Spotify has struck a brand new direct licensing settlement with Kobalt. The information follows about six months after the streaming service struck agreements with different prime publishers — Common Music Publishing Group and Warner Chappell — each of which reported on the time that their offers with Spotify improved remuneration for songwriters on the platform.
Particulars of the deal stay restricted, however a supply acquainted with the matter says it positions Kobalt to earn past the baseline mechanical royalties set by the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board. Kobalt’s CEO, Laurent Hubert, calls the corporate’s direct cope with Spotify a “step in the fitting route” which “reaffirms our unwavering dedication to making sure our songwriters are paid pretty for his or her work, and underscores the significance of progressive licensing fashions that mirror the real-world use of music throughout digital platforms.”
Spotify has had strained relations with music publishers and songwriters at completely different factors all through its historical past, as a consequence of royalty fee disputes, however tensions intensified in March 2024 when Spotify started paying a considerably lessened royalty fee for streams on its premium tiers to songwriters and publishers. This occurred on account of Spotify reclassifying these tiers as “bundles,” a sort of plan that qualifies for a reduced fee on U.S. mechanical royalties on condition that a number of merchandise — on this case, Spotify’s music and newly added audiobooks — are each provided underneath one price ticket.
On the time, Billboard estimated that this modification will lead songwriters and publishers to earn about $150 million much less in royalties for the primary yr bundling is in impact, in comparison with what was projected pre-bundling. Extra just lately, on the Nationwide Music Publishers’ Affiliation’s (NMPA) annual assembly in June 2025, the commerce group representing UMPG, WCM, Kobalt and the overwhelming majority of different publishers reported that the bundle really led to a lack of $230 million within the first yr.
Whereas the NMPA has lead a broad marketing campaign in opposition to Spotify’s bundling practices since March 2024, by January 2025, a number of main gamers within the music publishing trade had begun exploring personal offers with the streaming platform. UMG introduced a recording and publishing cope with Spotify first — changing into the primary direct deal between Spotify and a writer because the passage of the Music Modernization Act in 2018. The deal impacted each UMG’s recorded music and publishing royalty charges and included language about safety for UMG expertise by means of Spotify’s fraud detection and enforcement methods.
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A Spotify spokesperson instructed Billboard on the time: “Spotify maintains its bundle, however with this direct deal, it has developed to account for broader rights, together with a special financial remedy for music and non-music content material.”
WCM adopted shortly after, whereas Kobalt is the third to comply with swimsuit. A press launch about Spotify’s Kobalt deal says it’s going to “ship larger flexibility, effectivity, worth, and protections to songwriters within the US.”
Nonetheless, Spotify has but to strike an analogous cope with Sony Music Publishing, the most important writer on the earth. A supply near Spotify reveals that whereas they’re having constructive discussions with them, there isn’t a deal thus far.
“This deal displays the collaborative efforts between Kobalt and Spotify in constructing a licensing framework to allow new codecs, improvements, and potential to attach creators and followers alike. The deal additionally displays a broader shift towards licensing constructions that permit songwriters to take part extra instantly within the worth their work creates on streaming platforms,” the press launch continues.
Whereas Spotify works to safe direct licenses with music publishers, the corporate can be working to roll out new options, a lot of which require the music publishers’ cooperation to undergo. In accordance with the Wall Avenue Journal, Spotify is engaged on a “remix” function to hurry up, mash up and in any other case edit sound recordings. It’s also engaged on licensing music movies in international locations world wide — each of that are anticipated to be a part of Spotify’s teased ultra-premium tier. Because the NMPA warned Spotify in a stop and desist letter to the streamer final yr, “any such function … with out the right licenses in place from our members… could represent further direct infringement,” serving as a warning shot to the streamer.
“We’ve all the time believed that higher partnerships result in higher outcomes,” says Alex Norström, co-president & Chief Enterprise Officer, Spotify. “This settlement with Kobalt boosts our assist of songwriters by means of a licensing mannequin that unlocks new development and can increase the best way music is made and shared at present.”
Kobalt’s Hubert, provides: “As the most important impartial music writer devoted to preventing for the rights of songwriters, this deal reaffirms our unwavering dedication to making sure our songwriters are paid pretty for his or her work, and underscores the significance of progressive licensing fashions that mirror the real-world use of music throughout digital platforms. This partnership is a step in the fitting route, and we sit up for persevering with to work with Spotify to extend the worth of songwriter royalties.”
