Universal Music Group has announced a new deal with Spotify aimed at increasing the “virality” of new releases, in what appears to be an expansion of the label’s battle with TikTok.

The partnership was unveiled on Thursday (US time), just two weeks after Spotify announced it would make full-length music videos available on its platform, putting it in direct competition with YouTube – and, indirectly, Universal.

Ariana Grande has two short videos on Clips.Credit: Invision

The world’s largest music label is a partner in Vevo, the service that hosts music videos from artists signed to the big three major labels – UMG, Sony and Warners. With a roster of more than 35,000 artists and 900,000 videos, and 25 billion views per month, Vevo is available through multiple channels, with YouTube the most important.

The main target of the deal between UMG and Spotify, however, is TikTok, which has over the past five years risen to become arguably the most........

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