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CTS Eventim, the German concert promoter and ticketing company, surpassed 2 billion euros in annual revenue for the first time in 2023. Revenue jumped 22% to 2.36 billion euros ($2.53 billion at the average exchange rate in 2023) while normalized earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew 32% to 501.4 million euros ($542.7 million).
Earnings per share increased by a third to 2.86 euros ($3.05) from 2.12 euros ($2.29) in 2022. In light of the record performance, the company’s executive board and supervisory board will propose at the annual shareholders meeting a dividend of 137.3 million euros ($148.7 million at the current exchange rate). The largest dividend payment in CTS Eventim history is equal to 50% of net income.
”These excellent results are proof that live entertainment is once again driving the arts and creative sectors,” said CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg in a statement. “We owe this primarily to the creativity of the artists who delight their fans around the world day in, day out. It is also thanks to the countless promoters who, with their boldness and entrepreneurial spirit, stage events and create unforgettable experiences. And last but not least, our team and our technologies ensure that live cultural events can thrive and that everyone involved can make a living from their work.”
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Live entertainment revenue rose 18.9% to 1.68 billion euros ($1.82 billion). The company experienced higher costs in 2023 and “partially” passed on those costs to the market, Schulenberg wrote in the annual report. As a result, normalized EBITDA dropped 1.8% to 117.0 million euros ($126.6 million). The company cited a boost it received from new North American partnerships with Mammoth and AG Entertainment, created to sign international acts for U.S. and global tours. Another collaboration, The Touring Co, a partnership with promoter Walter McDonald announced in December 2023, will help CTS Eventim’s expansion in North America in 2024.
In the ticketing segment, revenue rose 32% to 717.3 million euros ($776.4 million) and EBITDA jumped 47% to 384.4 million ($416.1 million). The number of internet tickets sold rose 19.6% to 82.9 million from 69.3 million in 2022. The company touted its ticketing platform’s reliability in handling heavy demand for concerts by Taylor Swift, Rammstein, Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Apache 207 and Paul McCartney. International expansion also provided a lift to ticketing growth: In 2023, CTS Eventim, along with Sony Music Latin Iberia, acquired ticketing companies Punto Ticket in Chile and Teleticket in Peru.
CTS Eventim’s annual results are further proof the concert business has been booming since COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. The company’s total revenue was 63.4% higher than in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic temporarily halted the touring industry. Last year’s live entertainment revenue was 70.1% above 2019 and ticketing revenue was 48.9% greater. While CTS Eventim has grown by nearly two-thirds since before the pandemic, its growth rate is about a third lower than Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter and ticketing company, which grew revenue by 93.9% from 2019 to 2023.
In 2024, CTS Eventim expects “a moderate rise” in total revenue and believes EBITDA will remain at the level seen in 2023. Demand is “rising continuously,” wrote Schulenberg, and the company expects the recent decline in inflation to provide “new, consumption-driven impetus for growth in the future.”
Shares of CTS Eventim rose 5.1% to 77.50 euros ($83.96) on Tuesday (Mar. 26). The stock gained 5.0% in 2023, slightly below the 8.0% increase of the MDAX, an index of stocks traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Here is a recap of some financial metrics for CTS Eventim’s 2023 earnings results:
Revenue of 2.36 billion euros ($2.53 billion)
Normalized EBITDA of 501.4 million euros ($542.7 million).
Ticketing revenue of 717.3 million euros ($776.4 million) and EBITDA of 384.4 million ($416.1 million).
Concert revenue of 1.68 billion euros ($1.82 billion) and EBITDA of 117.0 million euros ($126.6 million).
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: A legal battle between Michael Jackson’s mother and his estate over a massive deal; a ruling on Metallica’s COVID lawsuit that quotes Taylor Swift; a new first-of-its-kind statute in Tennessee aimed at AI-generated deepfakes; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Jackson Family Feud
Fifteen years after Michael Jackson’s death, his mother is locked in an increasingly acrimonious legal battle with his estate – and, as of last week, with her own grandson, too.
