The talks over how it will distribute revenues from streaming could impact the streaming platform’s profit margins for years. These are the first of such discussions Spotify is having since going public in April 2018. It must cut deals with Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music, which together control two-thirds of its catalogue. The negotiations won’t necessarily result in new deals; they could instead extend their current ones for another year. (Financial Times)

Talking point: Spotify helped pioneer the streaming model, which in turn helped grow record labels’ U.S. music revenues once slashed by piracy. That said, industry corporations continue to clash with Spotify over how to split the revenues. The company is currently appealing a U.S. court decision that would give songwriters a significant pay increase from music streaming on its platform. The appeal drew new criticism of the platform, which has been disparaged in the past by artists, who have said the streaming service doesn’t compensate them fairly. Spotify “managed to move the dialogue away from that [narrative], partly because of effective PR and partly because artists were getting bigger cheques,” said Mark Mulligan, an analyst at Midia Research. Mulligan said Spotify’s recent moves have “turned back the clock.”