Skip to content
Tech News
← Back to articles

Spotify soars 13% after announcing AI music deal with UMG, guidance

read original get Spotify Premium Headphones → more articles
Why This Matters

Spotify's strategic AI partnership with Universal Music signals a major shift in the music industry, enabling innovative features like AI-generated covers and remixes while expanding revenue streams and user engagement. This move highlights the industry's focus on leveraging AI responsibly to enhance content creation and consumption, potentially transforming how artists and consumers interact with music. For both industry players and consumers, this development underscores the growing influence of AI in shaping the future of music streaming and content monetization.

Key Takeaways

Spotify shares jumped 15% on Thursday after the music streaming platform laid out guidance for 2030 and reached an artificial intelligence deal with Universal Music, as the technology sparks major disruption concerns across the industry.

The company expects revenue at a compounded annual growth rate in the mid-teens and gross margins between 35% and 40%. Spotify referred to plans to reach 1 billion subscribers and $100 billion in revenue as its "north star."

"We are still firing on all cylinders," co-CEO Gustav Söderström told CNBC's Julia Boorstin at the company's first investor day since 2022. "We're seeing strong growth in free users and in subscribers."

As part of the deal with Universal, Spotify will let users create covers and remixes using the voices of artists and songwriters who opt in.

Spotify said the tool will launch as a paid add-on for premium users and offer a new revenue stream for artists. The company previously said it was working with major music labels to create "responsible" AI products, but didn't disclose any specific tools.

Söderström told CNBC that the Universal deal expands Spotify's existing content catalog and lets artists and songwriters get in on AI innovation occurring across the industry. The music label's artists include Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift.

"It hasn't been possible for existing creators to participate because there was no legal licensing framework," he said.

Spotify is in the middle of a reshuffle, and the stakes are high.