The trouble started last year, when Katherine Jackson filed legal objections to an unspecified transaction that had been proposed by the estate. The disputed deal wasn’t explicitly named in filings, but it appears to be the estimated $600 million catalog deal with Sony Music that was first reported by Billboard last month. A judge rejected those complaints in April 2023, but Katherine is now battling to overturn that ruling at a California appeals court.
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Why the sudden flashpoint last week? Because Katherine is asking the estate to pay for the legal bills she’s incurred while litigating her objections – a request that drew sharp rebukes.
One came from Michael’s son, Bigi Jackson, who says that Katherine’s ongoing objections to the Sony deal are a “waste” of time and that it would be “unfair” to force him and his siblings to foot the bill for them. Another came from estate executors John Branca and John McClain, who say the estate has already paid the elder Jackson more than $55 million since Michael’s death and shouldn’t have to pay for her “frivolous” appeal.
Go read our full stories on Bigi’s objections and the executors’ pushback, and stay tuned for how it all shakes out…
Other top stories this week…
METALLICA, COVID AND… TAYLOR? – Judges can be Swifties, too. In an unusual ruling that quoted from Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well,” a California appeals court rejected a lawsuit filed by the band Metallica that demanded its insurance company pay for more than $3 million in losses stemming from concerts that were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The case is one of numerous lawsuits, many of them unsuccessful, that have aimed at forcing insurance companies to pay for losses caused by pandemic cancellations.
DIDDY’S HOUSES RAIDED – Law enforcement agents reportedly searched homes owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs in Los Angeles and Miami as part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation led by federal prosecutors in New York. The federal raids came amid a flurry of civil sexual abuse lawsuits against the hip-hop mogul – allegations Combs has strongly denied. It’s not clear whether the rapper himself is the target of the federal investigation.
NEW AI VOICE STATUTE – Tennessee enacted first-in-the-nation legislation aimed at protecting musical artists and other individuals from so-called deep fakes that are generated by artificial intelligence – an issue that’s been top of mind for the industry since a fake Drake song went viral last year. The new law – the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security, or ELVIS, Act – updates the state’s existing rules on image and likeness rights, explicitly including a person’s voice for the first time.
PYRRHI© VICTORY? – Six months after Sam Smith and Normani beat a copyright lawsuit claiming they had stolen elements of their 2019 hit “Dancing With a Stranger” from an earlier track, a federal judge refused to force their accuser to reimburse the legal fees they spent litigating the case — a bill the stars say exceeded $700,000. While unsuccessful, the judge ruled that the case was “neither frivolous nor objectively unreasonable.”
Universal Music Group (UMG) has expanded its relationship with HYBE to include the exclusive digital and physical distribution rights to the company’s artists for the next 10 years. UMG will also continue to collaborate with HYBE’s Weverse to onboard more UMG signees to the superfan platform.
Scooter Braun, CEO of HYBE America, will take on new responsibilities with the new agreement. The SB Projects founder and former manager to Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and J Balvin will now oversee all promotional and marketing collaborations between HYBE and UMG in North America.
Notably, this exclusive distribution deal does not include social media sites YouTube, Meta and TikTok, allowing HYBE artists to remain on the short-form video app despite UMG’s current licensing feud with TikTok.
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The announcement builds upon the already established relationship between HYBE and UMG which started in 2017 with a partnership that gave UMG distribution rights to HYBE’s BTS in Japan. In late 2021, HYBE expanded the deal to grant UMG’s Geffen Records distribution rights for BTS in the United States and other regions, moving their U.S. distribution over from Sony Music’s Columbia Records.
Geffen and HYBE also worked together via a joint venture to put together the Netflix and YouTube streaming documentary series The Debut: Dream Academy in which the two music companies work together to form an American girl group using HYBE’s K-pop methodology.
