BMG just posted a double-digit increase in revenue during the first 6 months of this year.
The boom was driven by a surge in streaming revenues — little surprise there.
The company reported revenue of more than $305 million for the first half of 2019, along with pretax earnings of more than $55 million.
Both areas represent a significant improvement over numbers in the same period of 2018. Back then, the company reported revenue of $274 million and pretax earnings of nearly $48 million. This means that the company saw an increase of 11.6% in revenue and 16.7% in earnings. Also, the company’s earnings as a percent of revenue rose as well, from 17.4% to 18.2%.
The fastest-growing element of BMG is recorded music, but music publishing operations are doing well, too. The growth of both businesses is being driven by a surge in streaming platforms, despite some cooling in record-setting adoption rates. The company indicated that 56% of its revenue came from digital formats, which represent nearly $200 million.
In its announcement, the company cited numerous artists who helped drive growth in recorded music during this period. The list includes Keith Richards, Kylie Minogue, Lil Dicky, Avril Lavigne, Dido, The Cranberries, AJR and Adel Tawil.
In terms of music publishing, BMG mentioned Lewis Capaldi, whose “Someone You Love” sold in excess of 3 million units.
They also mentioned how — across all Billboard charts — their songwriters had been involved in two dozen number one songs during the first half of the year.
BMG further opened a new office in Hong Kong during this time, which is its 15th. BMG says the move will strengthen its presence in Asia as a whole.
Bertelsmann, which is the overarching parent of BMG, also did well in the period. It saw revenues of nearly $10 billion and pretax earnings of nearly $1.5 billion.