Universal Music Group, the world’s largest owner of recorded music, could have a new part-owner within the next 18 months, as French mass media firm Vivendi has decided to shift a 50% share – looking to cash in at the right time without relinquishing total influence. Confirmation has been a long time coming. We believe Spotify is central to virtually every business move made by UMG today, so it’s no coincidence the announcement comes a couple of months after Spotify IPO’d and a year after Spotify and UMG reached an agreement changing the face of music distribution. Spotify’s profitability has been historically hindered by the fact that 80% of revenues went directly to the record labels, a model which was…