Spotify is competing with music labels by cutting direct deals with musicians – Recode

Spotify has started licensing some songs directly from artists and their managers, paying advances of “several hundred thousand dollars” for a collection of tracks. Recode asked a Spotify rep to comment on the report; he declined.
— Read on www.recode.net/2018/6/8/17441544/spotify-daniel-ek-direct-deal-music-labels