SZA, whose SOS effort generated the most Q2 2023 revenue of any Sony Music Entertainment release. Photo Credit: The Come Up Show
Sony Music Entertainment (SME) achieved a nearly 17% year-over-year (YoY) revenue boost during Q2 2023, when overall streaming income (for recorded as well as publishing) spiked by close to 20% YoY, according to a new earnings report.
The Big Three record label’s showing for April, May, and June of 2023 – the first quarter of its 2023 fiscal year – emerged as part of a just-published performance breakdown from the overarching Sony Group Corporation. According to the voluminous resource, the Japanese conglomerate’s music revenue came in at ¥358.23 billion (currently $2.49 billion) during Q2.
As usual, though, this figure encompasses income attributable to other Sony Group divisions (¥2.47 billion/$17.19 million) and the mostly unrelated (to actual music) “visual media and platform” category (¥42.85 billion/$298.16 million). Excluding intersegment sales and visual media and platform, Sony Music’s recorded and publishing revenue totaled ¥312.91 billion ($2.18 billion) during Q2, up 19.15% YoY and 8.45% quarterly, per the analysis.
Sony Music Entertainment Earnings – Recorded Music, Q2 2023
On the recorded side, SME generated ¥164.89 billion ($1.15 billion) from streaming throughout the three-month stretch, the report shows, against ¥7.75 billion ($53.91 million) from downloads. The streaming sum signifies an 18.52% YoY hike and a 10.90% quarterly improvement, while the long-declining downloads category, despite suffering a 10.60% revenue slip on a quarterly basis, grew by a little over 2% YoY.
Rounding out the recorded side, Sony Music brought in ¥40.15 billion ($279.19 million) from “other” (licensing, merch, and live shows) as well as ¥24.98 billion ($173.75 million) from physical releases including vinyl and CDs across Q2 2023, the conglomerate reported. The other total grew 47.25% YoY and 9.09% quarterly, compared to a 2.41% YoY slip and a 12.06% quarterly falloff for physical.
According to the report, Sony Music’s bestselling projects (by revenue) for Q2 2023 were SZA’s SOS, Miley Cyrus’ Endless Summer Vacation, Harry Styles’ perennially ranked Harry’s House, Luke Combs’ Gettin’ Old, Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, the Foo Fighters’ But Here We Are, and Beyoncé’s Renaissance, respectively.
Sony Music Entertainment Earnings – Music Publishing, Q2 2023
With 5.76 million works in its catalog as of March 31st, Sony Music Publishing pulled in ¥75.14 billion ($522.65 million) during Q2 2023, up 19.16% YoY and 13.92% quarterly, Sony Group disclosed. Streaming growth fueled the improvement for the publishing unit and delivered a total of ¥41.61 billion ($289.42 million), up 24.48% YoY and 16.92% quarterly, per the document, which attributed the remaining revenue to “other” sources.
Sony Music Entertainment Earnings – Operating Income and Forecast, Q2 2023
Sony Music’s Q2 operating income finished at ¥73.38 billion ($510.41 million), the earnings report shows, up about 20.34% YoY. Looking forward to the remainder of the fiscal year, execs anticipate SME revenue topping ¥1.49 trillion ($10.36 billion), with operating income finishing at ¥280 billion ($1.95 billion).