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Sam Taylor

162 posts •
Spotify made €17.2 billion last year, with profits of €2.2 billion - and paid just €12 million in tax. Here’s what else we learned from today’s earnings call public
Spotify • 13 min read

Spotify made €17.2 billion last year, with profits of €2.2 billion - and paid just €12 million in tax. Here’s what else we learned from today’s earnings call

Spotify reported its Q4 2025 numbers today and held its first analyst call with its new co-CEO double-act of Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström. The company is calling 2026 its “Year Of Raising Ambition”. Whether that ambition includes the music industry is another story…
Sam Taylor •
As EU hits pause on UMG Downtown investigation after “parties fail to provide important info”, Downtown boss whines about “misinformation” public
Downtown Music • 7 min read

As EU hits pause on UMG Downtown investigation after “parties fail to provide important info”, Downtown boss whines about “misinformation”

More Downtown drama as the EU says it has not received an “important piece of information” it needs to investigate UMG’s acquisition, while Downtown’s boss whines about indie “misinformation”. The real question is: why are Universal-aligned execs so scared of IMPALA and other indie trade bodies?…
Chris Cooke & Sam Taylor •
Full scale anticompetition investigation on the cards after UMG’s Virgin Music fails to allay EU fears over Downtown merger public
Universal Music • 4 min read

Full scale anticompetition investigation on the cards after UMG’s Virgin Music fails to allay EU fears over Downtown merger

The European Commission is set to launch a full-scale ‘phase two’ merger investigation into Universal’s Downtown deal after it failed to convince regulators that the transaction should proceed unhindered. With the rhetoric from UMG surrogates already at fever pitch, will the war of words get worse?…
Sam Taylor •
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