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Morning Report: Axios that Spotify filed its IPO docs confidentially “with the SEC at the end of December.”

Spotify’s direct listing seems like a go today, with Axios reporting that the firm filed its IPO paper with the pertinent agency late last month and that the music giant is still “pursuing a direct listing instead of a traditional float.”

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Why the company would pursue a direct listing instead of a normal IPO that would raise fresh cash for its business isn’t completely clear, though the method may allow the firm to move more quickly, potentially curtailing some of the rising cost of its recent debt raise.

Spotify could be shaping up to be the first critical IPO of 2018. Here’s to hoping we get to see the numbers soon. Early IPOs can go some way to setting the stage for a year’s IPO market. In 2017, for example, nearly got public before it was snapped up for billions. That didn’t hurt demand for enterprise IPOs, and may have given Snap’s then-exciting offer some positive winds.

Regardless, every year needs someone to jump into the pool first, even if they demand on doing it their own way.

(For more on Spotify, we’ve hit on the topic a time or two.)

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