Last year, BMG also moved some of its distribution to Universal Music. In October, the company announced that it would move its physical distribution to UMG’s Commercial Services divison, starting in the second quarter of 2024. It will be fully transitioned by the end of 2024.
“A partnership of this magnitude only comes together when both sides are equally committed to continued growth,” says Bang Si-Hyuk, Chairman of HYBE. “UMG is an iconic music company and together with HYBE, the potential is endless. We are certain that this will expand our global footprint, while benefiting our fans, artists, and labels.”
“Chairman Bang, Scooter Braun and Jiwon Park have brought an innovative and progressive vision to the industry that underscores music’s global power,” adds Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group. “With the opportunities in engaging the superfan via their groundbreaking Weverse model, we’re thrilled to grow and expand our platform business collaboration as we evolve together leading the music industry’s evolution.”
“This incredible partnership between our companies will ensure mutual benefits and collaborations for the fans, teams, artists, and labels around the world,” says Braun, CEO of HYBE America. “The opportunity created here not only allows us to help our current roster, but grow opportunities for independent artists and labels globally. I’ve known and respected Sir Lucian Grainge for many years, and alongside chairman Bang and HYBE CEO Jiwon Park, we look forward to the undeniable opportunities that will come from this partnership as we together grow the music industry’s future.”
Multiple Grammy-winning jazz guitarist-vocalist George Benson is rejoining the Warner Music Group (WMG). In addition to new music arriving later this year, the legendary artist and WMG are celebrating the reunion with a previously unreleased video featuring Benson in a live performance of the track “Lady Blue” in the late ‘70s. Explore Explore See latest […]
BMG reported record high revenues of 905 million euros ($998 million) in 2023 as catalog acquisitions and growth in its publishing division from hit songs and albums by Bebe Rexha, the Rolling Stones and Lewis Capaldi contributed to 5.7% in organic revenue growth.
Operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) adjusted — BMG’s preferred metric for profit — was flat at 194 million euros ($214 million, based on the foreign exchange rate as of Dec. 31, 2023) compared to last year’s 195 million euros ($208 million, based on the year-end foreign exchange rate), as the German-owned music company incorporates a slew of changes introduced by new chief executive Thomas Coesfeld. Coesfeld said his strategy is improving revenue and operating EBITDA going forward, two metrics the company said have risen by roughly a third from 2021 to 2023.
“Many of these changes are having an immediate impact,” Coesfeld said in a letter to staff viewed by Billboard. “In the first two months of 2024 we have already seen a strong double-digit increase in revenue and an increase in EBITDA versus prior year.”
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Since Coesfeld took the helm in mid-2023, BMG announced a plan to take over digital sales of its artists’ music, a new physical distribution deal with UMG and increased investments in technology for a new client-facing mobile app, improved data analytics and speedier processing of royalties.
Catalog acquisitions have been a key component of Coesfeld’s contributions since he became BMG’s chief financial officer in 2021. Backed by the deep pockets of its parent company, the European media conglomerate Bertelsmann, BMG continued its steady pace of buying in 2023 with 30 catalog acquisitions, including those by The Hollies, Jet, Dope Lemon, Martin Solveig and Paul Simon’s music interests in Simon & Garfunkel’s recordings.
Major hits for the publishing division in 2023 included “I’m Good (Blue),” co-written by Bebe Rexha, and “Boy’s A Liar Pt. 2,” by BMG songwriter Mura Masa and performed by Pink Pantheress and Ice Spice, and the release of Hackney Diamonds by the Rolling Stones and Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent by Capaldi.
Country music was a big driver for BMG’s label business in 2023 thanks to Jason Aldean‘s “Try That In A Small Town,” which hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart during the first week of August, and three country chart-topping hits from Jelly Roll, including “Save Me,” recorded with Lainey Wilson, another of BMG’s country stars.
