless a musician plans to infiltrate the local music scene in their new home, they would be without the networking and personal connections that foster both creativity and commerce. An artist with children and a spouse would also have to pull deep roots to leave the country. But if an artist only wants to record and release music online, living elsewhere — not just Texas or Tennessee, but a country where the cost of living is far lower than in the U.S. — would improve the economics of music streaming.
Given the value of listeners in mature streaming markets, a stream in the U.S. and U.K. is worth far more than a stream in many other countries. Spotify costs $11.99 per month for an individual in the U.S. In Nigeria, an individual Spotify subscription costs the equivalent of $0.84 per month. And if Nigeria is like other developing markets, ad-supported streaming — which returns less value to artists and rights holders — is far more popular than paid subscriptions.
In Nigeria, $1 in the U.S. has the spending power of over $8, based on the difference between Nigeria’s gross domestic product in nominal dollars and purchasing power parity. In other words, goods that cost $1 in Nigeria would cost $8 in the U.S. Other countries provide similar boosts in spending power. In Indonesia, $1 feels like $3.30 in the U.S. In Colombia, $1 has the spending power of $2.70. In Mexico, having $1 is like having $1.90 up north.
Differences in costs of living would make royalties seem far more valuable. A typical 0.35-cent per-stream royalty would feel like 2.8 cents in Nigeria, 1.2 cents in Indonesia, 0.95 cents in Colombia and 0.66 cents in Mexico. An American artist who earns $5,000 from a synch placement would get more from that income by walking across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Musicians who are hesitant to become digital nomads can find solace in the slowly improving streaming economics in developing markets. Mature streaming markets are driven by subscriptions, while developing markets tend to be driven by ad-supported streaming. But it’s widely believed that subscription uptake will improve over time, making those foreign streams worth more over time. And in the U.S., artist-centric policies, rising prices and upcoming super-premium tiers will bring more value to artists and rights holders. In other words, don’t dig out your passport just yet.
Spotify released its annual Loud & Clear report on Wednesday (March 12), trumpeting the growing number of musicians earning robust royalty income from the platform, along with its users’ increasingly global listening patterns.
“The number of artists generating $10,000, $100,000, and $1 million dollars on Spotify alone has at least tripled since 2017,” says Sam Duboff, the platform’s global head of marketing and policy, music business.
And those artists are coming from a wider variety of countries. “Ten years ago, you probably had to be singing in English and maybe Spanish to have a really high ceiling,” Duboff adds. “Now we see eight languages where songs are generating $100 million a year [in royalties] just on Spotify” — not only English and Spanish, but also German, Portuguese, French, Japanese, Korean and Italian. In addition, “the majority of artists generating significant revenue on Spotify have the majority of their royalties coming from outside their home market.”
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Perhaps more than past iterations of Loud & Clear, the latest report aimed to push back on popular complaints about the streaming era.
One frustration voiced frequently about streaming is that the platforms’ payouts have crippled most aspiring artists’ ability to build a career. Last year, for example, Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) introduced the Living Wage for Musicians Act in the House of Representatives; the Union of Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW), which helped draft the act, said it was necessary because “artists continue to be underpaid, misled and otherwise exploited by streaming platforms.” Across the Atlantic, members of the European Parliament also called on the music industry to explore “fairer models of streaming revenue allocation.”
Spotify has a sunnier view of the streaming economy: Loud & Clear notes that “more artists than ever before are generating royalties at every career stage.” The company argues that much of the discontent with the modern music landscape stems from the fact that an unprecedented number of people are uploading music to streaming services, and “the sheer volume of uploaders means the fraction [of acts] who find success appears smaller over time.”
On Spotify, the number of artists making at least $10,000 grew nearly 8% in 2024, to 71,200, according to the platform’s data, while the number of acts making at least $100,000 from Spotify increased a similar percentage, rising to 12,500.
