No. I don't believe a word of it. Not only that, but judging from some of the statements made by Techcrunch, they clearly don't know how digital music deals work. Two things in particular:
1. Of course licenses can stay with the company in the event of a buyout or merger.
2. There's no such thing as a five year license. Usually 12-18 months. If you're really lucky maybe 24 months. But that's the outside max.
Apple is truly afraid of Spotify and it is much cheaper for them to continue to block them as opposed to acquiring them. Believe me, Apple has no intention of paying big advances to the labels for a subscription service and whatever they pay will still be cheaper than acquiring Spotify. And I truly don't believe that Spotify wants to sell at this juncture. I, and they, believe that that the company will be worth much more in a few short years.
When I first saw this, I knew instantly that it was ridiculous.