Here are some of BMG’s 2023 highlights:
Operating EBITDA adjusted remained stable at 194 million euros ($214 million) from the previous year of 195 million euros ($208 million).
From 2021 to 2023, revenue has risen by more than 36% and operating EBITDA adjusted has risen by more than 34%.
EBITDA margin was 21.4 percent compared to the previous year of 22.5%.
BMG made 30 catalog acquisitions in 2023.
The annual Music Biz Conference will move from its current Nashville home to Atlanta in 2025.
Specific dates and venues for Music Biz 2025 will be announced later. The conference will continue in its usual May timeframe.
Music Biz, which attracts more than 2,300 music business professionals each year, has been held in Music City for nearly a decade, and returns this year, from May 13-16.
“We’ve had a wonderful 10 years in Nashville. We love Nashville,” Music Business Association president Portia Sabin tells Billboard. “It’s been such a great place for us to grow and we are so appreciative and are very much looking forward to this year’s conference in Nashville.”
The move was inspired by the September 2022 launch of the Music Biz Roadshow program, which has traveled to cities including Atlanta, Dallas and Miami.
“With the Music Biz Roadshow, we bring our members to different cities across the U.S. for free educational programs for artists and musicians,” Sabin says. “We got inspired by doing that because there are so many great music cities out there in the U.S.”
Atlanta felt like a natural evolution for Music Biz. “When we first brought the conference to Nashville, it was a smaller version of what it is now. We feel like Atlanta has that growth potential,” Sabin adds, noting that music industry professionals from more than 30 countries attend Music Biz each year. “Atlanta has that great international hub airport, which will make it easier for people from abroad to get to [the conference]. We are excited to showcase another great American music city.”
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In 2013, the organization formerly known as the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) rebranded as the Music Business Association. Following a four-year stint in Los Angeles from 2011-2014, the Music Biz conference has been in Nashville since 2015. The Music Business Association headquarters continues to be located in Nashville.
Beginning in 2025, the Music Biz event will revert to the way it was scheduled in its NARM days when the conference frequently moved to a new city.
“We will be on probably a two-year schedule, staying in a town for two years before going to another town,” Sabin says, noting the conference could potentially be hosted in cities such as Miami and San Diego in the coming years.
“And I’m sure we will be back in Nashville at some point,” Sabin adds. ‘Nashville’s a fabulous city and we are so grateful to have been here for 10 years. We’re looking forward to this year’s conference in Nashville. Atlanta has so much going on in terms of the music industry there, and I think it has somewhat been overlooked in general. It’s a great spot to have the conference and have this important group of people showing up to do business there.”
Recorded music revenue in the United States grew 7.7% in 2023 over the prior year, reaching a high-water mark of $17.1 billion at retail, according to the RIAA. Within that headline number, $14.4 billion — or 84% — was driven by streaming, a figure that was also up 8% over 2022.
It’s the eighth straight year of revenue growth for the U.S. business, and the rounded 8% growth over last year’s $15.9 billion represents an uptick from 2022, when the business grew 6.1% over the prior year. And while the headline figure marks the third straight year that the business has set a record for revenue — previously set in 1999, when revenue hit $14.6 billion prior to Napster taking hold — when adjusted for inflation, it still falls far below that 1999 figure, which would be $26.9 billion at current rates.
Still, the U.S. business has been growing steadily over the past several years, and streaming has settled into being a fairly consistent piece of the revenue pie: This marks the fourth straight year that overall streaming accounted for between 83% and 84% of revenue, showing that streaming and the overall revenue picture are growing in lockstep. Within the streaming category, paid subscription streaming accounted for $11.2 billion, or 78% of all streaming revenue, up 9% over the $10.2 billion it accounted for last year; and the average number of full-tier U.S. subscriptions grew 5.7% to 96.8 million, up from 91.6 million last year.
