LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) Sony Music Entertainment, which sold half of its stock in Spotify, is expected to share some of its proceeds with its artists as early as August.
SME sold half of its 5.7 percent stake in Spotify since April, netting approximately $761 million. It promised to share the money with its nearly 100,000 eligible artists and, on Thursday, announced it would do so soon, according to an email obtained by Billboard.
“The benefit of the Spotify investment presented SME with a unique opportunity to pay additional compensation to all of our eligible artists and participants,” the email reportedly says. “As we liquidate this holding in a disciplined manner over time, we will continue to make payments to all of our eligible artists and participants in the same way.”
Meanwhile, two top Spotify execs have reportedly exited the company. Mark Williamson, global head of artists and industry partnerships, who has been with Spotify for seven years, has announced his departure, according to Billboard. George Ergatoudis, head of music culture, international shows and editorial, based out of London, has also left the company and is widely expected to join rival streaming service Apple Music as Apple’s U.K. head of music.
None of this has negatively affected Spotify stock. After recently announcing it is licensing music directly from some artists and managers, to the consternation of record execs, its stock market value jumped to more than $30 billion, a record high.
