Sony Music Entertainment has published the earnings for its Q1 2019 fiscal year.
Earlier this year, in its Q4 2018 (our calendar Q1 2019) report ending March 31st, 2019, Sony Music brought in ¥104.4 billion ($946.3 million) in recorded music revenue, down 5.1% over the same period last year.
Most of the revenue drop came from physical sales, which plummeted 55.4% year-over-year to ¥19.5 billion ($176.9 million). Total digital revenue also didn’t experience much of a growth, climbing 3.4% to ¥64.6 billion ($585 million). Of that amount, download revenue declined 31.6% to ¥9 billion ($81.5 million). Streaming revenue also didn’t grow as dramatically, increasing just 9.2% to ¥55.6 billion ($503.7 million).
The major label, however, did report great news for investors. For its 2018 fiscal year, Sony Music reported an operating income (profit) of ¥232.5 billion ($2.1 billion), up 82% year-over-year.
Now, the major label has published its Q1 2019 (our Q2 2019) results for the three months ending June 30th, 2019.
Streaming continues ‘saving’ the music industry, one major label at a time.
In the company’s first fiscal quarter of 2019, Sony Music’s recorded music revenue rose 11.5% year-over-year to ¥112 billion ($1.02 billion).
Breaking down that figure, physical revenue declined 2.7% to ¥22 billion ($199.8 million). Total digital revenue experienced strong growth compared to last year, up 16.4% to ¥75.2 billion ($684 million). Of that amount, download sales experienced a sharper drop, down 22.7% to ¥8.7 billion ($79.1 million). Music streaming revenue, however, rose 21.5% to ¥66.5 billion ($604.9 million).
Other revenue – which includes license revenue (public performance, broadcast, and sync), merchandising, and live performance – stayed mostly the same, up just 3.2% to ¥14.8 billion ($135 million).
Sony’s music publishing revenue totaled ¥39.3 billion ($357.5 million), up 45.4% over the same period last year. Visual media and platform revenue decreased 15.8% to ¥48.8 billion ($443.9 million).
Sony Music’s overall revenue totaled ¥200 billion ($1.82 billion), up 11.2% over the same period last year. The major label’s operating income rose 16.1% over the same period last year to ¥38.3 billion ($348.5 million).
Featured image by Japanexpertena.se.