Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are not Spotify either though and I am not sure how Spotify is responsible for their relationship with musicians.
Labels ARE shareholders in Spotify. There is absolutely a conflict of interest regarding how Spotify handles its rights/royalties negotiations when the licensees are an oligopoly, who derive value from both sides of the transaction, and represent downstream beneficiaries who have no say in the deal struck or prices paid. Spotify and Labels together screw musicians, acting separately, and together.
As with the previous claim, it would be very helpful if you could cite data to this effect. When I googled myself I found a report[1] which does not seem to indicate that Spotify is majority owned by Labels. What percentage of Spotify is owned by record labels then? And why do they (less than 1/3 according to the source I found ) control Spotify and how does it make their relationship with artist's Spotify's problem?
Also, you know who the record labels own 100%? The record labels. Seems like if they wanted to fleece their artists they could just do it by fleecing their artists with fewer steps than buying minority stakes in Spotify and then hoping Spotify fleeces them, so they have no choice but to fleece their artists (seriously can't believe I just wrote something so dumb out).
And if it is record labels Fleecing their artists, why point fingers at Spotify? Again I'm going to point out that since they became prominent, revenue for the music industry has grown while before Spotify, it was declining. Do the artists prefer the decline that came before Spotify?
[1]: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/who-owns-spotify-toda...
> Via a combination of ‘Statement Of Ownership’ SEC filings plus its 20-F annual report – all filed this year – we’ve been able to paint a picture of Spotify’s ownership cap table today.
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> That cap table continues to be dominated by Spotify’s two founders, Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, along with a number of institutional investors, many of whom have been major shareholders for much of the time that Spotify has been a publicly-traded company.
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> Among them are investment management firm T. Rowe Prices & Associates, investment firm Baillie Gifford, banking giant Morgan Stanley, and tech and multimedia giant Tencent Holdings (partly through its subsidiary, Tencent Music Entertainment). > > All the ups and downs of Spotify’s share price story hasn’t scared these investors away – clearly, they’re in for the long run.