The figures are in for all three major labels, with Sony Music’s latest quarterly financials published yesterday as part of its parent corporation’s.
MBW has the yen-to-dollar analysis: Sony Music’s recorded music revenues were down by 10.5% year-on-year in the second quarter of this year (its fiscal Q1) although its recorded music streaming revenues were up by 5.9% to $640m.
Physical sales fell by 41% to $118m, while ‘other’ revenues (which include licensing, merchandising etc) fell by 38.8% to $82.6m.
Meanwhile, Sony Corporation’s music publishing division, which includes Sony/ATV but also Sony Music Publishing Japan, saw its revenues fall by 19.2% to $289m.
So, let’s compare the three major (global) companies’ performances in Q2. For recorded music revenues, UMG’s were down by 4.5% year-on-year, WMG’s fell by 5.7%, and Sony Music’s by 10.5%. Meanwhile, publishing revenues were up by 24.5% for UMG, up by 1.4% for WMG, and down by 19.2% for Sony.
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