Warner Music Group has sold all of its shares in Spotify for more than half a billion dollars.<\/p>\n
Warner is allocating 25% of this money to its artists, but, unlike Sony, it’s not ignoring unrecouped balances when it does so – meaning that a significant proportion of this cash will actually remain at WMG.<\/p>\n
Warner today (August 7) confirmed it was no longer a stakeholder in Spotify, which floated on the New York Stock Exchange on April 3.<\/p>\n
WMG CEO Steve Cooper (pictured) told investors on an earnings call that Warner realized $504m in proceeds from selling 100% of its Spotify stock in the quarter ending June 2018.<\/p>\n “I\u2019m pleased to say that, in connection with the sale of our Spotify equity, an estimated $126 million will be credited to artist accounts on their June 30 royalty statements which are issued around the world in August and September,” said Cooper.<\/p>\n That $126m equates to exactly a quarter of the $504m.<\/p>\n MBW understands the $126m includes payments to Warner\/ADA-distributed labels, but these make up a small proportion of the money. Warner, as previously announced, is only sharing Spotify proceeds with its partner labels when obligated to do so by individual contracts.<\/p>\n MBW revealed earlier this year how Sony Music will be paying its artists and partner labels from its Spotify stock proceeds.<\/p>\n In a surprise move, the Rob Stringer-led major will ignore unrecouped balances when it pays its acts a chunk of its windfall – via checks that are scheduled to arrive with performers by the end of August.<\/a><\/p>\n