Following news on August 4 that some major record labels had secretly been shareholders in Spotify since 2008, Swedish news site ComputerSweden reported the labels got their combined 18 per cent share for a snip at €10,000. But TechCrunch looked into the figures and got their hands on a capitalisation table, filed in Luxembourg, which revealed Sony BMG, Universal, Warner Music, EMI and Merlin (the body which represents Europe’s indie labels) own 17.3 per cent, and in fact paid an aggregated €8.8 million for the stock. This revelation has bolstered speculation that the firm’s plan to expand into the US will run more smoothly, as it needs to secure streaming permission from labels and win a fistful of licences to operate within the territory. The news has also re-ignited rumours that Spotify is gearing up to go head-to-head with iTunes. Meanwhile, the firm is still awaiting approval from Apple for its iPhone app. But co-founder Daniel Ek says he’s confident Spotify has met the Apple developer guidelines.
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Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…