Vivendi CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine has been having his say about the ongoing licence-renewal negotiations between Universal Music and Spotify. His comments in Vivendi’s latest earnings call included two statements that some might see as contradictory: that Vivendi wants Spotify to ultimately turn a profit and become a sustainable business; yet that Vivendi does not intend to strike a deal that includes a lower share for UMG of Spotify’s revenues. “We think that at a certain stage, profit and margins are going to be something that should be delivered if you want to get a sustainable business on the long-term,” he told investors. And yet: “The quality of our products is something that has a value and we are not of a mindset to decrease price to increase volume. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys… [We are] not expecting to be part of a decrease of the yield of the subscription.” De Puyfontaine also stressed that Vivendi sees Spotify in terms of “high priority to paid subscription compared to free consumption”.
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