This will be interesting..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43613398Shares in the music streaming firm Spotify will be publicly traded for the first time later on Tuesday when the firm debuts on the New York market. The flotation marks a turning point for the firm, that, after 12 years, has not yet made a profit.
Spotify's listing, which could value it at $20bn (£14bn), is unconventional: it is not issuing any new shares.
Instead, shares held by the firm's private investors will be made available.
One of the thorniest issues for Spotify in the past has been a backlash from artists who say only the biggest stars make enough income from the streaming subscription model.
"At the moment it's all about record labels. Spotify doesn't have a place for artists," says Mark Mulligan.
"The bigger bolder things post [the share listing] will be doing something very clear for artists."
He thinks in time Spotify could start offering places for artists to build their own creative spaces and profile pages - so that there are ways to bypass the record labels and go straight to Spotify to reach fans.
As some of you know many of the actual shares are held by the recording industry so this is in effect a way for them to pay themselves a dividend and increase the value of the stock they retain.
As the article mentions Spotify is simply set up to serve the recording industry and actual artists dont figure anywhere in the business model, this I feel is a direct consequence of the ownership of the business and hopefully will change one some of the shares are no longer held by the monopolists, I dont see any reason however to buy such shares given that other platforms with deeper pockets are waiting in the wings to see the dust settle before making their own moves into the streaming-for-cash marketplace.
