This! I have been watching the show too and had the same exact question. My conclusion is that, when they launched they had one deal, so technically they were

This! I have been watching the show too and had the same exact question. My conclusion is that, when they launched they had one deal, so technically they were streaming music legally and music to which they didn’t have rights was not being streamed(although who really knows about the last part being true) However what I don’t fully follow is why Spotify,as portrayed in the show, have to pay 70% to the record labels? Also why are the artists not making money? I think one scene in the last episode indicated that the artists had made shitty deals with the record industry and hence they payout to the artist was low. It’s like the artists don’t own the music but instead they sign the rights away when they sign a deal with the record labels. I understand thst that’s how the music industry worked and record labels are the middlemen and collect the “rent”. However what’s stopping artists and Spotify to work where they simply eliminate the middlemen. Artists create the music. Post it on Spotify. And any revenues are split. Even if the split is not equal both parties get to make more money given that they get to keep what would otherwise be the record labels share. Why is this not possible? One last point, the record labels,today, still stand to make a lot more money as there more songs pre Spotify that post Spotify and the listeners still want to listen to those. Eg if you grew up in the 80s you still want to listen to Micheal Jackson or Brittney spears today. and thst music is only available thru a record label today. However fast forward 20-30 years a lot of listeners will be post Spotify era and thier music could be the music that does not come from recod labels assuming Spotify starts revenue sharing with artists today and keeping the middlemen out of new music. All in all it’s about who owns the largest catalogs of music. Today and previously, most of it is in the hands of record labels. As such it’s quite centralized. but tomorrow it could be decentralized. And artist get paid based on how good they are.might still not be perfect but seems like a hell of a lot better than the record label based business model. There was probably a time when that business model made sense. When distribution and promoting a artist was hard. When the world worked pre digital speed. Today that business model just reeks of a cartel/robber Barron- esque behavior.