Those royalty-income brackets on Spotify grew faster than total music consumption in the U.S. last year (5.6%, according to Luminate) but not as fast as they did in 2023. “There are always fluctuations,” Duboff says. He is unconcerned by chatter about streaming growth tapering off, especially in the U.S. and Western Europe. “We still see a ton of growth in mature markets,” he says. “We also see a lot of really exciting growth in emerging markets.”
Another idea targeted by Loud & Clear as a “misconception”: the notion of per-stream payouts. “One of the top conversations we have with artists is about this perception of our per-stream rate,” Duboff explains. “The way you hear people on social media talk, you’d think every streaming service pays out based on per-stream rate.
“But no major streaming service pays out based on a fixed per-stream rate,” Duboff continues. “Every major streaming service pays out based on stream share,” meaning the royalty pool is divided up according to rights holders’ portion of total streams.
Duboff hopes that Loud & Clear can start to “demystify the idea of stream share” and “help artists think through the actual ways in which royalties are generated.” Though it’s possible that, even after thinking this through, acts might still advocate for alternative payout methods, like the user-centric model that was in vogue a couple of years ago. The Living Wage for Musicians Act proposed to fund additional royalty payments — one penny per stream partially generated by charging an extra fee for every streaming subscription — on top of the current payout system.
Spotify also hopes to change perceptions about its highest earners. “When I ask people what type of artist would be generating $1 million a year just from Spotify, the first assumption is it’s the biggest stars with the biggest hits,” Duboff says. “The second thing we hear a lot is, ‘It’s just a lot of legacy acts who were popular decades ago.’ The third is that it must be American, Canadian and Western European artists.”
Spotify’s data flies in the face of those assumptions, according to Duboff. For the second year in a row, 80% of the $1 million earners — close to 1,500 artists — never had a track crack Spotify’s Global Daily Top 50, he says, and more than half of them started their career after 2010. Plus, those acts sing or rap in 17 different languages.
With “momentum on Spotify, you have access to hundreds of millions of listeners all over the world,” Duboff adds, “and the revenue that they bring in.”
Titan Content formed a strategic partnership with Imperial Music (a division of Republic Records) to collaborate on its upcoming girl group, AtHeart. The group — which released a new teaser video and launched official social media channels alongside the announcement — will share a “pre-debut introduction song and video” on March 14, according to a press release. AtHeart consists of seven members: Michi, Katelyn, Seohyeon, Aurora, Bome, Arin and Nahyun. The group’s formation was led by former SM Entertainment CEO Nikki Semin Han.
Spotify began accepting audiobooks from ElevenLabs, an AI software company that provides voice narration technology. Authors can now distribute their ElevenLabs content to Spotify and other audiobook retailers via audiobook distributor Findaway Voices. According to a blog post, all digitally narrated titles will be “clearly marked in the metadata on Spotify” and other platforms, while the book description “will be prepended with the first sentence stating, ‘This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.’”
Korean entertainment group Starship Entertainment struck a copyright partnership with Chinese music platform NetEase Cloud Music. The deal brings Starship’s entire catalog, including Korean girl group IVE, to Chinese audiences. According to a press release, NetEase Cloud Music boasts 206 million monthly active users.
Universal Music Japan acquired a majority stake in A-Sketch, a Japanese artist management business and record label that boasts acts including Saucy Dog, Flumpool and Ayumu Imazu on its roster. A-Sketch is also home to Mash A&R, a rock management company in Japan that manages The Oral Cigarettes, FREDERIC and Saucy Dog. Under the deal, Universal Music Japan will acquire the stake in A-Sketch that’s currently owned by Amuse. A-Sketch will now operate as a label division within Universal Music Japan and continue to be led by A-Sketch representative director/president Nobuyuki Soma, who will report to Universal Music Japan president/CEO Naoshi Fujikura. “The acquisition will further bolster Universal Music Japan’s in-house artist management capabilities and expand its ability to drive new creative and commercial opportunities for its artists,” as stated in a press release.
