Spotify’s Newest Pitch to Labels and Musicians: Now You Pay Us

The company has identified two priorities to boost advertising: podcasts and the two-sided marketplace.

Now its biggest push, music companies say, is paid promotion -- getting labels to pay to promote their artists.

Spotify has inserted sponsored songs in listeners’ playlists, and has also discussed charging artists and labels for data about their habits.

The streaming giant is asking record labels and artists for money to advertise their songs within its app, arguing that they’ll reach new fans and increase their popularity. The effort is controversial because it’s complicating wider talks over long-term music rights between Spotify and the record companies.