Everyone in the music industry is abuzz with the news that

1. Spotify failed to license much of the Victory Records song catalogue.
2. Spotify failed to pay royalties on these songs.
3. After Victory Records went public Spotify pulled the entire catalogue

Spotify spokesperson Jonathan Prince was quick to say this:

“We want to pay every [fraction of a] penny, but we need to know who [sic] to pay. The industry needs to come together and develop an approach to publishing rights based on transparency and accountability.”

No sorry that’s not how the law works.  You have to have a license before you even use the song on a streaming service.  That means you have to either contact the owner of the songs and directly negotiate a license.  Or you can fall back on a slightly less convenient statutory license (Whereby the federal government compels the songwriter to license at a…