Reservoir Media acquired U.K. dance and electronic label New State. The deal includes New State’s entire recorded music catalog consisting of more than 13,000 tracks by artists including Zero 7, The Beloved, Paul Oakenfold, Dirty Vegas, D:Ream, Double Trouble, Rebel MC and Congo Natty. Reservoir will continue marketing and releasing new music by New State artists via its Chrysalis Records label.
Create Music Group announced a strategic catalog acquisition and go-forward venture with Pack Records (a.k.a. Pack.), a New York and New Orleans-based indie record label, publisher and artist partnership company co-founded by Sky McElroy, Jett Wells and Gavin Chops. The companies previously established a publishing joint venture. Under the deal, Pack. and its artists will have access to Create’s proprietary technology, global distribution, data-driven marketing insights and monetization tools. Pack.’s roster includes aldn, CONNIE, Blood Cultures, daine, Dava and Godly the Ruler. Its catalog boasts recording and publishing rights “at the heart of internet and gaming culture viral moments,” according to a press release, including aldn’s “icantbelieveiletyougetaway,” Ezekiel’s “help_urself,” Godford’s “Downtown,” and Internet Girl’s “PULL UP,” as well as the CONNIE-produced “DIVE IN!” by JELEEL! and “Stupid” by Lexa Gates.
Hook, the AI-powered platform that allows users can legally remix songs and earn income for doing so, signed a strategic partnership with digital music distributor Too Lost. More than 300,000 artists and labels will be brought to Hook through the deal, including Teddy Swims, Tommy Richman, Ty Dolla $ign, Fivio Foreign, Kodak Black, Justin Beiber, Playboi Carti, James Blake, Pink Sweats and Emei. This is Hook’s fourth distribution partnership following deals with FUGA/Downtown, Revelator and Gyrostream.
iHeartMedia and the government communications office of the State of Qatar signed a multi-year partnership that aims to develop a state-of-the-art podcast studio in Qatar and release both original and existing podcast content to Arabic audiences. Under the agreement, iHeart will also offer specialized masterclasses to develop local podcasting talent and host global industry events, including annual Web Summit gatherings — the partnership was announced at this year’s Web Summit in Qatar — in an effort to position the Middle Eastern country as a regional podcasting hub.
Synch platform SourceAudio struck a deal with the Wolfman Jack estate through which the company will repurpose and discover new monetization opportunities for the radio legend’s shows. Through the AudioGenius tool on SongLab — SourceAudio’s AI-powered suite of music tools — the Wolfman Jack estate will be able to “reuse, repurpose, control, and monetize their valuable content archives across today’s digital platforms and ecosystem,” according to a press release. According to Tod Weston Smith, son of Wolfman Jack and president of Wolfman Jack Entertainment, AudioGenius “has significantly streamlined our process, allowing our Wolfman Jack team to access and retrieve clips from our extensive digital archives in seconds, rather than spending hours searching, and we are now able to generate additional revenue from previously underutilized or unused content.”
SoundCloud partnered with Ticketmaster and its self-serve event ticketing and marketing platform Universe in an integration that will allow SoundCloud’s Artist Pro users to create and manage events; sell tickets and share shows directly on the streaming platform; and enjoy amplification opportunities across SoundCloud, Ticketmaster and Universe. They will also have the ability to use Universe to manage and track ticket sales.
This analysis is part of Billboard’s music technology newsletter Machine Learnings. Sign up for Machine Learnings, and other Billboard newsletters for free here.
In an interview in 2023, Techstars managing director Bob Moczydlowsky told Billboard, “If Streaming 1.0 was about making all the music play, Streaming 2.0 should be about being able to play with all the music.”
In 2025, that statement feels prescient. Bloomberg reported on Feb. 14 that Spotify’s long anticipated superfan tier will likely roll out later this year and include extra features like high-fidelity audio, access to concert tickets and song remixing tools for an additional fee on top of Spotify premium.
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Also this month, the AI remixing app MashApp launched on the Apple App Store, offering users the ability to quickly and easily mash up selected songs from the Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music and Kobalt catalogs. Similarly, Hook, a competitor, just announced a new partnership with indie distributor Too Lost to license its works for Hook’s library of mashable, customizable songs. (Hook also previously struck a deal with Downtown for its library of music.)