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However, limited-tier subscription revenue — the bucket into which Amazon Prime, Pandora Plus, fitness services and other paid subscriptions that don’t include access to full, on-demand catalogs falls — dropped 4% to $1.0 billion. Meanwhile, ad-supported streaming service revenue grew 2%, to $1.9 billion, up from $1.8 billion in 2022; and digital and customized radio revenue, which includes services like SiriusXM and SoundExchange distributions, picked up 8% year over year, to $1.3 billion. Synch revenue grew by a similar rate, up 7.4% to $411 million.
In terms of sales, digital downloads continued their slide, with revenue down 12.2% year-over-year to $434.1 million, now representing just 3% of the overall industry. On the flipside, physical sales once again surged, up 10.5% to $1.91 billion (from $1.73 billion last year). That was largely driven by vinyl sales growth, which was up 10.3% year over year to $1.35 billion in revenue — an increase from $1.22 billion in 2022, as units jumped to 43.2 million from 40.5 million. CD sales revenue also grew by double-digit percentages, increasing 11.3% to $537.1 million from a $482.6 million mark in 2022, even as the number of CDs sold fell. The format saw 37 million sales in 2023, down from 37.7 million the year prior, suggesting a rise in average price per unit year over year.
Overall, the percentage breakdown between digital revenue and physical revenue — 89% to 11% — remained essentially the same as it has since 2018, only fluctuating 1% one way or the other in the intervening years. At wholesale, overall revenue grew by 7%, up to $11 billion from last year’s $10.3 billion, marking the second straight year that metric crossed the $10 billion plateau.
For the fifth consecutive year, Australia’s recorded music industry posted growth in 2023 – all thanks to streaming and Aussies’ love of wax.
According to wholesale data published by ARIA, the nation’s record market lifted by 10.9% to A$676 million ($442 million), powered by subscriptions to music streaming brands.
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That rate of growth for Australia, a top 10 market, the IFPI confirms in its newly-published Global Music Report, is in line with international trends.
Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, and the full slate of subscription platforms now generate 69% of the industry’s total value, or $467.6 million ($305 million), up by 13.9% year-on-year, reports ARIA, the labels trade association.
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Also reporting gains for 2023 is the space for ad-supported streaming models, up 15.3% jump to $68.3 million ($44 million).
All digital products combined, including downloads and video streams, account for a sum upwards of A$616.1 million ($403 million), a 12% year-on-year lift. In other words, more than 90 cents in the record industry’s dollar is generated by digital.
Vinyl albums are an ongoing sweet spot, posting gains of 14.1% to A$42.1 million ($27 million), a sum more than twice that of the dwindling market for CD albums (A$17 million or $11 million, down 16%), for decades the record industry’s diesel engine. The rate of growth for vinyl, however, appears to be slowing.
An overall strong market report is masking a problem that Australia’s music community is trying desperately to crack — how to break more homegrown in Australia and abroad?
Where the IFPI’s GMR is flush with case studies on the success of Afrobeats, Latin music, K-pop, and blockbuster acts from North America and the U.K., acts from the land Down Under aren’t stealing the limelight.
“While Australia remains the 10th largest music market in the world – and Aussies clearly love music,” comments ARIA CEO Annabelle Herd, “it remains harder than ever for our local artists to reach these audiences.”
ARIA’s end-of-year charts “paint a clear picture of this,” notes Herd, with only four Australian albums impacting the top 100 for 2023, led by INXS‘ hits collection The Very Best (at No. 58), and three singles, none of which were released during the reporting period. The best-placed Australian artist on the year-end singles tally was The Kid Laroi with his 2021 Justin Bieber collaboration, “Stay.”
“Achieving cut-through becomes increasingly difficult for artists as the growth rate of subscription and ad supported streaming models continues to increase year on year,” notes Herd, “while nearly all other growth rates have eased compared to 2022.”
