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The world’s biggest songs business, Common Music Team, posted a record $9.4 billion in profits for 2021, the enterprise declared in its earnings report on Thursday. That marks a 14.4% raise more than 2020, while comparisons with the pandemic 12 months are naturally skewed.
Recorded music revenues were up 14.3% to all-around $7.52 billion, when streaming soared practically 17% to just less than $5 billion. Bodily revenue is up 18.6% calendar year-in excess of-year to all-around $1.24 billion, driven typically by vinyl’s continued growth and a improve in immediate-to-consumer profits.
Top rated sellers for the 12 months incorporated new albums from Olivia Rodrigo, BTS, Justin Bieber, Morgan Wallen, ABBA and Taylor Swift, although the Weeknd and Billie Eilish also posted solid sales.
In accordance to the report, the corporation used about $420 million on “catalog investments,” considerably less than half of the $1.03 billion it put in in 2020, when it acquired Bob Dylan’s song catalog for an volume sources say was just about $400 million. Whilst the business has by now produced a pair of top-dollar acquisitions in 2022 — the music catalogs of Sting and Neil Diamond, alongside with the latter’s masters — its greatest publicized catalog offer very last yr was a career-spanning agreement with Aerosmith.
Common Songs Publishing’s income was up 12.6% to $1.49 billion, many thanks to ongoing growth in streaming as nicely as synch and catalog acquisition. Its EBITDA was up 14.1% to $339 million.
For the fourth quarter of 2021, UMG’s revenue was up 19% to $2.8 billion, with recorded audio pulling in $2.19 billion up 15.2%. Publishing hit $451 million, up a whopping 31.6%, for the fourth quarter.
Chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge stated, “2021 was nevertheless a further historic year for UMG. We assisted our artists attain extraordinary achievement – including 8 of the IFPI’s top rated 10 world-wide artists of the 12 months. In addition to potent performance in streaming, we drove new parts of prospect for our artists – ranging from goods to brand name administration, sponsorship, ecommerce, and movie & tv. And we expanded our associate portfolio into emerging growth areas such as health and fitness and exercise, Website3 and social online video.
“Our success in all these efforts confirmed in our monetary efficiency,” he continued. “Revenues amplified by 17% on a frequent forex basis, Modified EBITDA margin expanded and No cost hard cash flow improved appreciably. Heading ahead, we see the marketplace continuing to increase and – with our exclusive experience, our deep understanding of the company and the vast artist associations and world wide innovative networks – we assume to further improve our situation as the market chief as we carry on to break new artists and create on our planet-class catalogue.”