Even though remixes of songs have dominated TikTok and other short-form video apps for years — and were all over SoundCloud and YouTube before that — participating in the fun of creating them has had barriers to entry. A user would need to learn how to use a digital audio workstation (DAW), like Garageband or ProTools, to create a good-sounding rework of a song, and they’d likely need the stems (the individual instrument tracks that make up a song), too. Now, with AI-powered stem separation and remix apps, there’s almost nothing left standing between a music fan and getting creative with their own derivative mashups.
But copyright law, the longtime nemesis of remixing, remains a major obstacle. For years, record labels and publishers have been playing an ever-expanding game of whack-a-mole with unauthorized remixes online, trying to retain control over their sound recordings. In the TikTok age, unauthorized remixes have gotten even further out of control as sped-up, slowed-down and other types of reworkings gained prominence. But it seems some companies are now taking the “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” philosophy by uploading officially sanctioned sped-up, slowed-down, a cappella and other alternate renditions of their work to streaming services.
Music companies, sensing the business opportunity, are also licensing to Hook and MashApp. While both have properly licensed libraries of songs to work with, these apps still leave a lot to be desired for users today. MashApp only has selected songs licensed from the three majors and Kobalt — among the recommended tracks are “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys, “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac and “Tequila” by Dan + Shay. Hook has a similar problem — its top songs include “Buy The World” by Kendrick Lamar, Mike WiLL Made-It and Future, “Fall Back” by Lithe, “fisherrr” by Cash Cobain and Bay Swag, and more. If you look up a major artist on either of these apps, odds are they either have only a few of their tracks licensed, or don’t have their catalog at all.
For these apps to succeed, they must get deals done with, essentially, every rights holder on the recorded music and publishing sides to offer a comprehensive catalog — and if you look at the songwriter credits of any major pop or rap song, you’ll realize how challenging getting all of these parties to agree could be. Just one songwriter or company could hold up the licensing of a top song.
Spotify has already done the hard part by getting all the music on the service during what Moczydlowsky calls the “Streaming 1.0” period, but significant challenges still remain ahead if it wants to integrate these much more playful 2.0 remix features. The top streaming service made an enemy of the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the trade organization representing the vast majority of publishers in the U.S., in March 2024 by decreasing the royalties paid to publishers and songwriters in the U.S. on premium-tier streams by about 40%. Known colloquially as the “bundling” issue, Spotify argued that adding audiobooks into its premium subscriptions meant it could divide the royalty pool between music and book publishers.
The NMPA’s president and CEO, David Israelite, said Spotify “declared war on songwriters,” and to fight back, the NMPA launched a series of attacks, including sending Spotify a cease and desist letter warning that if it launched tools to “speed up, mash up and otherwise edit songs from their favorite artists… without the proper licenses in place from our members,” it “may constitute additional direct infringement.”
In January, Spotify’s standing with publishers seemed to be getting better. The streamer forged direct deals with Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group, which included improved remuneration on the publishing side. At the time, I noted in my analysis of these deals that Spotify likely came back to the negotiating table with publishers because the streamer knows it needs the publishers to voluntarily license their catalogs to support these upcoming features, including remixing. Still, that doesn’t mean all publishers, or the NMPA, have buried the hatchet.
On Feb. 4, the NMPA issued 2,500 podcast takedowns against Spotify, in a move that signaled that the NMPA will continue to hold a grudge. (Spotify called this move “a press stunt.”) Press stunt or not, Spotify needs the rest of the NMPA members on its side to make a remix tool with a full working library. Otherwise, they’ll be forced to launch with a piecemeal catalog like their start-up competitors.
But if anyone is poised to take over this budding remix market, it’s likely Spotify, given its pre-existing relationships and significant resources. Still, it remains to be seen how much users will even take to this type of feature. Is remixing the next big thing, or just another fad?
