Spotify Stock Begins Week Near All Time High On News Of Direct Deals With Artists

Spotify stock begins the week trading at $171.48 per share, near its all time high of $172.93. That gives the music streamer a total market value of $30 billion, slightly exceeding the $28.7 billion set on its first day of public trading. 

Spotify stock's 3.28% rise on Friday came on the news that the streamer was offering select artists advances to direct licence music to the streamer. That would mean both lower payout rates for Spotify and higher than major label payment rates for the artists.

The deals don’t require the acts to give Spotify exclusive content or ownership of their masters, sources tell Billboard. But while far from starting a record label, Spotify direct licensing could be seen as a threat to its label partners.