The Albanese federal government listened to the industry’s dilemmas, and, in 2023, activated Creative Australia, the centerpiece of the federal National Cultural Policy, Revive, which its architects hope will turn Australia into a music powerhouse.
Among the government’s promises is the launch of Music Australia, a reimagined national music development agency that would support and invest in the development of Australian contemporary music, and now led by founding director Millie Millgate. The Music Australia Council, effectively the Music Australia board, includes legendary concert promoter Michael Chugg and Future Classics founder and CEO Nathan McLay.
The government’s National Cultural Policy is an ambitious year-long action plan, structured around five interconnected pillars and underpinned by a commitment for new, additional investment totaling A$286 million (US$202 million) — record levels of arts funding. Music Australia alone is funded to the tune of A$69 million ($44 million) over four years.
“We are fortunate that compared to other major global markets, our growth rates paint a favorable picture for the future of music in Australia,” adds Herd. “Music is valuable, it is popular and it is growing. We look forward to working with the industry and government to ensure that message is heard and that value is increasingly used to support our incredible local talent.”
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Spotify has launched a new experiment, offering educational video courses to its U.K. users on subjects including music making, creativity, business and healthy living. The new courses show that Spotify is hoping to expand its reach beyond music, podcasts and audiobooks into a new fourth vertical, but the launch is still in the testing phase.
The videos are provided through partnerships with BBC Maestro, Skillshare, Thinkific and PlayVirtuoso and are available on Spotify’s desktop and mobile apps. They can be found by clicking a new ovular icon at the top of the screen. Two lessons in each course are freely available to both free and premium subscribers, but to access a full course, users must leave the app and purchase additional lessons on a dedicated web page to continue. Spotify will receive a commission on whatever is sold through its platform, according to The Verge.
“Testing video courses in the U.K. allows us to explore an exciting opportunity to better serve the needs of our users who have an active interest in learning,” said Babar Zafar, vp of product development at Spotify, in a blog post announcing the test. “Many of our users engage with podcasts and audiobooks on a daily basis for their learning needs, and we believe this highly engaged community will be interested in accessing and purchasing quality content from video course creators. At Spotify, we’re constantly striving to create new offerings for our creators and users, and having built best-in-class personalized music and podcast offerings, we look forward to exploring the potential of video-based learning on Spotify.”
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The post notes that roughly half of Spotify premium subscribers have engaged with education or self-help-themed podcasts.
Spotify did not immediately return Billboard’s request for more information on whether it’s planning to expand the test to other markets, including the United States.
Daniel Ek, CEO/founder of Spotify, hinted at the company’s interest in expanding into education nearly two years ago during his Spotify Investor Day presentation held on June 8, 2022. “We will firmly cement Spotify as the home for some of the greatest artists and creators and educators in the world,” he said at the time. “I’m not aware of any other company has been successful in taking a multi-business model and multi-vertical approach within one user experience.”
This U.K. test proves that Spotify is still searching for profitability and keen to expand its user base beyond what music streaming can provide. According to MIDiA Research, growth in music streaming subscriptions is expected to slow from double- to single-digits in the coming decade as the market reaches maturity. Plus, the margins made from music streaming continue to be tight.
Alex Noström, Spotify’s co-president/chief business officer, has also hinted at the company’s educational focus in the past, saying at the 2022 investor day presentation: “In the next 10 years, there are additional markets and verticals that we believe are natural fits for our platform and audience…There’s news, sports and education. Those are vast markets [that] we can imagine Spotify playing in… [All] are big consumer markets, sometimes much bigger than music… We have an opportunity to consolidate user’s habits and purchases to Spotify and also expand the pie allowing broader and more convenient access to these new content carrier categories.”
Believe‘s board of directors on Monday (Mar. 25) asked Warner Music Group (WMG) to submit a formal bid for the French music company after stating that French financial regulators found an offer by a group that includes Believe CEO Denis Ladegaillerie violated certain securities rules. WMG said earlier this month that it approached Believe in […]