While Spotify’s Billions Club contains an exclusive group of artists who’ve had songs reach one billion streams, there’s an even more elite crop of African artists who are members. “Essence” collaborators Wizkid and Tems have both reached this milestone, but not for their Billboard Hot 100 top 10 smash, and they both did it alongside […]
Tems has become the first African female artist to hit one billion streams on Spotify with Future‘s “WAIT FOR U,” also featuring Drake, Spotify has confirmed. “WAIT FOR U” samples Tems’ “Higher” from her 2020 EP For Broken Ears and was featured on Future’s 2022 Billboard 200-topping album I NEVER LIKED YOU. The song hit […]
For more than a year, record labels and publishers have seen investors pour into streaming stocks — namely Spotify — while downplaying the potential benefits rights owners will accrue from rising subscription prices. Now, Universal Music Group (UMG) and Warner Music Group (WMG) are getting some attention as analysts are optimistic about the terms of new licensing agreements Spotify reached with the companies.
WMG shares rose 10.9% to $36.20 a week after the company released fiscal first-quarter results. This week, the stock got a boost when Citi raised its WMG price target to $42 from $34 and upgraded the stock to a “buy” rating from “neutral.” As Morningstar explained last week, WMG is a “primary beneficiary of the ongoing growth” in the music industry. At $36.20, WMG shares have gained 17.0% in 2025 and are only slightly below their 52-week high of $36.64 set in February 2024. WMG shares fell 13.4% in 2024.
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At UMG, shares rose 7.1% to 28.89 euros ($30.32), the stock’s highest closing price since May 27, 2024. Morgan Stanley analysts have been making the case that UMG is undervalued given Spotify’s soaring share price and this week raised its UMG price target to 42 euros ($44.07) from 36 euros ($37.78). Recent licensing deals with Spotify and Amazon “increases our confidence that its subscription growth will accelerate” from approximately 5% at the start of 2025 to “closer to 15%” at the beginning of 2026, they wrote in a Monday (Feb. 10) investor note. After falling 4.2% in 2024, UMG shares are up 20.8% in 2025.
WMG and UMG were among the best performers on the 20-company Billboard Global Music Index (BGMI) this week. The BGMI rose 4.6% to a record 2,755.53, bringing its year-to-date gain to 29.7%. Only two stocks lost ground while one was unchanged and 17 posted gains for the week. The index outperformed the Nasdaq composite (up 2.6%), the S&P 500 (up 1.5%), the FTSE 100 (up 0.4%), China’s SSE Composite Index (up 1.3%) and South Korea’s KOSPI composite index (flat versus the previous week).
Live Nation reached an all-time high of $152.94 on Friday (Feb. 14) before closing at $153.76, up 3.7% for the week. Ahead of the concert promoter’s earnings results on Thursday (Feb. 20,) Wolfe Research increased its price target to $175 from $160 and Goldman Sachs raised it to $166 from $148.
Streaming services fared well, too. Spotify rose another 2.4% to $637.73 and reached a new all-time high of $652.63 on Thursday (Feb. 13). Fewer than seven weeks into 2025, Spotify shares have gained 36.7%. Elsewhere on the streaming front, Cloud Music rose 9.1% to 142.20 HKD ($18.01) and Tencent Music Entertainment gained 8.7% to $13.63.
Music streamer LiveOne had the week’s biggest loss after falling 20.5% to $0.93. On Thursday, the company announced that its revenue fell 6% in the fiscal third quarter. LiveOne also lowered revenue and earnings guidance for its full year, causing shares to end the day down 18.6%. The other streaming loser was Abu Dhabi-based Anghami, which fell 2.7% to $0.71.
Satellite radio broadcaster SiriusXM shares rose 6.6% to $27.11, bringing its year-to-date gain to 21.2%. This week, Deutsche Bank raised its price target to $27 from $25.
Most K-pop companies finished the week in positive territory. HYBE shares rose 5.8% and reached their highest mark since July 2023. SM Entertainment, which reported a 9% increase in revenue this week, increased 5.4%. JYP Entertainment improved 4.2% and YG Entertainment fell 1.3%.