UMG Expands Spotify Partnership To Include Music Videos and Pre-Release Teasers

Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify have expanded their strategic relationship with new social and video features that will propel promotion for new releases. The news comes after UMG’s public dispute with TikTok, which ended in the company removing its catalog of 4,000,000 songs from the video-sharing platform.

In the expanded partnership, Spotify will offer UMG artists the ability to share teasers of their upcoming music on the platform, with the goal of increasing fan engagement and pre-save activity prior to their release dates. Additionally, the new agreement allows Spotify to distribute music videos in the US.

The companies did not disclose how much of UMG’s catalog would receive music videos on Spotify. However, earlier this month, Spotify stated that it would begin supporting music videos on its platform, with beta testing in 11 markets, which, at the time, included Brazil, Colombia, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, the Netherlands, Poland, the Philippines, Sweden and the U.K. Since the feature is fairly new, the companies stated that they would “share more details about these new tools” in the “near future.”

Users can access music videos by selecting the “Switch to Video” tab on Spotify’s playing screen. There, you can rotate your device to view music videos in full screen.

“UMG has consistently been a progressive partner on behalf of their artists and songwriters, contributing to our product development efforts of experimental tools and adopting them early to help artists stand out,” Daniel Ek, founder and CEO of Spotify, said in a statement. “The forthcoming features will put more power in the hands of artists and their teams to help them authentically express themselves, efficiently promote their work, and better monetize their art.”